Originally Posted by JLO
my stock headers look worn and rusty in colour is this bad or should i be replacing them......the gaskets are all good they just look like shit, is there a possibility they could crap out on me?
I strongly doubt that your OEM cast header will rust through.
The walls on the casting are very thick compared to a tubular exhaust header. What you're dealing with is probably surface rust.
The main reason for replacing the OEM header is to improve exhaust scavenging to suit a naturally-aspirated tuning method. There is the incidental benefit that a tubular header weighs less than the OEM cast header as well... but power production is the top priority.