Disclaimer: This is not to bash Strup. This is to show my findings from opening up my brand new Strup header.


So I purchased a Strup header for my xB on Sunday and it has arrived a few hours ago from UPS. After unpacking it and checking it out, I have to say "Where is the wonderful construction people have been raving about?"

First, the inside of the collector looks like garbage. The welds arent smooth at all and it appears they just pile slag up in the middle to seal it. If thats the way you have to build it, fine but you should go in there and smooth it out a bit before shipping it to a customer.

The second more disturbing thing is that as soon as I glanced at the mounting flange, I could tell with my naked eye that it wasnt straight.

I took a straight edge from my brothers tool box (He is a machinist, his straightedge is straighter than any ruler or square you buy from Sears) and sure enough, the flange is out, quite a bit. I measured 1/8th of a inch from end to end being out of line. You can start at one of the header and "rock" the straight edge across mounting flange. Luckily, my brother is a machinist and can correct the problem with the flange and I can clean up the welds but if this is supposed to be the best header, Id hate to see what others look like.
Here are some pics of the header.



It was tough to hold everything straight and get the right angle to show the gap but I hope the dark backround helps.

Anyone else find a problem with their Strup header?

 

Did you try contacting them about your problem? They have A+ customer service and I am sure your problem will be taken care of.

 

I havent yet. I have heard they have good service. I will most likely contact them tomorrow or Friday but the thing is, if you have any type of quality control your headers wouldnt be out of square this much.

 

my megan header is the bomb!

i've always doubted strup products and when i've installed their headers they were fine but nothing to rave about.

 

after what happened to Stu's tc header, i wont go near megan stuff.

 

I have the DC Sports the welds are awesome too bad to hear about you strup. It seems even if they have good customer service and get you a new one it's still inconvenient for you. Good luck.

 

I have the DC and it was perfect and the install was cake. It sucks that you spent that kind of cash and it's not perfect.

 

DC sports owners- Did you guys bother to check the straightness of the mounting flange? I picked up two DC headers that I had laying around in my garage for other cars and they were not straight either. They werent quite as bad as this Strup, but still out.

 

I am sorry to hear about your Strup header not being top quality, that sucks. I checked my strup header before I installed it and it was just slightly off but the gap was less than 1/16" and that was acceptable to me.

 

stu had the OLD version of the Megan header, there is a lot of people that have the Catless version who love their header, and havent had a single problem with it.

 

I can honestly say no i didn't check my DC, figured there was nothing to worry about. But now i wonder, hmmm. I know there is no leak at either end, but there still could be an issue with the staightness.

 

Sorry about your experience.

I know that this may sound weird, but I judge a lot of companies by their website.

Too often do I see Scion parts manufacturers with half-built sites, broken links, incomplete information, etc. which just leads me to go elsewhere.

I know that sometimes small businesses don't have full-time web-designers, but just pay once to come up with a clean, informative design..........please!

 

I was thinking about going with Strup H/E setup since it is in the sponsored sales section right now. I think I'll hold off to see how this incident turns out.

 

i think you are overdoing yourself here..... whether the welds on the inside are picture perfect or not, the strup still performs better and sounds better than any other out there..... and if the welds on the outter part dont meet your expectations then i'd like to see some pics of welds that you approve of...... the flange doesnt need to be exactly straight, if it were then when you tightened it down the gasket would not seal correctly... also if you plan on tightening it so loose that it would not suck it down flat then you shouldnt be doing the install in the first place

 

ummm the megan tc header and the megan xa/xb header are completely different.

 

from installing multiple headers on xb's they all pretty much sound the same and all pretty much have the same hp hop up.


and try looking for an xb header shootout, there pretty much isnt one. and if theres one that puts the strup over the top it's probably sponsoered by strup. it's a good piece but it's not worth the extra money it sells for.

 

agreed but, i'm sponsored by partshippers....

 

can't beat that

 

WOW my cheap ___ OBX from ebay looked better than that.

 

I know.
Obviously. I guess you've never heard of stories about people that Megan sponsors who have complain about their products on their cars? Or perhaps the interview where a driver was quoted in regards to his Megan parts as saying something along the lines of "well, many on the team would like something a lot better, some better quality but these guys pay the bills and their parts just about do the job".

either way, i wouldnt touch it.


whoa little buddy, I never said the outer welds didn't meet my expectations but I can tell you this- there are far better welds on headers out there. Go look up any header made by Trial. Where or who ever taught you that a exhaust flange isn't supposed to be flat? Thats the funniest thing I've read here in awhile.

Lastly, I wont turn this into a flame war but I wouldn't worry about my installation abilities.