Doug Thorley Headers Fitment. Show me your ball Flanges.

Agree DT is the best option. And the flange design has nothing to do with my issue.

In short The same fitment issues I’ve raised and pics I’ve posted were sent tho thorley.
They asked me to send them in. I have emails stating they were going to fix them.
I get them back and I have the same issues.
DT will NOT respond to emails and will not return calls.


I had to pay shipping, wait a month and counting, got a design I don’t need or didn’t order, the part they replaced had nothing to do with my issue, looks like there was some corners cut on the “replacement”.


Just hope you don’t get unlucky enough to receive a wonky set because DT doesn’t seem to follow through.

 

I have an engine on a stand right now with some Doug thorleys on it. I’ll bolt up the crossover pipe tomorrow and add some pics for you at the crossover/cylinder head.

 

As promised, below are some pics of the DT headers on an engine that is on a stand.

Passenger side header/crossover connection:



Visible gap between crossover and cylinder head:



Same crossover gap with tape measure with reference:



drivers side header to crossover connection:



visible light at the pass. side header/crossover connection (flashlight shined upwards into bottom of crossover pipe:



Edit to show the part number plate on the drivers side:

 

Thanks for going out of your way to do that!

I sent a novel of an email to them today and I finally got that phone call. Dude was nice and explained a few things but maintained that my headers fit the fixture when they had them.

With the way the conversation went Im just going to have to install them and try to run them. I don’t have much of a choice really.

And honestly this whole thing has left me so exhausted and im just so ready to get my truck back on the road and out of my backup ride I spent a few hours after work getting it together. Im just so sick of thinking about it.

He was adamant that they they still have a warranty if I have issues after install and they won’t leave me hanging.

Yours definitely looks more straight and exactly how I’d assume they should look though.

I’ll admit that I’m able to get more room between the crossover and cylinder head. I used a 5GL paint stick stUck back there so I wouldn’t have to pay any attention while lining everything up But the flanges are noticeably wonky no matter how I do.

 

Hmm I’ve installed a couple sets and one had a defective y pipe. They sent me another overnight.


Granted this was 7 years ago now. My set on the 01 was spot in. Shit must if changed over there since

 

I know exactly what you mean dude. Mine has been down since Halloween and, as much as I love my S4, I’m really itchin’ to get back into the taco.

hopefully the headers will cinch down correctly and fall in line. Super annoying flipping over open ended wrenched to just the smallest amount of movement. What a pain.

 

This is just how mine is.

The bolts aren’t uneven because ones tighter than the other. It’s because of the way that flare sits on male end. I have to crank down on the inner side to close the gap. I tried to explain this but Jamie at DT didn’t seem too concerned with it.

 

Is it disconnected from the cats in this pic? That’s definitely a significant misalignment. Have you tried fully tightening the drivers side down first in an attempt to pull the crossover pipe over a little?

 

An S4? I’m driving grandpas 97 Deville I had to bring back from the dead. It’s in good shape and the seats are great but, I mean, it’s a 97 Deville.

 

Oof. I get it now. Those things are super comfy though, sucks in every other category. Is it a windstar V8?

 

Yes. Nothing attached further down.

I don’t think I tried like fully cranking down but I did try snugging it up. Nothing seemed to change.

 

Yessir. Low mileage northstar. Still has no balls.

 

well damn, maybe it’s an out of wack crossover pipe like @Empty_Lord experienced in the past.

 

Probably so. Or maybe not. Who knows.

I was told it fit the fixture more than once now. What does a fixture look like? How are they actually test fitting? Are they looking at every angle like we are? Or are they just holding the Y/crossover up to the flanges and saying “yep”

I’m just going to try and run them. If I get leaks then I’ll have to go through this all over again. Hoping that won’t happen.

 

Now that customer service!

I don’t expect an overnight shipment, especially with how crazy rates are at the moment, but my experience has still been the very opposite. I know what being busy is like and there’s all this stuff coming at you some things fall by the wayside. But damnit it’s been frustrating.

Maybe my situation is that unavoidable order where no matter what you do it’s just sorta fucked and it just kind of sucks for everybody.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they think I’m just needlessly being a pain in the ass because I “must not be doing it right” and I making a mountain out of a molehill. But I can’t see any other way of making it work other than forcing it into position.

If you have dicked around with these things enough you know what I mean when I say I can hook up the driver side and “swing” that Y pipe up and down. Or move it in and out of the passenger flange. No matter what, even if I leave the herders on either side sorta loose, semi loose, or no nuts at all I get that out-of-alignment flange.

Hell, I can completely remove the driver header and it still will not go on straight.

So I think either the passenger header is too short, the flange on the header side is crooked, or the Y pipe bends are not aggressive enough in the right places.

 

Pun intended? ;D

 

got everything torqued and tightened the best I could. We’ll see what happens.

 

Good luck

 

Leaky leaky…?

 

Easy dude. Don’t jinx it.

Aiming to be done Friday night. Still gotta get the cat welded to the flange, change the oil, put the supercharger on, add coolant etc and all the other little things.