aftermarket exhaust header -- worth it?
 

I have been thinking about replacing my exhaust header and catback, mainly for theatrical effect, though a few extra horses never hurts.

I'm just wondering if an aftermarket header is worth it when you consider that the stock header does such a great job of protecting everything in the engine bay from heat.

Are there any risks when running an aftermarket header with a stock cat?


Mike

From what i've heard, it's not really worth it...but if you have money burning a hole in your pocket, go for it!

Racing Beat claims that their header produced a peak horsepower improvement of over 4 HP. There are no risks with running a header with the stock cat.

Yes but it would be useless to replace the headers before removing the real bottleneck :)

True, I would personally replace the stock cat with a high flow cat, since i want to stay emissions legal here in nj. I was just answering the question the OP asked

What about heat from the header? Anyone done any measurements?

The aftermarket ones I see are all stainless steel while the factory one is some sort of double steel tubing.

What's the best bang-for-the-buck high flow cat?

RP Supercat its the best in price for what you get IMHO.

The oem exhaust manifold is made of cast iron. There is no need to worry about heat coming from the racing beat header. If it was a problem racing beat would have done something about it. They do a lot of testing before the final product goes into production.

headers wont give you peak hp, but they give you mid range gains in torque and hp.

Combined with tuning, (for a auto)

I saw a improvement at 140kmph from 52kwrw to near 88kwrw that was a 3rd gear pull.

You can see the dyno on the auto in my post there.

Mind you i got a hi flow cat put in at same time.

Regards
Jason

i run a header that i had ceramic coated. i cant say i see gains but i got some sound and cooler around the motor. if any gains are there its more mid range power. and like another said a good tune will help too