decided on mac shorties but which finish?

id go with ceramic. if you want something really good...buy them and send them off to get jethot coated...it lasts forever and is 10 times better than anything else

You are making a big mistake... Form experience, get the BBK 1515's. They bolt in easier, look better and last longer. The MAC quality sucks, they will not bolt back on the head after being taken off and their ceramic flakes off like cheap paint.

Jamie

Ranchero5.0 said:

The MAC quality sucks, they will not bolt back on the head after being taken off and their ceramic flakes off like cheap paint.

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I agree 100%.

ya bbk uses a one peace flange which wont warp from the heat.

Ranchero5.0 said:

The MAC quality sucks, they will not bolt back on the head after being taken off and their ceramic flakes off like cheap paint.

Jamie

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I just had my mac lt's off for a head change. They were on for about a year, and the flanges lined up perfect. Not that I think they are quality headers, just saying that I didn't have that problem.

Long Tubes line up easier because the tubes move easier. (longer tubes) Shorties are a pain! I wouldn't even get BBK's. Even though they are great quality, (light years ahead of MAC), they are mild steel with "Their Own" ceramic coating. I would get the FRPP Ceramic's. They are 409 Stainless Steel with "Jet Hot's" "Sterling" finish. They also come with a lifetime warranty on the coating and header from Jet Hot.

I've never had a dipstick problem with aftermarket headers -- I usually just bend the tabs a little and stick them under one of the header bolts.

but if i should get that 1 piece flange, then i'm going with the cheap ass flowtech cause i am not worried about finish really. just need some headers with studs lol. cause i gotta cut my stock studs off.

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I got the flowtech 1 5/8 shorties for the same reason u want em. For the money i paid i have to say that hey fit very well and other than the crappy black coating turning white from hea i havnt had a problem. My dipstick is messed up now tho.

Ranchero5.0 said:

You are making a big mistake... Form experience, get the BBK 1515's. They bolt in easier, look better and last longer. The MAC quality sucks, they will not bolt back on the head after being taken off and their ceramic flakes off like cheap paint.

Jamie

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I have do disagree with you I have the MAC unequal length shorties HTS coated and they installed without any problem and they look as good today as the day I installed them over a year ago. Now I had the BBK shorties and they would not seal up to the heads. I returned them and I got another pair. This set sealed up was a pain to install and after about a month the finish started peeling. I yanked them and installed the MACs and have had no problem.

Well as you know I have the chrome ones & the HTS coated ones ussually a pry bar will make them go on fine lol...I mean after they've been on there awhile but knowing FiveO like I do I don't think he's going to want to take them off again anytime soon

Five0 - my Ford Racing shorties - with a one piece flange - fit the stock dipstick location with no problems. The quality is superb, stainless steel construction.

There is no question that high quality carefully applied ceramic coatings are the best. Nothing else even comes close. They're virtually indestructible. They not only protect the header material, they are incredible insulators - reducing under-hood heat and allowing that heat to remain in the exhaust flow which helps flow. There are some companies that have great reputations - JetHot is one of them. Not the cheapest, but the quality is unsurpassed. There are many others out there - just do some research. I had a company local to Knoxville do mine -very happy with the results.

There's a lot that goes into the process - cleaning/cooking to degrease; blasting to gray metal inside and out; spray coating and baking the coating; buffing the exterior.

If it were me I'd get BBK (with single piece flange; they make individual flanged units too I believe) or Ford Racing shorties (simply too many 'bad' posts on the Mac's). I'd get them either in stainless, non-coated or with the cheap black paint they put on them. After I test fit them, I'd send them out to be ceramic coated. You're probably safe buying ceramic coated shorties (JetHot coats Ford Racing's); with long tubes, I think the test fit is important as sometimes a tube has to be "adjusted" (read - beat to hell and back with a hammer) to fit. You want that done before you coat them.

Edit - I would not do chrome (I think that's industrial 'plating'). I've never seen a set that didn't blue terribly, and because of the chemical plating process, it's more difficult for the ceramic coater to get the chrome off before they coat. And it must come off before they coat.

I usually by Mac because they are cheap. They're not terrible, just not as good as a lot of other brands. I don't see a whole lot of quality difference between Mac and BBK. Every set of HTS coated Mac headers that I have ever had eventually starts to lose the coating. Every single set set of Industrial plated headers eventually start to rust. I still use them. From a performance standpoint I think that the HTS coating is the way to go but personally I always try to get the industrial plated ones. The industrial plating is easier to keep clean and seems to last longer.

qdrhrse - thanks for that - I've often suspected that the "HTS" coatings offered by manufacturers aren't bona fide ceramic coatings. If they were, they simply wouldn't come off that way or they were misapplied.

91StangLX said:

Now I had the BBK shorties and they would not seal up to the heads.

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I had the same exact problem with my BBK shorties. I tried 3 different gaskets, stock Mr Gasket Ultra Seal, stock Ford gaskets, and copper. The final time I took them off to try and figure out why they wouldnt seal, three of the studs that the H pipe hooked onto broke. Now they are a nice expensive set of wheel chocks.