Its a apples to oranges comparison regarding the headerback systems,material is what it is,but comparing the systems themselfs the difference is huge,in manufacturing/development the cost per improvement is one of those slopes that gets steeper for every step. The crossover/x-pipe cost more to manufacture,making the system out of fewer parts cost more,creating tailpipes that are oversized but still sort of follow the stock routing cost more than the much simpler design of the JEGS/Summit/hearthrob sytems(unless the first manufacturer has already got burned by one of the big two who might just have got someone in asia to copy the original design) The hangers are far supperior in design and construction and due to their much smaller manufacturing volumes cost alot more than the universal stuff found in the cheaper systems,then we can not forget that the larger sections also require larger boxes and storage volume and how the more expensive system gets much more expensive due to the smaller volumes sold due to the higher price to make all those small differences.
Believe me i dont have a problem with the cheaper systems but im more than aware of the reason why some parts are more expensive and having some basic knowledge regarding manufacturing is enough to understand the difference.
Regarding the stainless cheap systems,they are usualy made out of 409steel that is a lowgrade stainless far from the quality we all know from 304,316 or better grades of stainless steel.
Also 409 tubing is probably cheaper to buy than aluminized tubing(dont know for sure but it used to be cheaper due to the volumes of tubing manufactured for among other things OEM exhausts) and is actualy a nicer steel to bend than the aluminized stuff that is horrible to mandrelbend but i suspect that TTI stays with the aluminized stuff due to it most of the time staying nicer looking for longer than the 409 that tend to get stained quite quick even thought it takes mucg longer to actualy rot.
Im not stupid,neither am i saying that someone should buy something that is not what they are asking for or want, like most others im far from perfect and have done alot of misstakes i have also over the years i worked with exhuasts helped alot of customers to save a whole lot of money by listening to what they wanted to do and many times i found solutions that where cheaper,simpler and a whole lot better than the customers original idea,i also learned to see the differences between products and have more than a basic undertanding of why things cost more or less to manufacture as you may see in my my post above.
Regarding Dougs headers,i cant remember looking over a set of them first hand but the design looks good,they seem to get good reviews and the price difference to TTI is probably mostly due to both volumes of the actual design aswell as the bigger total production volumes from the manufacturers.
I dont mind any of the manufacturers,could not care any less about people choices as long as people get happy by buying the parts they like the best just protesting the failure to acnowledge the huge difference betwen the actual options.
