my damn header cracked the other day. it still runs the same but i just noticed it yesterday i heard it can be welded through the inside. i have got the dc sports
4-2-1 ceramic header any info would work if not then does anyone have one for sale preferably a chrome 4-1 header. i would like dc sport i will cosider other headers also but whatever is at a good price and quicker for me to get would be the best thing for me. i got a 96 sohc vtec.

 

i had the same problem with my 421 dc sports ceramic header...........it cracked right where primaries connect 1 and 4 pipes........i couldnt get it welded for cheap, so i found a top piece for my header on ebay(used for 45 shipped) I thinlk thats your only alternative..good luck. If you keep driving like that, the crack will keep getting bigger....your car would lose backpressure.get louder and, eventually run like ****

 

Heard some new noises under the hood of the '95 EX and it appears my DC Sports header has finally cracked at #1 primary. 4-2-1 two piece, HHC5017 I believe is the part number.

I fired off an Email to DC sports to see if there was any kind of warranty still on this thing, but since I'm fairly sure this header has been on since ~'04/'05 I'm going to go with no.

Anyone have had any luck with their DC Sports headers? Does anyone know if they redesigned them so the primary tubes are longer for better thermal expansion and reduced chances of cracking?

T.I.A.

 

I had one and had a hole in the bunghole near the oxygen sensor...I had it welded but decided to call em and tell em I'd rather have a new one since I wasn't sure it would hold up. They said nah you touched it so we can't warranty it.

Now all I see are stories of these things cracking. I'm glad I sold it to some kid on craigslist and went oem. lol

 

Finally got around to replacing the DCsports header on the Accord with the original EX manifold.

Primary #1 tube was cracked 70% of the circumference(!). I knew there was a slight crack, but damn this thing is toasted. Been meaning to call DC but I don't really see a point now.

Not surprisingly the car is much quieter with the stock manifold on during cruise, me gusta. Strangely the intake sounds much raspier/snappier when the car is driven in anger.

Was getting 28/29MPG wonder what I'll get now that there isn't a gaping hole in my exhaust now. C'mon 30MPG!

 

Most of the headers eventually crack. They use those pretty, thin a$$ welds on all of them. They should be putting at least twice the material on the welds.

I can say the same thing about cracking at the primaries for Megan Racing headers for my V6 Accord. We just pull em off and have someone RE-weld all of the primaries with about 1/4 inch of material in there.

Now, before anyone installs headers, I always suggest they have someone go over the welds and make them Beefy, and i mean Beefy.

 

My ebay header has been holding up fine, over 30,000 miles now. I did put a lot of heat wrap on it, I think that helps a lot because when you get cold air blowing on a hot manifold things certainly will be more likely to crack.

 

30k isn't really anything, not to mention cold air isn't going to effect damn near anything at those temps. If Mikes has been equipped for 7-8 years its probably seen a good amount of life hence the reason it cracked.

 

My header did not crack at the weld.
The crack is on the #1 primary before the 1-3 collector at the flange.
I looked into this a but via google, and here on H-T, seems to be a common issue with the DC sports header, it cracks on the #1 primary tube, not a weld issue. Admitantly the header tubes are made of some pretty thin tubing, I have some JBA headers on my Ford and they are pretty thick walled, but they are also CARB/EO'd headers for an goof ball application.

Looking further into why it cracked it is simple a problem of thermal expansion. The tubes are all less than a foot long, and the #1 tube is probably the shortest, but not by much. I had asked DC Sports regarding why their header did not use the stock exhaust manifold support bracket that bolts to the block. It was due to thermal expansion of the header and if the stand was used the header would more likely crack. I didn't push the matter and just dropped it.

If you look at a factory EX down pipe it is not tubing but a weldment of two 'u-u' shaped pieces that are welded together and then again inside a weldment cocoon. I was looking up some part numbers the other day and it appears Honda actually had two down pipes for the EX B1 cars. One is the more common weldment and the other was a simple two tubes that merged into a single tube at the flange. The tubular piece does not show its part number. I'm guessing Honda figured that one didn't last.
Levi, did your '94 have the weldment down pipe or the two tubes?

Chevrolets Corvette with the 7.0L LS7 uses a sheetmetal weldment.

Note the manifold on the left has had its cover cut off to show the primaries.
This on a flagship that has a warranty and makes 505HP. This kind of design, for longevity, works.

What I know now is that before the two year warranty was up, I should have warrantied the whole header. Got a new one, and two years later done it again. Within a year most of the 'ceramic powder coating' that was on the header had mostly burnt off anyway, and should have warrantied the header then. But being in Calif there isn't really much worry of rusting and I didn't feel like waiting a month to get a new header. Lesson learned.

Ideally the primaries should have been as long as possible, and a one piece design. I think I have seen Integra headers made like this.

Meh, 30K miles it is 'broken in', if anything you may want to pull of that thermal wrap and inspect the header for any cracks. Like anything after a few times of bending it back and forth, mechanically or thermally, it will eventually fatigue and break.
If all your under car shrouding and seals are still intact, the majority of the air blowing on the header is going to be prop wash from the radiator, so its not going to be cold air hitting the header either.

And just to reiterate...
^This.

Simply, thermal expansion took out the primary tube. #1 expanded and contracted at a different rate from the other three and lost.

 

Mine was the weldment style with a small piping portion at the end independently reserved for the O2 sensor. Which ironically enough for this thread, my factory exhaust manifold was cracked on cylinder 1 about two inches from the flange. That's why I picked up my Megan header (which now lives on an Acura CL).