group discount extrude hone

After I left a message asking if anyone ever tried extrude hone (where they pump silly putty and sand through what ever you want polished till you get the finish you want, kinda like liquid sand paper) I got curious to see if they are still in business. They are, www.gethoned.com if you want to check them out. Four or more make a group discount of mabey up to 20%. I was checking for my cast iron exhaust, it would run about $420 but I was told there are tube headers available for about the same price. Anyone know who's got them? It seems to me if you are really trying to get every last bit of flow possible and money is no object like all the race teams that use this, then this is the way to go. But each piece for a four banger is about $450 to $500 each. The exhaust plus upper intake, lower intake could add up to over $1,500. If I were headed to the salt flats with a sponser, this is the way to go.

Look in the advertising bar at www.turboford.net.
Rod makes a nice stainless steel tubular header (it's what I have) and Stinger does too, I think; not sure who else makes one. 40bob makes a real nice log header (I'm thinking about one for one of my "secondary" TC's). Stay away from the ATR header, I've read here and on Turboford that it's prone to cracks in the welds, although I think Glenn has had success with one(?).

Whatever you choose, be sure to use the stock Ford turbo brace with it and all should be well.

HTH

i was quoted $500 to do the upper and lower intake to stage 3 for the extrude hone

Extrude honing isn't the way to get every last bit of performance. In fact, it will hurt your flow sometimes.

Extrude honing obviuosly polishes the inside and it makes it physically larger. To a point, larger can SOMETMES be better. The bad part about extrude honing is there is nothing controlling where and how much material it actually takes out.

Take a 2.3T head for example. If you have it extrude hones, you will almost certainly take add overall diameter and, instead of focusing on the short turn radius, it will be made sharper/more extreme. It may lower the floor or raise the roof...you have no control over it.

I'm not saying extrude honing is bad. I just believe that better alternatives exist (especially considering the price tag on it).

Have a good day!
Michael

I used the run the ATR. They are crack prone. I really can't complain about the one I had though. It cracked three times in 5 years.

I now run a Bob's log header.

http://www.40bob.com/headers.html

Just like the one on top. I love it. I lost no performance at all and it is a very sturdy piece. IMO this is the number one options for a header.