ACE Headers Price Rise
 

Just checking out the CSG website today and saw that the price of ACE Headers has increased.

For example, the cost of the ACE 350 has risen from $1700 to $2000.

As far as I understand they're still on several months of back order, so I can only assume there's been plenty of demand to keep the factory busy.

The CSG website makes mention of revised thicker flanges to make the headers stronger. I'd be interested in hearing detail on any other improvements the factory might have made to these units. This might make interesting reading for anyone who's been hovering over the 'buy' button but has reservations over the consistency of fit on these handmade items.

Does anyone have more information to share?
:cheers:

It could also be due to an increase in the price of materials. Raw materials in general are sky high right now compared to pre-covid prices.

It's very good product .. but $2K price imho will put outside subjectively considerable for purchase range for most, even if justified (by material price hike). With such price imho most may think that slight gain on top of others it's not worth such cost difference, or that with such price FI route gets more preferable.

It was already at the brink of deminishing returns and looks to be pushed other the edge. JDL's EL is just as good according to 949 Racing and one can have it ceramic coated and with a over pipe for hundreds less.

Approaching cosworth levels.

If you wanted something similar, Rogue Motorsport here in the UK also make something similar. Not sure how much, or whether they would, ship to the USA is. Getting a good rep and it's meant that the Ace no longer tends to be imported any longer.
https://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/uploa...a790d49f7f.jpg

Flanges were completely revised to a 10mm unit all around for increased durability and a reduced chance of hardware backing out on the header/op connection.

Oh, awesome! I had my header/OP studs back out at a drag strip on a really hard 2nd gear shift. Thought I borked the motor with the flapping noise that it was making afterwards.

I went with the JDL and ceramic coating and it’s an awesome header. Not sure if the ACE is any better.

Or you could just get locking hardware on Amazon for $5 or your local hardware store. Call me crazy, but I think that's a better deal than a $300 price hike on one of the most expensive exhausts on the market already.

Like mentioned, the JDL EL header seems to perform just as well at hundreds of dollars cheaper. If it's good enough for 949 racing, it's good enough for me.

An unfortunate price hike due to several factors but has been delayed for the last couple of years and something we've been arguing against with them over the years. The original design intent for the A-350 was to make this the lightest possible header available on the market. Fabrication also requires ACE to shutdown an entire production line of boutique exhaust parts that are highly sought after for their customer base in order to produce one header at a time. This loss of output for one header is also factored into their bottom line. The 86 is considered a pet project for them and a boutique product offering a fat powerband between 3-7k RPM. It's still not the most expensive header available on the market, but it does offer one of the most useful powerbands for stock redline application.

Additionally, thicker flanges, cost of materials, changes in fabrication processes, and increasing labor costs with limited availability of properly trained welders in their processes has made them finally increase the total cost of the product.

We offer ACE, JDL, TOMEI, TODA, AUTO FACTORY, Fujitsubo, etc. In the spirit of the OP and thread topic, the benefits of the ACE is a fat powerband within stock redline, high precision and high quality product utilizing thin wall tubing and detailed welding procedures to create the merge sections. Hardware wise, we've seen many have issues during installation but none have come from our location. Those who check torque after heat cycling and making sure the flanges mate properly while crushing the gaskets more evenly have found significant improves in consistency and longevity. It's more of a tedious process due to additional checks, but well worth the efforts for the long run.

Paired with our calibration work, we've been constantly updating the base calibration files for each setup to pull from each exhaust manifold's strengths. Based on availability, budget, and goals, we are able to provide recommendations bespoke to your application.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail us! Thank you!

@CounterSpace Garage: it's justified .. but nevertheless +18% price may cut potential buyers by 1/3-1/2. Even if for still best available in market, even if now enhanced .. but 2K barrier is hard psychologically, just like overstepping prices of "9.89 type" by next notch higher :). Imho it was better to stay at some .. 1900, lol :D

My remarks were more about the fact that the problem was recognized as a problem at all and not just user error and that solutions were put in place to mitigate it in the future. That's just good customer service, and good customer service is great! Was less so talking about the price hike.

Not arguing there. That was a strong valid point that we brought up for years and was blown away with the significant price increase. The last price increase was a much larger percentage than the current one. Bear in mind, we still have to soak up the shipment and customs charges. As another note, we effectively handle almost all the technical support for the product so the backlash of the price point gets tossed at us even though we're not the manufacturer.

We have provided a plethora of feedback over the years for ACE. It is seen as a boutique product - it performs, looks amazing, and is very validated. It's no brainer that products will continue to come into market over time and saturate that field. On top of that, the constant pursuit of calibration refinement is something we do in the background well past the core working hours. That level of testing and bespoke work isn't always appreciated, but it's just part of our ideology of constant optimization.

Thanks for the feedback over the years. We really appreciate it!