My headers nightmare

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Shamrock--WV2NC

Shamrock--WV2NC

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Location
Mooresville NC
Picked up hooker comp headers and summit dual exhaust kit. Muffler shop quoted $700 for the install. I agreed. Now over a week later. I get it back. They couldn't get headers to fit. So it's still on factory manifolds. And the real kicker is now my steering wheel is off by 90 degrees and the car needs an alignment. So I just paid $700 for another headache.
 
u got screwd!hooker comps r a pain in the ***, but doable.i used the jegs exhaust with my comps on 72 duster,lots of swearing but i got it. that shop should recompense u somehow!
 
Yup, sounds like a new shop needed to me. It shouldn't take a week to figure out they won't fit, and if they didn't get them to fit they sure as heck don't deserve $700.

I have Doug's D453's on the 340 in my Duster with Summit's 2.5" dual exhaust kit. Worked great. And I've got a 4 speed and all the mechanical linkage to deal with too.
 
Leave a review on every website you can for their shop. Sounds foolish but it works.

Anyways I have those hookers on my car. They have been on for 8 years and leaked since day one. I'll be switching to tti when I get the funds.
 
Shamrock--WV2NC said:
Picked up hooker comp headers and summit dual exhaust kit. Muffler shop quoted $700 for the install. I agreed. Now over a week later. I get it back. They couldn't get headers to fit. So it's still on factory manifolds. And the real kicker is now my steering wheel is off by 90 degrees and the car needs an alignment. So I just paid $700 for another headache.
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wait - you paid them!?? :wtf: did they say WHY the headers wouldn't fit? this is still the USA - if you don't deliver on a contract - you don't friggin' get paid!! that there is some true blue :bs_flag: - at the very least you should "out" the dumbasses - so do tell, what is the name of this incompetent "muffler shop" ???
 
I stopped reading your post at hooker super comps... you should apologize to the shop for trying to make them install those things, hopefully their employees didn't quit on them.
 
67autocross said:
I stopped reading your post at hooker super comps... you should apologize to the shop for trying to make them install those things, hopefully their employees didn't quit on them.
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If their employees are gonna quit because they can't figure out some friggin headers.. Maybe they should find a different line of work.
 
Put on 2 sets in my lifetime.... Not the most fun thing to do but they got installed...... Maybe there is more to the story but at the end of the day you should have headers on your car....

JW
 
What is the part number of the headers? I use 5303 Hookers and they fit. I've used so many 5204 Hookers I lost count (multiple dozens) and they all fit.

I've learned you have to follow the directions to the letter. That's with pretty much any header.
 
Tti's are the way to go. They fit like a glove on my 76 Duster 500 inch big block car using a 440 block.
 
Lots of time people order the wrong headers or miss things like will not "fit power steering" or " will not fit manual transmission " and still try to put them in.
 
buddy tried Hookers on a 383 Barracuda. His needed a mini starter, no way around it, and probably pulling the K and all to mount them. And they were dinged up pretty good after he wrestled them in. As for not paying them...ever hear of a mechanics lein? "Yeah, you aint getting your car back until you pay us, and rent starts...NOW!" Pay the guy and then take him to small claims court for the $700 (or whatever the judge says is fair, doubt you'll get it all back). My Hookers flanges were drilled wrong and had a leak from day one. "Lifetime guarantee from manufacturer defects..." But they still wanted to see a receipt? For that money, Ill build my own.
wheel 90 out? Straighten wheel and turn tie rod ends equally until your wheels are straight. use a string to measure across the front and back rim edge wheel to wheel and get them equal then give it a little toe in. Itll work until you get it to an alignment shop.
 
So you paid them 700 bucks to do something they didn't do?
 
So if someone suppliess shop with a part and it doesn't fit the shop should just eat the labour ...I'm actually surprised they would quote you, I would charge by the hour and keep going until they fit or you ran out of money.
 
67autocross said:
So if someone suppliess shop with a part and it doesn't fit the shop should just eat the labour ...I'm actually surprised they would quote you, I would charge by the hour and keep going until they fit or you ran out of money.
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Then the shop shouldn't accept the job. They accepted the job knowing the customer bought the parts. That's on the shop. Not the customer. And even that aside. You're telling me for 700 bucks the shop couldn't get the steering back at 0 and the alignment done? Especially when they realized they couldn't finish the job?

Yeah. I did hookers myself in a garage (sort of) and guess what? The steering is dead center and the alignment is near perfect. And yes. I pulled the column, dropped most of the steering linkage and had to flip the power steering box out of the way.

And to everyone who bitches about that style of header. Then don't buy them. They do fit. If you are willing to do the work to get them in. They don't drag if your car isn't unreasonably low. And mine only leaked occasionally for the first month, like all headers do as they fit to the head. I checked them once a week for the first month. Then once a month after. I haven't had to tighten them since that first month.

Around here 700 bucks should by you at least 7 hours of shop time. I got my headers hung in 4 hours in a garage. That shop knew before lunch if those headers were going to fit or not. They had lots of time to at least put the car back the way you brought it. You paid 700 bucks to get your car back in WORSE condition. Bottom line.
 
Been about 15 years or so since i put my Hookers on. I just had to have Hooker Headers once in my life. 72 Swinger, 904, 318, power steering, column shift, just about everything that can get in the way. I forgot, power brakes also. I broke 2 exhaust studs off under the brake booster to start with. Well, looks like time for head gaskets too and off to the machine shop they went, the heads that is. I read the directions as if they were a Tolstoy novel, didn't miss a word. I got the propper sized allen head bolts for the flanges, I learned from past experiences. Jacked that bad boy up as high as the jack stands would hold it, full size oil filter was in the way on the passenger side. No problem, Fram has options. Passenger's side on in no time. The instructions failed to mention one little thing, the drag link has to pass THROUGH the headers. Once I figured that out it was a simple matter of undoing the motor mounts, jacking the motor up, and on they went. The headers do reduce the ground clearance substantially. I had to take the torsion bars up a couple of turns and get the front end aligned. Glory be, Santa Maria is pretty dang flat, so it's LOADED with concrete cross gutters in the streets. Other than that, no problem, I couldn't run the Purple Hornies though, crossmember interference issues, damm the luck. From the collectors back, told the muffler shop "Turbo mufflers, over the differential and chop them off". There is even a Turbo muffler sized cavity under there that worked well.
 
67autocross said:
So if someone suppliess shop with a part and it doesn't fit the shop should just eat the labour ...I'm actually surprised they would quote you, I would charge by the hour and keep going until they fit or you ran out of money.
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I guess where you come from, you rip people off. Down here in the south, we care about people, so yes, shops here would have eaten it and not charged a dime, plus he would have gotten his car back right........

But then down here, we wouldda put the headers ON.
 
Lustle said:
Then the shop shouldn't accept the job. They accepted the job knowing the customer bought the parts. That's on the shop. Not the customer. And even that aside. You're telling me for 700 bucks the shop couldn't get the steering back at 0 and the alignment done? Especially when they realized they couldn't finish the job?

Yeah. I did hookers myself in a garage (sort of) and guess what? The steering is dead center and the alignment is near perfect. And yes. I pulled the column, dropped most of the steering linkage and had to flip the power steering box out of the way.

And to everyone who bitches about that style of header. Then don't buy them. They do fit. If you are willing to do the work to get them in. They don't drag if your car isn't unreasonably low. And mine only leaked occasionally for the first month, like all headers do as they fit to the head. I checked them once a week for the first month. Then once a month after. I haven't had to tighten them since that first month.

Around here 700 bucks should by you at least 7 hours of shop time. I got my headers hung in 4 hours in a garage. That shop knew before lunch if those headers were going to fit or not. They had lots of time to at least put the car back the way you brought it. You paid 700 bucks to get your car back in WORSE condition. Bottom line.
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If you can do all that work in 4 hours more power to you! What model number of hooker headers are you using with power steering in a A body?
 
67autocross said:
If you can do all that work in 4 hours more power to you! What model number of hooker headers are you using with power steering in a A body?
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5901. And as I understand it 4 hours is about average for a couple of guys doing it at home.

RustyRatRod said:
I guess where you come from, you rip people off. Down here in the south, we care about people, so yes, shops here would have eaten it and not charged a dime, plus he would have gotten his car back right........

But then down here, we wouldda put the headers ON.
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I could see the shop not wanting to eat it if he did buy the wrong headers. But still, they shouldn't have agreed to do it then. And $700 bucks? The shop should have known LONG before that if the headers would fit or not. It becomes fairly obvious fairly quickly. And how long does it take to get the column back in straight and do an alignment? Half an hour?

Sounds like the guys gave up early. Slapped the car back together. And charged him full price anyways.
 
67autocross said:
So if someone suppliess shop with a part and it doesn't fit the shop should just eat the labour ...I'm actually surprised they would quote you, I would charge by the hour and keep going until they fit or you ran out of money.
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That's exactly what they should do, eat the labor.

They gave a quote for a completed job and didn't complete the job. Doesn't matter if they spent a day, a week, a month or a year. They didn't do the job, they don't get paid.

As for the customer supplied parts, it's still the shops responsibility to check to make sure they have the right parts. Nowadays that should take all of 5 minutes, Google the part number, download the instructions, check and make sure they're the right part for the application. If they didn't have the right parts, they shouldn't have even started the job. They should have returned the parts and the car and told the customer to supply the right parts. They definitely shouldn't have had the car a week if they didn't have the right parts. And if they started the job and then realized they had the wrong parts, they should have called the customer right then and there and straightened it out.

And yes, I used to work in a family run auto restoration shop. We gave quotes for a lot of jobs straight off the book hours. On 50+ year old cars that sometimes means you spend 3 days doing a 6 hour job. Not the customer's fault the bolts were rusted up and had to be soaked and hot wrenched. If we missed it and quoted the book then it's on us at that point. Sometimes that's what the job takes. Sometimes you beat the book, sometimes the book beats you. That's how that crap works.

Sorry, but if they kept the car a week, didn't do the job, didn't call and explain the situation, and didn't put the car back the way they got it they shouldn't get paid. They shouldn't have even asked to be paid on an incomplete job, they should have returned the car and apologized for not getting the job done. Period.
 
If you lived closer I would tell you to come over to my garage and we would get them in. I have a lift and all my tools from when I used to wrench. My buddy has a Lazer alignment rack too.
 
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