[SIKKY]

Hello guys and gals, First of all we would like to thank everyone for there patience. Just to give a better explanation of what the hold up is......

All our delays have stemmed from the one and only step that we have to outsource. The ceramic coaters have been very backed up and the headers had been sitting there in line just waiting for coating for an agonizing two weeks before they started. We were told an eta that they were not able to meet and apologize for the delay this has caused. Due to the fact that we have tested with this coating from the beginning and its quality is second to none we decided to leave them in line and continue to wait. The thought definitely crossed our minds to send elsewhere, but in the end we believe this is for the best. In keeping with our business model and our motto "quality being #1" we did not want to rush to a new and untested coating facility just for profits or to sell more headers. Hope everyone can understand, and we can assure you it will be worth the wait. The most recent updated time for shipment will be end of next week/early following week depending on when you ordered. We will be drop shipping many headers directly from the ceramic coaters to save a day or two depending on your location. Again, thanks for the patience and we apologize for the delays.

 

[SIKKY]

Headers will begin shipping today!!!!! Those that have paid in full will recieve an email with tracking # and or phone call. Those that made deposits will be contacted for final payment then shipped. Thanks for the patience.

 

[SIKKY]

Doublexl, those raised areas are there for a reason. You should not have removed them. They are supposed to be there to ensure a perfect seal with the stock gasket. This raised weld creates a pinch point around the cylinder and eliminates the chances of flange warping causing a leak problem. This is not an issue of quality at all. This is outside the port and has no effect on power or function (clearly based on our results) other than to ensure a good seal. There is no need to supply new gaskets for the head because the OEM are metal and re usable almost indefinitely.

Our power gains and testing speaks for itself, there is no issue of quality just your opinion.

You should have contacted us directly if you had an issue. We stand behind our stuff 100% and if for any reason you were not happy before install we would have gladly taken them back. Now it is obviously too late for that since you have modified them.

 

[SIKKY]

Hello Doublexl -

Dude, I'm afraid you're wrong on this.

Grinding off those cups simply isn't something you should try to do by hand and by eyeballing it. Thousandths of an inch make a difference... In addition, the amount of surface area that now must have a complete seal is significantly increased. With heating and cooling cycles, I think you'll have an issue with seals as a result...

Those cups provide a way to leverage the flange such that the seal is at each port...not along the entire length of the assembly.

At any rate - good luck with the project. Mine will be installed on Monday as received from the manufacturer!

Regards,
Mike

Couldn't have been said better. When installed properly, the way they were designed and torqued correctly they will not leak, guaranteed. If for some reason there is a leak then you need to tighten the bolts correctly.

Doublexl, listen carefully since your past the point of no return. What your doing is going to make the header leak horribly. It would not have had an issue if you would have left them the way they were designed. You need to find someone that has a belt sander. Not a hand held one but a stationary one that is large enough to place the whole entire flange on. You need to hold the flange against it till it is flat again. Since you ground off our welds the only option for you now is to sand the whole flange perfectly flat which could never be done by hand. Just trying to help, but if you don't do this it is gonna leak like crazy. Which it would not have done had you not modified it. The fact that you said a machine shop would charge you $1500 makes it very hard to believe anything you say....that is just plain ridiculous.

Also, you don't want to reset your ecu. That's what you guys getting the lower #'s are doing wrong. What you want to do is just cycle the key. What we recommend is drive it for a while, shut it off for a while. Then drive it again and repeat a time or two. What this does is allow time for the ecu's long term and short term fuel adjustments to take effect. Basically the ecu needs to learn the new setup and make it's adjustments. Or if it's on the dyno, you can literally run the car 3 or 4 times, shut it off and let it cool down. 10 min. run it again and watch the #'s go up. Eventually it won't go up anymore and at that point the ecu has finished it's long term fuel corrections.

 

[SIKKY]

I volunteered to be one of the testers since I live relatively local to SIKKY and I too was quite skeptical. I was so skeptical that I had before and after dyno tests performed on two different dyno's for the header testing. The results speak for themselves.

Dynopak testing at the Sikky Shop.
http://www.clublexus.com/forums/5545277-post99.html


Dynojet testing at an independent shop (MachV)
http://www.clublexus.com/forums/5575514-post124.html

These headers do indeed perform as advertised and that is no BS. They should also fit with no problems if the install is done perfectly and apparently it's a darn tough install. To be honest I don't think I would have gone with headers on this car if they were going to be installed by anyone other than the guys that made them, but I know there are shops out there with the know how, just not the experience.

For reference I just looked at my stock manifold and noticed that that on more than 1 of the openings is raised ever so slightly. This is why SIKKY designed the headers with the bead around the openings.

Here is a picture of the actual headers that went on my car. Compared to the stock manifolds they looks pretty darn good to me!

Stock:

For the record, jslapp and camandiver have the exact same thing everyone else has. These were production models 100% identical to everyone else's. Being that all our tubes are cnc mandrel bent they can't be any different. Prototype testing had been done over a year ago and would be no point to release our final hp #s and specs on a prototype which is why jslapp and caymandiver received "production" models which is what all our hp claims are from "production headers". Which at this point are not "claims" anymore because of the independent dyno results. Proven, end of story.

Doublexl, there is no need to build a jig to sand a flange?????? To "machine" it in a mill YES, you would need to do so. But why?? I hope your not attempting this install yourself. Based on what we have seen so far this would surely be a bad idea! You do realize that you completely ground off the welds that were put there for a reason. You have basically wasted your time and done nothing but damage a perfectly good header. You say it is flat now but your missing the point still. Look at the pics OEM header caymandiver posted and you will see why you should have just picked up the phone first and saved yourself many un needed hours. If toyota thinks it will help seal on a metal gasket I think it's probably a pretty good idea. We could have explained this in 5 min. over the phone if you would have just called before you went hog wild with your grinder.

Note to all, this should be an example of what not to do. As for the other person with leaks, most likely it is between the header and exhaust. Once again, pick up a phone. Caymendiver had a leak at the header exhaust joint and it ended up being 100% related to the angle of the flange on the early model joe z exhaust he had. He can vouch for this too. With the car running on the lift we simply loosened the bolts and moved the flange down till aligned and re torqued. Done! This is common practice with any new exhaust, header install. As for the bolts being tight, there are a few that are very hard to get a wrench on and might not have been tightened all the way because of this. Either way till he knows where the leaks are coming from this is a pointless discussion.