Inliners International Forums General Discussion Swap Meet Nicson GMC Headers

Nicson GMC Headers. Price $500. Call Buffalo at 360-652-7684.

Here are some pictures of the headers:

Seems awful high, the Fenton's from Patrick's are barely $200. Can you explain?

The Fentons from Patrick's are the Chevy casting that is machined to barely fit a GMC and are the softest cast material I have ever seen. I was afraid they would break the first time I torqued them down. They Didn't. These look good but $500 is too much for me.

I wouldn't sell my original set for $500..........JD

I bought two sets from Buffalo. I have an original set with a cracked flange on one header and one of the first repop sets from about 5 years ago on my 270.

You would be hard pressed to find this nice a header in used for a GMC.

These are great fitting headers, the look nice, they have never leaked in 20,000+ miles and they match my other Nicson accessories.

They do look good, and as long as your satisfied with them, thats the main thing. Im just a numbers guys, and having experience in both casting products and patternmaking, and cast iron is only around $1 a pound to have cast, so where is the extra $470 coming from in the price, when 3 other competitors of the same/similar products cost less than half of these. I guess that was the basis of the questioning to begin with. Just asking for an explanation, thats all.

Cast iron my be cheap to cast but not to ship. The pictures were posted from Australia. So Buffalo may have a lot in them when they get here. That is a big deal with the Brazilian parts as well and they are aluminum. We'll see what the Kiwi 12 port costs are.
It's the free enterprise system. If they can sell them for $500 good for them. If they can't good for us. They appear to be a quality product and they will sell. It is great that someone will take the chance on such a small market. That is the biggest factor in the diminishing availability of inline speed equipment. Next is age, ours and our engines.
Ken, That is a nice looking Jimmy. Beater

Thanks for the thumbs up Beater


I think a buck a pound is for bulk rough cast parts with no cores and extremely high volumes. (think in terms of a run of 1000 man hole covers) . . . And done in China.

At most, these are run in batches of 10 - 50 pairs. They all require precise mold cores and second operation degating and then machining on two different planes.

You would be hard pressed to get the patterns properly made, cast, degated, and ready for machining for a batch of fewer that 50 headers anywhere near a dollar a pound let alone $5-$10 a pound.

Tom Langdon's Phillips Performance reproduction of the Nicson headers cost $385.00 in 2001. i own a set of those.

These headers look good in the pictures -- Ken's engine is right pretty. i'm glad that someone is continuing to make these -- although it costs more and ever more to build a good GMC for street (or any other) use.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

Sorry to have to correct you, but I posted the pictures for a friend of Buffalo's. That is the only connection with me, and Australia.

The price of any cast specilialty part represents the compensation required for the making or buying of the patterns, shipping them to a foundry, having them cast, shipping to get them machined, making a jig to perform the machining, machining, painting, storage and other holding costs.

I guess if it could be done in a high quality "cheap" manner made in the USA, there'd be producers on every street corner selling their wares, just like mobile phone dealers.

There ..... Rant over!!!

Thanks Mark for clearing that up. I totally agree with you. Buffalo needs no defense here. He is trued and proven and a valued member of this community. My original comment was "..too much for me." I did not mean it was" too much". I'd like a set of GMC cast headers that both ends look like the back half. I know that would interfere with the generator/alternator but that can be dealt with. How narrow of a market is that? What would that cost? Too much for me. Thanks to ALL of the producers/suppliers of the speciality parts that make it possible for us to build the engines we love. They are the ones who give builders an alternative to the SBC or other bent motors.They give us much joy to be a part of creating a situation like in the case of a spectator over heard this year at Rappin' to Minden, "Holy crap, Another straight 6? WTF?" Beater

The headers showed up and Buffalo even included a copy of the 12 port Newsletter (I let my subscription go a few years ago when my business went into the dumper). He provided free shipping and the headers look great!

Any recommendations on a good corrosion / heat resistant coating? The last set I had done at Jet Hot and they started to rust within a year.

Wow, I was going to recommend Jet Hot, but since you had problems recently, I don't know who else does it reasonably.

That surprises me too about the Jett Hot but in your area(not near the salt air) call Brooks , http://www.brookscoatsit.com/ , or Finish Line coating, http://www.finishlinecoatings.com/ , both just across the river from you and both do excellent work.

There is a 12 Port Advertiser on the Home Page that offers header coating, anyone ever use them.

Spoke with Buffalo Saturday at the Monroe Swap Meet. He has three sets of the Nicson headers left.

The Fenton headers are made in Taiwan. The price keeps going down on them... on ebay. The Nicson header is all USA made. When 12 port Charlie was making them....it was $400 a set.

man I wish somebody would make a set like these for a chevy 250 so the front 3 ports would dump straight down so I could run my tube under the oil pan to the other side of my truck!

Buffalo just received his second shipment of Nicson GMC headers. Another 10 sets are now available!!!!! The phone number for Buffalo's shop is 360-652-7684

JUST BE GLAD THERE AVAILABLE. HOT RODDING HAS NEVER BEEN CHEAP AND NEVER WILL BE. BRINGING A PRODUCT TO MARKET IS VERY EXPENSIVE ESPECIALLY NOW DAYS, I KNOW BECAUSE I MARKET SEVERAL PRODUCTS MYSELF. AND WITH THE PRICE OF "SCRAP" METAL ITS EVEN HIGHER.

For comparison, I purchased a set of Tom Langdons cast iron ceramic coated headers June of 2012. Shipped to my door was $477. This price is not far off for a new set of quality headers.

They look really nice btw!

Using thes manifolds with a stock 2 barrel 302 intake, can you easily torque the manifold bolts down to the head. I currently have Modified Fentons on mine and cannot get to 2 bolts. Thanks. Jim

Can anyone that uses these manifolds tell me if you can get a wrench or socket on all the nuts to torque to head. I'm using a set of modified Fentons with a 2 barrel 302 intake on my 270 and 2 nuts I can't get any torque on them. Would buy these if they work better. Thanks. Jim

The phone number is listed above for the person that is selling them, just call and ask him personally. I'm going to guess and say that since these are made specifically for the GMC head and the Fenton's are not, that they fit better than the Fenton's.

Jim, I have Fentons with a Clifford 4 BBL intake on my 270. I can not use a torque wrench. I use a box end and do the best I can. It has not been a problem in the many years they have been there,

I read back through this thread and in one of my posts I mentioned how soft the casting on my Fentons was. Well it is not any longer. I guess it seasoned with use.

Thanks beater. I'll probably just take them back off and grind a little more off so I can get the box wrench on the nut. If that doesn't seal it up I'll go for the Nicsons if available. Jim

Would a thinner tab/washer give you enough room?

No, Just not enough room between nut and Fenton header to get a wrench. I tightened it as far as I could by using open end wrench parallel to stud, turning wrench with adjustable wrench on it. Slow going and not much torque can be applied. I could probably grind some more on the inside of header port #6 to give more room. But its getting thin. Jim

Pic?

You can find thin wall closed end wrenches. I have a couple.

About 5-6 years ago, someone on here posted a pretty good tutorial on what was required to modify the Fenton headers to make them fit the GMC head. Grinding the wall on the outside of the casting in a few places for wrench clearance was part of the process discussed and shown.

Will try and find one of the thin wall wrenches. I did follow a post for modifying the Fentons. Maybe just got scared it was getting too thin and quit to soon. Thanks. Jim