Ya, I know, been beat to death. This is more of a question about a particular set of relatively expensive headers. I need to get BBO headers for the build Mark Remmel is doing for me at the moment. This is going in my '70.

Does anyone have experience with Nick Filipides (American Racing Headers) 2" primary stainless headers in their car? Fit? Interference issues? I know that Nick has had high quality in the past (I have his BBO in a Gbody set from when he was at Kooks) and I am hoping that the quality is still there.

Anyone else running them? For $1634, they are probably really nice...

 

ARH are probably the best header available for an Oldsmobile.

 

I can say that Nick took on a set of water jet cut Batten Flanges personally and made a custom set of headers for me.

Our headers came out very nice and he didn’t charge any more than a standard set of regular BBO headers he sells. Heck, he even made some minor changes that I requested.

WITHOUT A DOUBT, I will buy from him again if I need something he makes or I will ask him what he recommends. As well, I will always give a glowing reference for him and his team.

His headers are not cheap, but a dang nice guy who has a reputation for stellar quality and taking care of customers.


Before I asked ARH, I had poked around and the cheapest set of full custom headers (not stainless) would have been over $3,000….

As for an off the shelf header that will last a lifetime, is made in the USA, makes excellent power, has a choice of primary tube diameter, and an excellent designed merge collector, you won’t find better.

There is no weld slag or crappy and thin warped flanges like other headers made in Mexico ( Hooker) or China, and ARH headers don’t leak.

 

I have the 1 3/4” ARH’s in my ‘71 442, they fit well, the 2” version should fit about the same.

 

That clinches it. I am definitely going to just spend the money correctly and go with Iraqi Bob (Nick) since his stuff is really the best out there. I saw that he is building a bigass facility in rural NC outside Charlotte that has broken ground. Should be a really sweet setup for him and his family.

I sent an email through the website, but not sure how well those things work or how often they are checked if they do work. I will likely just call soon. I have some questions that I need answered so I can order what I need. Those questions were:
1. Can I get these with an O2 sensor bung installed in a location to be specified by me?
2. How much more for polished stainless?
3. I have a factory console floor shift so do these clear the column linkage for the ignition key lock?
4. And finally, what's the lead time from order date?

I love my BBO in a Gbody headers he made way back when he was still at Kooks. I also saw that he has complete A-body exhaust too. I already have that, but if there are any issues, I'll consider the complete exhaust too...

 

Did you have to take the car to him to build the headers? The reason I ask is that I wanted him to make a set of 2" primary small block headers but, he wanted the car in his possession to do it.

 

My ARH headers are compatible with the stock MT Zbar, I installed the WBO sensor just beyond the collector in the X pipe, but saw a thread on the Holley forum about installing the WBO inside the collector, interesting stuff.

 

I can't seem to find a picture on my device! But I have ARH on my 1970 442 for years. They are 2" flange 3 1/5 only problem is I should have cut the slot on the ends for better access install to back bolts tight fit. I use no header gasket skim coating of RTV. This is a street strip car. I posted it somewhere on this site in the race forum but it was years ago. Other than that these are the best headers period.

 

Nope, he built them with the idea that the ports are raised vs regular olds heads and overall the fit is really very good for not having the car there in person for him to fab off of.

He seems to be a real perfectionist and I am sure he would prefer to have the car there to ensure the best fit possible.

 

ARH’s are undoubtedly a very nice header. But they won’t add any more power than a similar set of Hookers etc. And you can’t do any real break in or Dyno pulls with them. They WILL discolor and not go back, and they don’t warranty against that. Just an fyi.

 

I actually think they look better when they get some color to them.

 

I would not use the expensive headers on a run stand or dyno. I wanna use cheap headers for the dyno just to make sure there are no issues with the components in the build (infant mortality). I'd rather do that than try to get max numbers on a dyno. Whatever numbers we get will be with whatever headers we have available and the report will reflect that. I already did the run stand thing with the Nick F headers I had for the silver car. Yep, the Jet Hot coating discolored some. I have multiple sets of headers we can use for the dyno session if necessary.

 

We’ll be using my Dyno headers anyway. They’re dressed with 8 EGT’s and dual widebands.

 

Oh yeah, duh, I forgot about that.

 

Stainless steel headers protect bore finish engine builders could tell if the engine was run with steel headers or stainless steel headers.