Extremely pleased with Dougs headers

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Brooks James

Brooks James

VET, CPT, Huey Medevac Pilot
FABO Gold Member
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Dec 12, 2020
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I bought a 340 life side manifold and a 360r/t for the right which I considered to be the best small block manifolds.
I had read an article that was an exhaust manifold shootout. It said that the 360 mag and 340 manifolds were very close in flow.
After several cars with cheap summit style headers , road smashed tubes, rust, poor quality, inferior materials, thin walled tubing, burnt plug wires etc
I went to the manifolds previously mentioned. My current 70 Dart is my last every nut and bolt build. I’m setting it up for absolutely minimal frig factor I. I want to cruise every weekend not work on it. I wanted to get maximum bang for the buck and maximum durability for the money and drove you guys
Crazy doing it. I was back to thinking about headers. Then I did research that showed everything I had read before PLUS high frig factors installing. Hitting the steering, zbar, torsions etc. all the posts about Dougs were of ease of installing and great final fit. Because the they are $500 , I agonized about whether to buy them or not. When the arrived I was stunned. There were twice as dense/heavy as any other small block I had held. Thick head flanges, thick collector flanges, and a wonderful surprise STAINLESS
STEEL, excellent welding, truly equal length tubes. They are a work of art. The best parts are no steering parts removal and great compact fit. Could be their poster boy. haha
 
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I love my Doug’s D453’s. They were a much better quality than the TTI shorties I also have for another car now. Like any long tube on an A-body some minor fitting might be necessary depending on the car, I needed a couple of small dimples at the torsion bars but I have 1.12” bars.
 
I never seen anything that said Doug’s are stainless steel.

I think the coating on them is confusing you.
 
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Steel.

4822C3B1-B9E7-4B13-B08A-494584F73EAE.jpeg
 
Not a problem, it’s not the first time or the last that I’ve been wrong.
I’m not citing anybody but it’s human nature that someone always is a Debbie Downer that tries to rain on your parade. I’ve seen it many times here, and it is infectious,
Especially when someone posts something that they are proud of. That’s why the mods have established rules to help prevent it.Or they are a negative nelly who generally is unhappy and looks for what’s wrong and never says anything positive.My father was that person. He NEVER
Said “I love You” even when I had accomplished major milestones.
 
Great review OP.... I personally think it's the way to go for most Abody guys looking at header options...

JW
 
Brooks James said:
Not a problem, it’s not the first time or the last that I’ve been wrong.
I’m not citing anybody but it’s human nature that someone always is a Debbie Downer that tries to rain on your parade. I’ve seen it many times here, and it is infectious,
Especially when someone posts something that they are proud of. That’s why the mods have established rules to help prevent it.Or they are a negative nelly who generally is unhappy and looks for what’s wrong and never says anything positive.My father was that person. He NEVER
Said “I love You” even when I had accomplished major milestones.
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In this thread, I see it as trying to help. It would not be in your best interest to install unpainted headers.
 
Brooks James said:
Not a problem, it’s not the first time or the last that I’ve been wrong.
I’m not citing anybody but it’s human nature that someone always is a Debbie Downer that tries to rain on your parade. I’ve seen it many times here, and it is infectious,
Especially when someone posts something that they are proud of. That’s why the mods have established rules to help prevent it.Or they are a negative nelly who generally is unhappy and looks for what’s wrong and never says anything positive.My father was that person. He NEVER
Said “I love You” even when I had accomplished major milestones.
Click to expand...

I apologize.

It was not meant into rain on your parade. It’s for the others reading these threads to get correct info.

It’s a large public forum with a good search function. This thread has a lot of views. And other people reading for information.
 
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Brooks James said:
Not a problem, it’s not the first time or the last that I’ve been wrong.
I’m not citing anybody but it’s human nature that someone always is a Debbie Downer that tries to rain on your parade. I’ve seen it many times here, and it is infectious,
Especially when someone posts something that they are proud of. That’s why the mods have established rules to help prevent it.Or they are a negative nelly who generally is unhappy and looks for what’s wrong and never says anything positive.My father was that person. He NEVER
Said “I love You” even when I had accomplished major milestones.
Click to expand...

And then there are those who are genuinely trying to help and have no filter....as I've said many times in the past, I'm not here to powder any butts or sing anybody to sleep. If somebody's done something I see they will regret.....ESPECIALLY if it might be a safety issue, I'm sayin somethin. Case and point. We had a member I think LEAVE the site because I pointed out his GLASS fuel filter wasn't the best idea at ALL and he needed to go to metal. It's a two way street there, bud. Some people are locked and loaded to get their panties all in a wad over nuthin.
 
Oh, and I'll add this to the conversation. The Dougs headers I used when I had my 65 Valiant were hands DOWN the easiest set I have ever installed on anything. BAR NONE. And I got one of the first 25 sets when they came back out with them. They actually made them differently than they do now and still called them the "D Dart" headers. The box even came stamped "D DART". This was probably about 1995. I talked to Doug Thorley (RIP) hisself many times on the phone before, during and after they got them from R&D to the finished product. MAN could that old dude ever talk. But he was the coolest old guy you'd ever wanna talk to.
 
Thank you guys . I was having a bad day yesterday. I read the posts at the worst moment, and definitely overrreacted.
FABO is a great resource and I am extremely grateful.
 
Brooks James said:
Thank you guys . I was having a bad day yesterday. I read the posts at the worst moment, and definitely overrreacted.
FABO is a great resource and I am extremely grateful. .......As far as coatings are concerned are there products out there that will do the job? I know that there are but would like to hear from anybody that has used a specific product with good results. Don’t know much about it but it appears as if the ceramic products work well.Sending them back is a no go. There is a powder coat guy locally , will that work? What should I expect to pay for that ??
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Brooks James said:
As far as coatings are concerned are there products out there that will do the job? I know that there are but would like to hear from anybody that has used a specific product with good results. Don’t know much about it but it appears as if the ceramic products work well.Sending them back is a no go. There is a powder coat guy locally , will that work? What should I expect to pay for that ??
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any and all powder coating questions should be directed to the Mistress herself

@CudaChick1968
 

I got the nickel chrome plated when I got mine. Ran them several years before I sold the car. They did turn that kinda bluish color like hot chrome does and I knew they would do it, but it never flaked or came off. I was very happy with them. But back then, the ceramic stuff was new and just on the market and not cheap at all. Jet Hot can coat them. They used to offer a lifetime warranty and stand behind it. You might check into that.
 
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