New Heat exchangers, Keep my original or stainless steel?? Options

[Nemo914]

I am back again. After world class help from you all on a backfire on decel problem--I decided to buy some stainless steel heat exchangers (used on e-bay). My thought was that I had a leak somewhere and that replacing the original exhaust system might help. Right before I started the job, I tried the trick of plugging the exhaust pipe to see if the engine would still run. It slowed right down and quit--so no leak?? Anyway, I pulled them off anyway and now can't decide if the originals (30 yrs old) are better than the replacements. The stainless steel aren't as heavy duty. Also, they looked a bit warped where they connect to the muffler. What are your thoughts??

The only other thing I have trouble shot on the backfire problem is the cold start valve. Disconnecting it didn't change the problem.
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Here are a couple of photos...

[Brad Roberts]

Run the SSI's.

It will be a lot more peppy and you will have heat in about 3 nano seconds compared to 15 minutes with the old ones (which have been repaired..looking at your pics)

People over tighten the muffler to the HE.. this warps the flange. take a flat file to it and see where the high spots are... try to flatten them before you bolt the muffler on.

True: the SSI's used the same size tubing on the 2.0/1.7/1.8's Porsche used a much smaller tubing on the 1.7's stock HE's. It really wakes the 1.7 up (by putting 2.0 exhaust size tubing on it)

B