Strange to hear that S&S pipes are getting bad press. I
just went out to check, and yes, the S&S header/muffler on
my '68 bug is still in wonderfull condition as it was many
years ago. I installed it in '84!!! Absolutely no problem
with that or ones on vans at the time from my memory. I
wonder if their quality control has gone down? I have found
that tube headers do tend to often take a bit of tweaking
to fit perfectly, and if you ever take them off, they are
even harder to get back on, but my S&S pipes had been
on/off a few times with no issue. Now the exhaust gasket
from the header to the can was another story, bolts came
loose a few times in the first couple years, but have not
been an issue for over a decade.

by hte way, I wouldn't sweat the issue of the pipe needing
to be torqued to fit, on heating everything changed, so
it's not undre the same stress as it was. this is no big
deal.

Paul

--- Damon Campbell <damoncampbellvw@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> I would dissuade anyone from purchasing S+S pipes.  I
> have them on my '84, and basically the shop that
> installed them had a helluva time getting them to fit and
> S+S was a total bastard about wanting to make sure they
> provide a good product.  So basically, a bunch of guys
> hung on the pipe to get one of the exhaust ports to line
> up.  To me, this says the life span of the mild-steel
> pipes has been cut considerably.

> Overally, i'm not impressed with S+S... of course, many
> others have had opposite experiences.

>  Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET> wrote:I need to replace a
> few exhaust pipes on my 85 Westfalia. My local repair
> shop suggested S+S pipes as a more economical alternative
> to VW parts (half
> the price it turned out). What choices do i have in terms
> of aftermarket
> suppliers, and how do they compare in price and quality?

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