cudaized

Dyno run on Wednesday September 11, 2013.
Just the stock exhaust to header swap.

Hopefully the last run with the new air filters.

Strigoi

They're going on tomorrow. I'll post back with how I feel about them.

I haven't driven the E55 much lately, so my opinion will probably be off. It always feels fast after driving the Durango and Intrepid most of the time. I doubt I'll notice much of a difference.

ML63 AMG

Wow, those ports are much bigger, wasn't expecting that. I'm sure that will help out as well as the ceramic coating.

Curious to see the dyno results, especially with high flow cats and x-pipe.

Great technical info in here! (Perhaps this should be a sticky thread)

cudaized

cudaized

Sweet.

Strigoi

****ing junk. The driver's side one doesn't fit. The collector is way off and there is no way to make it work. We realized this after installing both of them. I messaged the seller and am waiting to hear back now.

I'm pissed because I'm out the $150 to have these cheap *** headers flattened and I won't be able to get that back. I also don't know if they'll take them back since they've been "modified". I'm glad I paid with a credit card, so I will get my $450 back one way or another.

I'll post pics after I get home. My roommate is swapping the stock manifolds back on right now.

ML63 AMG

Are you sure you didn't get the right headers for your model? Not all 55s have the same header shape, maybe a mixup?

Strigoi

The passenger side fit fine and there was no way to make the driver's side work. It looks like they sent the wrong one. All it said on the box was Header MB V8. I'm guessing they're for a different model. According to the auction they were for my car.

cudaized

That sucks. Has the E-Bay seller replied? I spoke to George when I called to order.
I'm hoping that they will make it right.

I had no problem what so ever when I installed mine. Direct replacement. I never even loosened or moved the down pipe/Primary cat/collector pipe. I just removed the bottom bolt that held the engine mount in and jacked up the engine (one side at the time). Slid the stock manifold out the top towards the front and slid the header in.
The only problem I found was that the studs they provided were to short for a stock collector flange.
Any chance that you placed the driver's side header next to the original manifold? How far off was it? It has to be from a different model.

Strigoi

I haven't heard from the seller yet. I'm saying **** doing headers and just want my money back. I'm not going to pay to have another set flattened. I'd rather put that $450 towards a set of wheels/tires.

I'm just glad my roommate did it. All I'm out for payment is buying him lunch. I'd be pissed if a shop did the work and I was out an extra $300-$400 for labor.



You can kind of make out how far it's off by in this pic.

Strigoi

The seller agreed to a full refund.

cudaized

Glad you got a refund. That sucks that you got the wrong header. You were so close for the install.
The collector flange is at a different angle then the original exhaust manifold. Here is a comparison of your set and the set I installed.

SleepersRock

Did you buy your headers from the same place as cudaized?

Strigoi

Sure did. I'm sending them back tomorrow.

6spd

damn well hope others have better luck in the future.

Strigoi

They should have them Monday or Tuesday and Ebay says they have to do the refund within 3 days of receiving them. I'll report back with how they handle this.

Since I'm not doing exhaust now, I bought myself a new set of wheels/tires last night (going back to 19"s). I'm hoping they'll be here later next week and will post pics once they're on the car. It cracks me up that I spent thousands of dollars on wheels/tires for a car that sits in the garage 95% of the time and I won't go buy a new thermostat for the Intrepid so I can DD it. I've been mobbing the Durango and it's 10-11mpg around town.

ML63 AMG

That sucks it was a simple mixup and they sent wrong model header for one side. At least they had great customer service and gave you full refund.

snooozie

Why don't you tell them to exchange one side and put the headers back in once you get the other side. You are so close in getting them done.

Strigoi

I'm not taking the chance of spending more money to have the flanges taken care of on another set. That's the type of stuff that should be taken care of before they even send them out. They're junk to begin with IMO.

Strigoi

Just an update. They received the headers yesterday and sent me a full refund this morning.

olegfrompenza

to cudaized,

what's news?

cudaized

09-26-2013 - dyno run with the new headers installed.

E-Bay headers installed with stock exhaust system. Original primary cats, secondary cats, resonator, and AMG muffler (including that crimped driver's side collector pipe ). The headers have been great. No exhaust leaks. No ticking noises. Nothing.

Similar meteorological conditions during the runs.

Headers: 311.80 hp / 321.41 ft lb. torque
Base: 300.29 hp / 309.38 ft lb. torque

I gained 11.51 hp and 12.03 ft lb. at the rear wheels.

Take a look at the dyno results in the pictures. Note the increase throughout the RPM range. I can feel the increase in power. My butt dyno felt it the most merging onto the highway. Around 60-70 MPH. Look at the sheet again around 69 MPH. There was a 44.44 hp increase. Must have been the restriction in the stock exhaust manifolds?

I actually expected a larger increase in hp and torque. I think that the stock exhaust system is the culprit. Original cats (12 years old) might be partially blocked? The dyno operator and I agree: Free up that exhaust system! Then dyno it again.


Calculating the differences of actual rear wheel horse power and torque vs. advertised engine horse power and torque:
Estimated new HP at engine = 368.61 hp engine
Estimated new Torque at engine = 405.17 ft lbs engine

or

Calculating by my original net differences of actual rear wheel horse power and torque vs. advertised engine horse power and torque:
311.80 hp rear wheel + 15.4% = 359.82 hp engine
321.41 ft lbs rear wheel + 20.7% = 387.94 ft lbs engine

ML63 AMG

Wow! Those mid range gains are insane for such low priced headers. Definitely put in an X-pipe in the place of the restrictive 2nd cats and you should pick up more top end HP. (Delete 2nd cats and put X-pipe in its place).

benzokirk

The best way to go about upgrading your stock set up is to replace the stock cats with high flow cats, and replace the resonator with the x-pipe.

Impressive gains, for sure!

snooozie

Thank you Cudaized for taking the time and effort to give us the actually information that we so needed for headers. I have had the headers (AMS) for awhile but never dyno them. I can imagine, the mods that I had in my car would have push it close to 400hp, if not more.

You definitely have to get the x-pipe in place of the 2nd cats and drop the heavy resonator for a pair of mandrel bends. That would open it up even more. I don't think you can do much on the bend on the down pipe going into the driver's side primary, unless, you are willing to spend some money on a custom mandrel pipe for that