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New Torque Monster Headers- Follow Up

YoungMounty

Well-Known Member
Joined
April 4, 2010
Messages
315
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City, State
Alabama
Year, Model & Trim Level
'97 Mounty 5.0 V8 AWD
Alright, some of you know about the new release TMHs from Al's Headers in Anaheim, California. Some of you don't. This thread, I hope will clear up some confusion for those that, like me, are/were skeptical.

I heard from a member on here to contact Erica at Al's Headers for the TMHs because Bob doesn't deal with them anymore (leads me to believe Bob got them from Al's all along). I was skeptical, nobody had been this route before, but I bit the bullet and ordered. $734 to my door for the up to 1996 1/2 model 5.0s. $834 for years after that. The communication was great and the headers arrived a little later than estimated, about 4 weeks total; this scared me at first, thought I had been swindled but Erica stayed in touch with me the whole time and I had a tracking number so it was all good.

The TMHs arrived and I couldn't stop looking at them, but this "conveniently" fell right on when I started college. So being extremely busy with class and everything I shopped around for installation prices. I went to 8 mechanic shops in my town and they all said no, no price no nothing... just a flat no. I went to a local 4x4 shop and was quoted $360, not quite out of my price range but I had one place left to go to, a place that's been in town for a while. This shop had been around so long the did exhaust work on a Cutlass my dad had back in the 70s... o_O

I rolled up to this shop and the guy fell in love with the headers, you could tell he truly loved everything to do with cars, he didn't want to put them down! He quoted me $160 on the spot. I tried to keep my cool but it was pretty clear I was excited. We made a plan to meet the following Monday and I would hand over my keys. I left it there for 5 days, getting back on Friday (I actually rushed them to get it off the lift Friday so I could have my car for that weekend, the proved to be a mistake).

I started driving and noticed a burning rubber-ish smell and it was sputtering with a flashing CEL and a really, REALLY rough idle. Funny thing is, I had been through this before and knew immediately what it was.... spark plug wire. I bought a new set and went ahead and replaced all of them, putting heat socks on them, and carefully routing them. 2 of the old ones were burnt in half and 2 more were charred and snapped in half when I went to pull them off. I had been running on 4 cylinders pretty much haha :D

I've been driving with the headers on and the new wires for a little over a week and I can't begin to describe the difference. Acceleration is phenomenal, highway driving is a whole different game, and gas mileage (when I'm not romping on it) has increased by about 2-3 mpg.

For a little background my mods include lift, 31x10.50 tires, CAI custom exhaust work all the way back (minus two cats) brush guard, winch, rack, etc. These headers are like driving a new car. IT CAN BREATH!!

My mpg calculations have been made using my ultra gauge (Ultra-Gauge) which I trust fairly well. When I get on the gas the mpg is about 13 (what it was before) and when I drive normally (aggressively) it is about 15-16.

Worthy upgrade, any questions ask away.

Also, I bought the ARP bolt set suggested by another member and also because I always here good things about ARP bolts.

Ask away!
 



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Nice to hear man. I ordered mine from Erica about two weeks ago. I did so much research on these things, to see if they were worth buying and your just one of the many who have said its a night and day difference. I also am a college student and full time worker. My friends and I plan to put them on in a weekend (hopefully). I can't wait to see how they sound and feel.
 






Every time I hear about these headers, it makes me wish my Ex were all back together so I could get some and try them out. Unfortunately, that's still at least six months away :( Good to hear that the "replacement" sourcing is still the same quality though.
 






@andrew - I'd give it a little more than a weekend. I mean, maybe working 12 hours a day on em you could do it but it took the shop 5 days to do mine. I guess it just comes down to how comfortable you are with engine work.

@obie - I hate to hear that man! Hopefully it won't take the full 6 months haha but in regards to the quality, they are the EXACT same product Bob was sending out from the boxes, the bolts, gaskets, and the headers (even down to the welded on logo thing).
 






@andrew - I'd give it a little more than a weekend.

I did mine in a day. They did kick my a$$ though, but I got them in. Most of my exhaust bolts were already loose, some not even finger tight.
 






Well I hope to do mine in a two day period. I have seen the write ups on the forums and have the materials to do it. Only problem I see is getting the inner fender wells off and the bolts on the passenger side exhaust manifold. I will do a few videos of before and after. Just to see if the performance and sound actually show a change.
 






I am looking into getting a set of these for my explorer can someone give me the contact information to contact Erica
 






Erica @ Al's Headers
e-mail: alsheaders@att.net
ph:714-630-1833
fx:714-630-6531

Email always works, phone sometimes.
Mine are all made, she just can't ship them right now because of a death in the family.
Good luck. Its great service, just be prepared to wait a few weeks. They are made to order.
 












Made to order? I wonder if we could get a better prince ordering them in a batch of 10?
 






No idea. You could call and ask, but it's too late for me. Otherwise when you call and give them your money they begin making them. Takes about 2-3 weeks.
 






I'm wondering the same thing about a bunch of us getting together and placing a group order and maybe saving a few bucks. I don't think it would be too hard to find a dozen or so of us who want a set. I know I do. I'm going to try and get in touch with Erica tomorrow and find out. I'll repost tomorrow evening with any news.
 






If they did a group order, it would be great. Weren't these headers around six hundred or so when they first came out? For the ones I need they're now 845, which is still a large amount of money even despite their quality. Sign me up though if they do say yes.
 






Erica will get back to you pretty quickly. As to the price concern, $750ish for 1995-1997 1/2, $850 for 1997 1/2-2001 (I think). I don't know if these were original prices or not.
 






Yep, they sure don't give these things away. I've paid that much for headers before, but there was usually a car already attached to them. I've always been a 5.0 Mustang guy too and headers for my Foxes have always been cheap and a dime a dozen. Every company under the sun was making them. I've always been surprised that there aren't more header options for the 5.0 Explorers.
I'll let you know what I find out tomorrow.
 






Did someone say "group buy"? If the discount is decent, I'M IN!

~Matt.
 






I just emailed Erica and told her about our plan to get a bunch of us together to do a group buy if we could get a discount. I asked her to tell me how many orders she would need and how much we could save. So now the ball's in their court and I await her reply. The moment I hear I will post it right here. If they agree and the price is right we will have to get organized and start taking orders.
 






Erica got back to me and gave me the current regular prices. For earlier models it's $690.00, and for newer models with external EGR it's $790.00. Those are both plus $45.00 s/h.
She was going to sit down with Al and discuss my email and decide what they can do for us, but it sounds promising. I'll let you all know. Start saving your pennies.
 









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Ok guys, it's official. I heard back from Erica and Al's willing to give us a good deal if we do a 'group buy' on the Torque Monsters. And the more guys we get, the better the deal. Erica wanted to know if I had a number in mind so that she could give me a price. I told her that I figured a dozen would be a start and we'd go from there. I told her that I would see what kind of response I got on here over the next few days and have a better idea.
So here's what I'm thinking. I'm going to start a new post tonight dedicated solely to getting the names of guys who are serious about getting themselves a set of Torque Monster headers and saving a few bucks. I figure that we take a month to take members' names and specifics and be ready to place our order for Feb. 1st. Then we give Al the time to fabricate, and come spring we get our orders and are ready to install. As soon as I see how the response is and have an idea of a serious number, I will get the final price. I'll contact Erica tomorrow however and see what she says about a number between 12 and 20. I think we can pull that off. But like I said, the more names we get, the better the deal.

So look for the post.
 






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