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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 7:42 am 
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Bought the following to go on a 1994 miata:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/94-95-96-97-MAZ ... 21&vxp=mtr

Nice welds and highly polished 304 tubing.

See pics for problems.

Fortunately it is on ebay so I opened a case. Been down that road a few times before. Ebay buyer Protection is effective.

Yes, with my skill set, I could fix it all, but at a minimum it should fit and seal to lay claim to fitting a 1994 miata.

Just an fyi on what you can get.


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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 7:48 am 
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A couple more of the rust.

Funny they don't mention that the flanges are mild steel, just that it is a stainless header and the flanges are cnc cut.

Should also mention that the header was purchased from store Ilovetacotaco if the advert goes away.

Apparent direct ship from Asia so the stores don't ever see the items to know the problems. Only the end user / buyer is quality oversight and should let the store know.

No response yet from Mr. Tacos but it has only been a day.


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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 8:34 am 
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Sorry to hear of your tribulations, Miatav8, but you are right, Ebay buyer protection is pretty good. Due to my more remote location, I find myself to be on Ebay a fair bit, and one indication I use to gauge the sincerity of the seller, are the shipping charges. When I clicked on the link for the header, the shipping charges popped up as $ 200. That's when I usually move on.
Hope you get a full refund.

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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 9:12 am 
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mgkluft wrote:
Ebay buyer protection is pretty good. .



Really? My experience has been anything but good, they seem to protect the sellers at the expense of the buyer.

I've worked with the local police department several times who always gets the police department on the other end involved and have never had even one iota of success with the ebay buyer protection.

We've even filed charges on the Federal level to no success. The police say they don't even have a way to contact Ebay.

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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 11:55 am 
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My experience has been just the opposite of yours, Carguy.

I'll share how this goes. Meanwhile, the old header is back on and this one is on the shelf.


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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 2:50 pm 
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Carguy - the only time I've ever had an issue with eBay or Paypal guarantee is once when I neglected to file my claim until after the time limit had run out....that one I had to eat. Otherwise they've always protected my purchases.

MiataV8 - was the header value for money spent? Other than the issue that it didn't fit of course, was it enough of a savings that you could put up with modifying it? In the pictures it looks pretty enough.

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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 3:16 pm 
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Received a response from seller and call from Ebay. Seller apologized, said another local company supplies the header directly, so they appreciate the photos. I initially requested a shipping label to return the header at no cost to me, and they are providing that. All I have to do is drop it off at UPS. Once they receive it, a refund will be processed. Ebay and the seller have been reasonable, prompt, and professional. Hopefully this is just an isolated problem with the sellers supplier.

BHRmotorsport, the header looks great on the outside. Flanges are heavy and the tubing has adequate wall thickness. I think the next price level on a domestic made is about $100 more, so if it had fit, I would have used it with some welding to the flange and cleaned up the port entry by building up the area. I would have just ground and filed, no precision milling. I have ceramic coat left over from other projects like the spitfire chevy 2.8 manifolds and the kubota manifold, so I'd tape off the polished tubes and blast the flanges before brushing that on, then oven cure. It's is definately worth $115 shipped if it fits and you can do a little work to it.


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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 3:39 pm 
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Joined: July 27, 2013, 7:50 pm
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Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F wrote:
Funny they don't mention that the flanges are mild steel, just that it is a stainless header and the flanges are cnc cut.


Why so many imperfections in the flanges? Looks like a combination of pitting, chipping and indentations from being struck with a punch.


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PostPosted: October 9, 2013, 3:43 pm 
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Agreed. It doesn't make sense. Justy lucky I guess.


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PostPosted: October 24, 2013, 11:23 am 
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you get what you pay for. i might be selling a jr header in the next month or so.


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PostPosted: October 24, 2013, 8:21 pm 
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No, I usually make out pretty well.

End of story is I noticed two days after they recieved the header I was nice enough to return, I still had no refund. I responded to the seller, received no response after half a business day, then escalated it to ebay, who promptly refunded my money so I can get on with my life. :cheers: Easy.


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