I built my turbo headers from mild steel, just 16 gauge stuff from Summit.
So far they are holding up I ran about 6-7 open track events on them last year plus street miles. THey show no sign of wear or cracking.
But for all the continual clamoring you hear tha turbo headers must be SS, I have talked to a few people that have had success with steel. But, having fabbed them up myself, I'm totally okay if htey only last 1-2 more years as I will rebuild them. (Since then I have picked up and learned TIG, so the next set will be SS just out of principle and to keep the heat out of hte engine bay, plus they look 100% better).
But for the cost of SS you really need to build a set of "template" headers first anyway, so you may as well start with steel anyway IMO.
|