American Racing Header Install and Review

To make a long story bearable, I was fed up with JBA headers and all the leaking issues I was having with them. This led me to seek out a higher quality header. Something that had a good build quality, a proven performance record, will last, and (most importantly) will not leak. If you want to read more about my exp with JBA, the read this thread:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/jba-rant-back-to-the-drawing-board-with-headers-kooks-arh-afe.43373/

After doing my research, my 3 options were aFe, American Racing Headers, and Kooks.

I have a friend that owns a performance shop here in town that swears by Kooks. I have personally seen them and attest to their qualities. However, the quote was over 3k for my build, so they were quickly ruled out. Ironically, a follow up call from Kooks (after I already placed my other order) and they said there was no way it should have been over 3k. Im like well…..i am looking at the quote and it is…. She said it should have been around 2k and even with their max options would have topped at 2500. Oh well I said…I digress

aFe seemed like an attractive option. It was the best priced of the 3 options. But for some reason, I just could not find out enough information and never felt comfortable going with them. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because they did not specify the grade of stainless they use. Seems like that would be important to list. I sent an email out but got no response. So they were out.

American Racing Headers were calling out to me. They seemed to be heavily focused on the customer experience and genuinely cared about making a product that performs well. The first email I sent them was followed up by a phone call from the owner of the Company, Nick. From there, he was very responsive to my questions and made my decision really easy. So I ordered the ARH and waited.

 

After nearly 3 weeks from the day I placed my order these showed up at my door. Keep in mind that they are built to order. Also they are shipped with a signature required so make sure you plan for that.

Immediately I unboxed them and looked over everything. First thing I noticed is that there are not any gaskets included. So I ended up buying the factory MLS gaskets for the head interface and the donut gaskets for the catback interface. Also, you may want to buy a tube of Permatex Optimum Grey for the Collector joints and the slip joint (driver side mid pipe is 2 pieces joined by a slip joint and clamp). It may not leak, but I only want to do this once.

I am a degreed and work as a mechanical engineer (9 years), but I have also worked in a machine shop (2.5 years) and as a Autobody Tech (7 years). I am really picky about things because I have high expectations as well as a good understanding of how things are made. That being said, I had a couple minor gripes about the headers.

The first issue was the blatant ovality of the collector flange. I could see this with my eye, but def showed with a caliper and even more with a mock fit-up. This was my only real concern with anything that would adversely affect the performance and seal of the system. I know the clamps will correct this to some degree, but I did not want to get these all the way installed to find out that there would be an issue later.

My other minor issues were the finish on the headers. These were pretty minor, but I felt they were worth bringing up with ARH. First was the tooling marks all over the tubes. It’s mostly cosmetic, but some of them were pretty deep. I feel like the techs could have taken a few minutes to clean this up before placing the tubes in the jig fixture. But I am not building a show truck. Just worth mentioning if these things matter to you. The second, which I was assured was not an issue, was the surface finish on the head interface flange. I felt like it was a bit on the rough side. Although I was assure it was fine, I still took the time to smooth it out a bit with a flat file and some 180 grit paper.

I called Nick to discuss these. He apologized and said the ovality should have never gotten passed QC. I knew what I wanted to do to fix it, but I wanted to see what he recommended before messing anything up. Turns out we were on the same page. Line the jaws of a vice with some wood and squeeze it back round. So I did just that. It took a good bit of persuasion, but it worked. It certainly wanted to spring back oval each time. Had to really over shoot it to get it to spring back to a round shape. Given the amount of force this took in the clamp, I am not sure the exhaust clamps would have corrected this issue.

As far as the tooling marks go, basically it was just a FYI for him how I felt. To be fair, Nick did offer to build me another set of headers, but I did not want to wait. He also offered me a credit, which I declined. I was not out for free stuff. I just care about things and thought he would like to know.

 

Now on to the fun part, the install. There is nothing terribly fun about installing headers on these trucks. This was my second time installing headers on the truck and the 3rd total time (a shop attempted the second time with the JBA’s), so I fully know what to expect at this point.

Off with the JBA. You had your chance. Now be gone. All of the hardware was really tight, yet it leaked.

 

Once thing you should do before putting the new headers in is to ensure the head interface is really clean. I used some solvent and a grey scotch brite pad to really scrub this interface clean. There is quite a bit of exhaust buildup on there. It sucks trying to reach in there, but I feel it is important to make sure it is clean and flat.

 

Another interesting point is that the port on the head is much smaller that the port on the header flange. I did not measure it, but its prob a good 3/8” smaller

 

Install was pretty straightforward. I would note that these were much easier to install than the JBA at the point where you have to slide them over the studs and on the head. It is a really tight fit to get them in there. The raised welds on the JBA headers love to get caught on the studs when trying to get in place. It’s incredibly frustrating. There was no issue on the ARH since they are a flat face design.

Total time to get the old headers out and the new ones installed and torqued was around 6 hours.

 

Now on to the easy part, the mid pipes. Passenger side fit up and bolted on perfectly. The Toyota donut gasket works, however I feel it was a bit tricky to get it to line up since there is nothing to centralize it like the factor exhaust did. There is a better option, and I’ll get to it in a minute.


As previously stated, the driver side is 2 pieces. Put the first piece on and it goes on nicely. Go to put on the second piece and it doesn’t even come close to lining up with my TRD catback. I mean it overshoots the flange by a good 18”. Basically I have open headers now. I am pissed. All this work and I am 5 minutes from being done. Plus it is getting late on a Saturday. And now I cannot drive my truck. I literally hop on my bicycle and ride to pep boys to buy the cheapest muffler I can find. Slap it on there and now at least I can drive, but boy is it ghetto.

 

I have to wait until Monday to talk to ARH, but in the meantime I learn that Toyota made a change to the exhaust in 2010. Although the ARH headers claimed to fit the 07 and up, that turned out to not be correct. Speaking with ARH, they did not account for this in their design, nor were they aware of it. They said most people that install the headers also install their catback exhaust. So any variance in the systems would be negated by installing their full system (or any later model cat back).


Well since I already have a catback, designed for my year truck, that doesn’t really apply or fly with me. Plus I don’t really want to spend another $$$ on a new catback I don’t really need.

 

So how do we fix this? Nick (ARH) has a good idea that there is a shop here in Houston they deal with a lot called Fastlane Performance. He makes a call and they agree to take my truck in. Nick is going to overnight ship them a box of mandrel bent tubing and flanges to they can fabricate me a proper mid-pipe. Nick is also going to pay for the work to be done. Awesome. I am ok with this, but I ask Nick if he thinks that the quality of work will be there. He assures me they do top notch work and that I will be happy. I drop off the truck on a Wednesday afternoon and catch Ubers for the next 2 days.


When I go to pick up my truck that Friday, the shop manager seems cool with everything. I grab my keys and head out. The other person working there asked me to leave a review for them if I am happy with their work. I told them I suppose I better go make sure I am happy with their work. I go out under the truck and my heart just sinks. Ughhhh they butchered it. They did not use any of the mandrel bent pipe Nick sent. They just angry bent the pipe in the general direction of the flange. This wrinkled and distorted the pipe. Then they just hacked off the excess pipe and booger welded the flange back on. It looked awful in person. I was so let down. I showed the manager and just told him that was completely unacceptable. He agreed it looked bad and that he would have to speak to the shop owner and see what they were going to do. I still have not received a call back in 3 weeks. I did leave the review they asked for though!

 

I reach back out to Nick and ask him if he would be happy with that. Of course not. After a short conversation and another stroke of genius, we come up with a better solution. The midpipe looks like garbage, but at least the endpoints are where they should go and it follows the correct path now. He agrees to send me an overnight packing label. Ill pull the midpipe and ship to him overnight. He promises to make a fixture for it, make me a proper piece, and overnight it back to me. It’s a win-win. I get the proper piece, and he gets the R&D done for a proper Fixture for this application. So we do just that and it works out perfectly. Now I have the proper fitting and looking piece on my truck. And it’s the first one of its kind apparently. Back to the donut gasket, I noticed Fastlane Performance ditched the donut gasket for a 2.5” 2 bolt flange gasket. I am not sure where they got it from, but it was really thick and conformed well to the interface. The ARH flange is flat, where the Toyota side has a slight recess for the donut. This gaskets fits well in there.

 

Overall, the system is really nice and I feel it outperforms the JBA system by my feel of the truck. The sound profile has changed with the 3” midpipes and high flow cats. I think it is perfect. Its only really noticeable on hard throttle, but def has a more aggressive note. The big thing for me is customer support. Nick at ARH was there every step of the way whenever I had issues. He stepped up and made things right. It did end up costing me about 100 extra dollars in cheapo muffler and Uber fees, but I did get a 10% discount when I initially bought it so I guess that is good. Nick did say he would reimburse me, but he has been really cool about making everything right so I don’t really care about it anymore. Plus I think the challenge of making it all work given the situation made for a more interesting experience.


Just to be sure it was good, I rigged up the same system I used on the JBA’s to check for leaks. Just reversed a shop vac and blew in to the tail pipe. Sprayed down all the joints with soapy water and check for bubbles. Sure enough it was bubble tight. Not like the JBA that were blowing bubbles all over my driveway.


If you want a system that is built well, fits well, and the company will stand behind their product, the go with ARH. JBA couldn’t care less about their inferior product or that there is a large population of people out there using their products that are experiencing all these leaking issues. Installing headers is something you def only want to do once. Do it right.

 

Glad it all worked out for you, brother. This is probably one of the best posts I’ve seen around these parts. I have hesitated on getting headers because I’m afraid of the excess noise it creates when towing but now I wonder if it would be that bad. I threw a set of kooks in my CTSV and boy were they nice but pricey.

 

Great write-up!

Is this the direct connect system listed on the ARH web site?
https://americanracingheaders.com/c...ota-tundra-2006-up-direct-connect-long-system

I spoke with Nick about the muffler change you mentioned and even sent him pictures of the muffler on my '07 over a month ago... he assured me his system would not present the problems you just encountered and offered me a 10% discount if I ordered right then. Nope.

After seeing how this played out for you, I am glad that I waited. I am also glad to hear Nick is working with you, and it sounds like they will update the kit for the early trucks like yours and mine.

What Cat-back are you using now?

Thanks!

 

Yeah it would only work if you bought their whole system head to tail. Otherwise you would have been in the same situation i was in. But yeah. Now they have the fixture for the 07-09. Assuming that it is the same as my RCSB. I am running the OG TRD catback.

 

great review on a product/company CS.

 

Thanks for the great write up! Keep us posted on long term satisfaction. Peace. D

 

Did you order 1-3/4" or 1-7/8" ?

 

1-3/4 based on some discussions I had with local tuners.

 

I plan on installing these headers w/the full system in a couple weeks when they come in. Awesome write-up and I'm definitely going to communicate to the shop to look out for the issues you unfortunately had. Thank You!

 

I don’t feel it added any excessive noise. You’ll def notice it more since it’s a different design and you’ll no longer have the heat shields there. Those shields also act a bit as a sound insulator. If anything, I think it adds a “crisp” (for a lack of a better term) note to the exhaust. Almost like a really mild cam.

 

Could you, or Nick post the new ARH part number for the Direct Connect
long tube kit that includes this new midpipe for the 2007 thru 2009 RCSB?

Thank you.

 

No idea what that is. that would be on them to release whenever they are ready to.

 

@swank501 (or American Racing Headers for that matter) I have some questions that I can't find answers for:

1. How much power do they make?
2. Where on the power band are the gains?
3. What is the difference between 1-3/4" or 1-7/8" primaries???

 

Awesome write-up! I've always wanted to do headers but you have confirmed my fears on why I won't. Glad the customer service from ARH is top notch. Seems like it all could have gone south really fast. Do you feel like it was worth it overall compared to the factory manifold/header?

 

1. How much power do they make? Not sure and dont really have a baseline to tell you. I will have it Dyno'd when i get tuned. I have a dyno baseline from a while ago, but would not be reliable on just the header upgrade.
2. Where on the power band are the gains?
Not really sure, but seems to be in the 1500 and up range.
3. What is the difference between 1-3/4" or 1-7/8" primaries??
Not really sure in terms of scientific difference, but the general response i got was 1-7/8 was only for higher hp apps in excess of 600hp

 

Well, i never really wanted to do this, but my factory catalytic converter broke and it made sense to upgrade from a financial perspective. The hp gains and sound improvement is really nice.

 

The manufacturer should have all of this information available to the buying public, reconsider buying if they don't.

 

I too had questions around these in terms of performance gains across the power band. I emailed ARH on my lunch today and received a call from the owner Nick within 20mins no joke what does that say for customer service.

We chatted a bit and while there is no public data for power gains he did say when comparing the header size within his product line the 1-7/8 out performed the 1-3/4 on a stock engine by a noticeable amount. Again didn't have anything to share in numbers still. He did recommend connecting with Dustin at DAP saying he should have this info at hand due to his experience with them.

Not sure if Dustin at DAP is a member here or not but would be cool to chime in with results. I for one wouldn't mind paying extra for a quality header that outperforms and out last it's market competition most importantly easier to INSTALL.

 

i talked to dusti talked to dustin at dap on a facebook post in his group about the size difference on the 1-7/8 to 1-3/4 he stated that the 1-7/8 would be better for a boosted application that on a stock engine you would see better results with the 1-3/4 inch. with hearing what the owner said though to you has sparked my interest in the power differences now

 

Nick initially told me to go with the 1-7/8 over the 1-3/4". However the next time i called and spoke with another guy there and he told me 1-3/4. DAP also told me 1-3/4". Was told there may be a slight loss on low end torque if they are sized too large. I dont think you could go wrong with either, i guess do your own research and make an informed decision.