Header options advice needed

[Dave80GTSi]

Originally Posted by NewArt

So I’m looking on eBay at headers: well that’s confusing, I can pay just over $100 or I can pay just over $1300. I assume that the cheapo ones ar Chinese and the platinum plated ones were carved out of a single piece of metal in the US of A. Which to choose, which to choose?
Next, the cats. I can buy 2 inch cats which can be welded into my existing TopSpeed bypass tubes (remember that video?) along with two O2 sensor bungs. That’s the cheap way. Or, I could get those pretty circuit werks pipes complete with bungs and cats for a bit more. That’s the easy way. Such a dilemma! How should I squander the rent money?

In a few weeks I will be offering my ceramic coated hollowed OEM manifolds and rear sensor mini-cats for sale, cheap, if you are not in a huge hurry to act today.

Pictures show before, during, and after.

Since these are OEM cores, they are guaranteed to fit properly!

[Cunningr]

Originally Posted by Dave80GTSi

In a few weeks I will be offering my ceramic coated hollowed OEM manifolds and rear sensor mini-cats for sale, cheap, if you are not in a huge hurry to act today.

Pictures show before, during, and after.

Since these are OEM cores, they are guaranteed to fit properly!

Those look nice and dont want to kill any sales oos for you, but long tube headers flow better than the stock headers, the design plays an important role. At least that was my take away with the threwd discussing headers.

[Dave80GTSi]

Originally Posted by Cunningr

Those look nice and dont want to kill any sales oos for you, but long tube headers flow better than the stock headers, the design plays an important role.

I certainly acknowledge the general philosophical point.

However, I would put forth the counter-perspective that, for a street driven car, any potential "real world" flow-related performance differences between these and a set of equal-length headers are largely moot for most drivers.

The "stealth" stock-appearing nature of these manifolds, combined with their guaranteed-to-fit-correctly OEM construction, made them a clear winner for a street car in my book.

Nevertheless, just putting these out there as another easy, cheap, and no-fuss option for your consideration, if an unrestricted exhaust system is your final intent.

Thanks - DM

[edc]

Originally Posted by Dave80GTSi

I certainly acknowledge the general philosophical point.

However, I would put forth the counter-perspective that, for a street driven car, any potential "real world" flow-related performance differences between these and a set of equal-length headers are largely moot for most drivers.

The "stealth" stock-appearing nature of these manifolds, combined with their guaranteed-to-fit-correctly OEM construction, made them a clear winner for a street car in my book.

Nevertheless, just putting these out there as another easy, cheap, and no-fuss option for your consideration, if an unrestricted exhaust system is your final intent.

Thanks - DM

Thats a fair view but extending that view why mod the exhaust at all? Manifolds and sports cats don't give a huge amount of extra power in any case.

[Dave80GTSi]

Originally Posted by edc

Thats a fair view but extending that view why mod the exhaust at all? Manifolds and sports cats don't give a huge amount of extra power in any case.

Well, without intending to get into a prolonged side-discussion on this thread out of respect to the original poster's intent, I'll just throw this info out there as my final word.

After fitting these hollowed manifolds in lieu of the stock catalytic versions (and changing –nothing- else), and then driving the car for roughly 1000 miles, I was pleased to discover that:

1) The engine subjectively revved “quicker”. Especially notable while accelerating in the lower gears;

2) The engine sounded better. Not necessarily louder, but with a neat subtle (but notable) ‘burble’ when backing off of the accelerator;

3) The engine ran cooler. The needle on my dash water temperature gauge consistently rested just to the left of the ‘8’ in the ‘180’ number, again with no other changes made, and;

4) According to my dash on-board computer, I picked up 1-1/2 more miles to the gallon (!!!) in fuel economy.

[Cunningr]

Originally Posted by Dave80GTSi

Well, without intending to get into a prolonged side-discussion on this thread out of respect to the original poster's intent, I'll just throw this info out there as my final word.

After fitting these hollowed manifolds in lieu of the stock catalytic versions (and changing –nothing- else), and then driving the car for roughly 1000 miles, I was pleased to discover that:

1) The engine subjectively revved “quicker”. Especially notable while accelerating in the lower gears;

2) The engine sounded better. Not necessarily louder, but with a neat subtle (but notable) ‘burble’ when backing off of the accelerator;

3) The engine ran cooler. The needle on my dash water temperature gauge consistently rested just to the left of the ‘8’ in the ‘180’ number, again with no other changes made, and;

4) According to my dash on-board computer, I picked up 1-1/2 more miles to the gallon (!!!) in fuel economy.

Which makes sense, you made the engine breathe better. But Art does track his car and for myself mine is euro spec so I only have secondary. But no difference between a street or track car, headers will make either perform better. Using that on the street may be a different issue. But hands down headers will privide the best performance, because of the design. I would bet fvd headers will have no fitment issues, fvd has been making headers for all porsches for many years.

Just saying just because you buy headers doesnt mean they wont fit, that is prinarily dependent on manufacturer. Fabspeed, fvd, and NHP, seem to specialize here.