Aftermarket Alfetta Headers..what are these?

[RossoGTV4Me]

Anyone know what aftermarket Alfetta GT headers these are?

[sfalfa]

The bend angle/style is reminiscent of Shankle Engineering headers. I have an extra used set of those too.

[iachella]

It also looks like someone put flanges down at the secondaries. They came with slip tubes but those tubes would, uh, slip. I has a set and after telling an exhaust guy what was happining, he put flanges just like that on it.

[iachella]

I'm having second thoughts of my statements. It looks like these mate up perfectly to the non-North American down pipes. The Shankle ones had their own down pipes, these are the exact same configuration at the bottom as the stock manifolds.

So either the exhaust guy made flanges to mate up to the Euro down pipes or they are not Shankles at all. I don't think the Ansa ones were stainles steel, so I don't think they are Ansa.

I think they are either Stebro or CSC brand. Both of which are stainless steel, but I've never seen them.

[catsboy]

As an 'I second this' reply, they look exactly like my old Shankle headers, down to the finish (what's left of it, at the flanges). I had good luck with mine, mounting stayed tight, performance/effeciency, etc. The Alfetta coupe they were on died a violent death, sadly, a hit and run in front of Patrick's bar in Louisville, KY. My brother has them now (see the 'MadMax' alfetta thread), so they're still in the mix.
I thought they had the flanges originally, but I could be wrong. Have to call the new owner. I bought mine new, from Shankle, so I am sure of the source. It seems like they were $200-250 at the time. It's been a long time.
Sorry, I'm rambling; the point is, I am 90% sure they're Shankles.. Not looking to dis anyone else's thoughts on the subject.

[italcarnut]

Shankle or not, That's the best set up for an Alfetta. They don't crack like the cast iron Euro manifolds, and they have flanges at the bottom to keep it leak free. Someone really liked that car.

Ruben Velez

[iachella]

These ones appear to have cracked and been repaired. My Shankle ones cracked about there too.

[1978alfa]

Hmmm, those look like ANSA headers. My Shankle header had a slip-fit without the bolt flanges. All Alfa headers seem to need lots of help from flexible motor mounts or they crack from stress unfortunately. Two ANSA alfetta headers I've owned have suffered the 1-4 stress cracks. Alfa engines move around alot under load, so allow your engine to move freely. I had a muffler shop weld a stainles steel flex joint, behind the header, into my exhaust system which fixed the problem.

[iachella]

Clark:

Did your flex joint get mounted before or after the tailhouse mount? I had one as well (and it is still present with my TS). My muffler shop put it in before the tail mount. So it is in between the last collector and the tail mount. I thought is should have gone after the tail mount because the whole engine will move as a unit.

My front downpipe is bashed up from hitting the ground and the whole unit is extremely old, so I'm waiting on a new one now. When it comes in, I will need to re-do the whole setup with flex joint and removable catalytic converter and straight pipe replacement. I'd like to design it correctly.

But on the question of Ansa, were Ansa headers stainless steel? I had thought they were not, so I didn't think the above header was Ansa. Also, from Jim K's book, the Ansa header had a different exit geometry from the above pictured headers. I've never seen Ansa headers, though.

[1978alfa]

Both ANSA headers that I've owned through the years have been crap steel and have had 1-4 craking issues. My flex joint was added just past the mount that is just past the rear engine mount on my SPICA engine,but I don't think it really matter as long as your engine can move around freely. I have had great luck with the cast iron exhaust manifolds on my SPICA engines and on my Twin Spark engines as well, but I treat them well, and go easy on them and they won't crack.
-Clark

[gt601]

I've got a set of weird ones that don't have the flanges that I had to have a Y pipe made for them. It still doesn't work very well . I have had to remove them twice to weld them They are the slip fit. I will probably get a set of the flangeg ones as soon as The ones on the Fetta start pissing me off. Must be Ansa?

Paul

[1978alfa]

I had the stock '78 - '79 cast iron headers and this down pipe from Centerline welded to a flex joint and had no issues for years and years.

Do a search on their site for "Alfetta GT, GTV European Front Exhaust Pipe".
Part number is "OE_alfetta"...

-Clark

[Alfar7]

Quote:

Hmmm, those look like ANSA headers.