Hi all

I have been busy getting ready to relocate and have been having issues with my headers hanging too low and some leak that I could not get rid of! it was most frustrating. The leak issue I found out the primary reason why today. Shardul hooked me up with some medium tube headers from a shop that he had been working with ... that worked great! I thought I would do a little write up here with some of the things I learned in this whole process. There are also pics included. Thanks a lot to Shardul for working with me on this. He kept me well informed of what was going on throughout the whole process and gave good advice along the way. He knew I was on a time crunch .. he helped me to push the shop to get them delivered AHEAD of time. Luckily I moved out my relocation date or this would not have gotten done by my local fabricators. Also thanks to Shardul for answering my sometimes dumb questions!

1. Always use new gaskets! Some say it's ok to re-use. I am sorry but I am **** on this.

2. Using factory gaskets. I had leaking issues. for some reason. Add some Permatex Ultra high temp copper RTV on the header side of the gasket, let them set up and they're good to go, no more leaks from the flange. Factory gaskets are designed for cast iron manifolds. A lot of people just use these without issues. I had issues .. lucky me!

3. I kept having issues reading left and right banks being different on O2 sensors. The reason I found was that my left motor mount was shot. The whole engine torques and putting it up on the rack, and putting it in drive and reverse (don't try this at home kids) you could see the engine lifting off the mount! This would torque the tubes causing uneven leaks. I need to fix this.

So about my Shardul headers:

What I like:

a. They are easy to install single piece headers with plenty of clearance up top. Need to remove one bolt for the steering column and slide the header up the left side. Very simple indeed!

b. They are tight against the body. Mine were a little too tight so cut at the collector and put a flange there. the whole setup is much tighter against the body so if you are lowered, should have few issues. Add some oval cats and you're good! Flex might be the next lowest point then.

c. Precat sensors are lower in the collector so can read all 4 cylinders in each bank. This unfortunately means the post cats cannot be in the header.

d. However (from c), it did allow me to put a high flow cat closer to the engine which is hotter therefore should be cleaner and more effective cat and then put the post cat sensors after the cat where they are supposed to be. did not have to extend wires .

e. A result of d is that my 3" cats are moved up closer to the front of the car and sit higher up. These were the parts that hit the speed bumps not my header before. I gained probably 1.5" to 2" by moving the cat further forward and up. If you want them further back, I would use oval cats next time.

f. You know you have a motor mount issue right away! They hit the steering column and make a god awful noise if motor mount is bad.

g. These headers are SUPER quiet. Doesn't seem like there are headers on it until you open it up and even then it is still pretty quiet. I think I need to dump my resonator.

What could be improved:

1. Have an option for shiny tubes. They were kind of plain. They don't look as good but are totally functional. I am not a big cosmetics person but it's nice to have the option.

2. Tweak to the back J-bend needed. It was an easy fix. just end and flange at the collector.

Time for pics:

Header
Sorry, there was miscommunication here. I told my installer to take a pic or let me take a pic before they went on. Didn't get a chance to. so no good pics of the headers alone.

Left side. bolt to be removed is red circle. it's tight with the column there but with good motor mounts should not hit.

Just showing clearance better on left:
Left 2

shows precut sensor and additional bung for wideband:
Left 3

Pic showing precat sensor->cat->post cat sensor ->flex
Left 4

Right showing maximum utilization of space and clearances:
Right 1

pic showing right side you can see where the cat bottomed out a little from the previous setup:
Right 2

Here's a pic of the x pipe. The welds are nasty. I need to get those fixed. I had a different guy do the back the first time. To be honest, I was disappointed but I will get that fixed when I have more time.

x-pipe

These pipes cost quite a bit more than what I had before which is a downer, but they are decent quality headers. Overall, I am a happy camper!

Enjoy guys!

 

Wow those looks great bud! Congrats lets hear that beast roar!!

 

Very F***ing nice!

 

Thats a very nice system you got yourself there!!!

Big up once again to shardul!!

 

Looks good. As you probably know you could have send the headers out to be ceramic or Jet coated and achieve the "shiny" you speak of and also keep the heat in the pipes especially as the fitment is tight and close the body and other parts of the car. Did you not want to delete the primary cats?

You have a very impressive forced induction garage BTW.

 

Nice job and I bet it sounds great! Mid pipe looks pretty good and welds are no to bad for not using a tig.

 

"Right showing maximum utilization of space and clearances:"

In my opinion that is a horrible fitment. The down pipe is literally touching the frame/ uni body. When the engine moves left and right when revving it's going to hit there.

Shiny option really? You shouldn't worry about shiny but rather heat control. I would have had them ceramic coated by swaintech.

 

lol too funny

 

Seems like a tight fit, I believe the engine moves under acceleration.

 

Stainless does a pretty good job of containing heat without a Jet Hot like finish. The ugly SwainTech stuff does a phenomenal job however.

 

how big is your pipe?? 3"? looks huge... i bet that **** is LOUD

 

Stainless does a horrible job of controlling heat.