Difference between Allison's and Vicks header

[ward00]

Anyone have any idea if there is an appreciable performance difference between the Allison's and Vick's header? There certainly is a difference in price.

[TX82FIAT]

Have not run both. I have the Vicks header and it works well. The nickel plating turn bluish after a few months of heating and cooling with a gradual darkening over time. I would recommend the Vicks header. If price is not an issue, I would think the Allisson's engineered for pulse and length header a better product for performance. I've seen a few of these up close and may use one in the future if I ever need a header on a performance build spider. I know there is sound engineering in the Vicks header as well, so I'm not taking away from that product. I think the Allisson header is ceramic coated VS nickel and will hold up a little better. The tubes are longer and that should help HP. The flange is thicker so that should in theory prevent potential warping from heat and eliminate some maintenance/leak issues. I was also told the Allisson's are welded both inside and outside the pipes with the ceramic coating in and out to boot. So.... from an owner of a Vicks header that is very happy with it, the Allisson's might be a little better but I'm not sure if it is worth the premium. Anyone that actually runs one of the Allisson's headers want to pipe up!!

[JohnMc]

Unless I am mistaken neither mfg. has offered any real proof on HP gains.
So many persons add so many changes at one time - which one made what improvement? I have an old 4-2-1 header that I had ceramic coated inside and out and am very happy - I guess.
It is logical that they have HP gains - but as the old burger advertisement said, "Where's the beef?"

[ward00]

To me the Allison header looks kinda like the can of spaggeti Guy Croft Header, which is definetly tuned. If the Allison header (without ceramic) gives a 5 hp improvement over the Vicks one then I could see justifying the difference in price $550 vs $300 , if not then I'm going to go with Vicks.

[AndyVAS]

Our unit is now a stainless steel unit that is TIG welded. It is the closest fitting unit on the market for the 124 leaving you the most room in the engine bay. It is a 4-2-1 design.

None of the headers made for these cars (or any i know of) are welded INSIDE the pipes. That simply isn't done beyond the flanges due to size of a welder and size of the pipe.

[grrrdot]

I went from a stock FI exhaust to Allisons and recently to Vicks header so can share some of what I noticed. Keep in mind I'm just a data-point of one. I've got a 1608 engine, megajolt ignition, stock cams, stock compression, dual 40 IDF with 30mm chokes.
I've never had the car on a dyno.

First the Allison header I had:

• Ceramic coated steel
• Larger pipes than the Vicks header
• O2 sensor bung is located after the collector so you can sniff all the cylinders
• Under-hood temps were much higher ( even ceramic coated )
• Equal pipe length 4-1 design
• Proper merge collector

I ended up moving away because my Allison header developed cracks on the #2 pipe and eventually the whole #2 pipe fell-apart. I had bought this header used and put a few thousand miles on it so I can't say what caused the cracks ( bad tune, previous owner, lack of support, poor build, bad metal... who knows )

I picked up the Vicks header because it was the least expensive option and I needed that.
So the Vick's header:

• Nice thick gauge stainless steel pipes
• Smaller diameter pipes than the Allison
• O2 sensor bung is only on #2 cylinder. ( not great for IDFs or wide-band O2 )
• Under-hood temps are much lower than the Allison header
• 4-2-1 design appears to mimic the old Abarth 124 Rally design
• The system does not use merge collectors, all pipes are welded together. They are very nice looking welds.
• The slip connector system is only alright. It held together but the 6mm bolts kept bending/stretching so I cut that system off and bought proper exhaust band clamps.
• The 4 pipes are not equal length which according to theory they should be for max perf.

So, overall the Vicks header feels like it was put together well and is using nice materials, I'd guess it will last awhile. That said I feel like you get what you pay for in terms of design ( pipe length, merge collector, O2 sensor location ) in theory that design should translate to more power but I don't have proof either way.

-G

[MattVAS]

There is a good reason we don't post HP gains on our products.
It's because there are too many variables and to post them really is just pulling numbers out of the air. In other words just plain lying.

As far as gains do go I can say what people have posted on forums over the years and have told us over the phone.
Also the numbers that Robert Vick would get on race cars.

The gains from our headers are (these numbers are from our previous version which was less efficient)
3-7 HP and based on % of overall power is actually a lot. But also that is a large variation is power.
But a lot of people don't do any other upgrade or have a well maintained engine.

This is one of the cases that other items and a well maintained or recent rebuild or quality tune up will help the cause.

To dyno our own results would really be unfair. Like any shop you would want to dyno the unit on a fresh engine with all the extra bells and whistles this way your result is the highest possible outcome. Then like every Chevy and Ford shop you just post this INCREDIBLE increase in power and boost your product. We just don't do this!

We make a great product and have it made in MASSIVE quantities so we can offer it for the best price possible.