What do you guys think of these headers?-wtb headers lol

[slystiguy]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Car-parts-accessories/Subaru/Other/auction-325447510.htm

Wondering if these are completely rubbish or what? I unfortunately Have leaks around my headers an its probably all coming off so just wondering weither I should upgrade them with something else and saw these going stupidly cheap

atm I've got the stock STI exhaust system with a 3in downpipe (I think its a td04 or 5 turbo)

was Going to get some through jap race spare SSI tuned headers but they are quite abit outa my price range ;D

Could be interested in 2nd hand headers if someone got some

Cheers Sam

[sultan]

those ones are crap. i bought a set cause they were dirt cheap, but after test fitting the joiner sits so low that they would scrape all the time on everything. and my car was just on basic lowered springs. i went with xforce headers which were better, but i've now gone back to stock.

i don't know your car at all, but i imagine there are far better things to spend your money on at the moment. if you have a td04 turbo, there's your starting point.

[slystiguy]

I need them for a wof aye

I guess I could always go with just a new up pipe but its still basically the same amount of work seems a shame to waste so much effort haha

[sultan]

is there a crack? if not, replacing the gaskets would be very cheap. or otherwise i bought a std set of headers with uppipe for $40.

there's nothing wrong with std headers. you'll probably spool the turbo quicker and make more torque over aftermarket. you'll get a much bigger gain in binning the td04. or going to a tunable computer with yellow injectors

[slystiguy]

cant really tell because all the exhaust has covers over it haha but its around the up pipe area probably the flexi joint (was told)

It could be a td05 but I haven't had it off to check yet I tried to remove uppipe when I did downpipe but needed an stronger socket set as mine got fuxored haha an the other decent one I had was to small to use

>.<

[nt_a_foz]

 sultan said:

is there a crack? if not, replacing the gaskets would be very cheap. or otherwise i bought a std set of headers with uppipe for $40.

there's nothing wrong with std headers. you'll probably spool the turbo quicker and make more torque over aftermarket. you'll get a much bigger gain in binning the td04. or going to a tunable computer with yellow injectors

Factory ones are shit house they a cast and not very well flowing..Yes people make reasonable power on them

BUT

youl definatly make more power and better responce on a decent set of tuned length ones.

[off2harrys]

id agree with sultan keep ur headers and buy a cheap 2nd hand uppipe or maybe a/m 1 on TM (but try find same size diameter unless trying to break hp records) sounds like he doesnt wanna buy decent 1s and buying crappy trademe type 1s generally moves the powerband back

[Guest boostcut]

my car has tuned length headders on it and a td04, sounds like a honda but even brad was surprised at the difference in power. and its at 10psi

[Simon C]

Headers made a huge difference to off-boost and on-boost with my car (spooled several hundred RPM sooner), but mine are 4-2-1 design rather than 4-1, so more bottom end gains in the design.

The factory ones aren't actually all that bad. The cast iron, once it heats up, is actually quite good at holding heat. They're a bit restrictive for top end flow, but the benefit is bottom end torque and driveability. Some people recommend just port-matching the cross pipe on the factory headers, rather than going all out and replacing the whole lot. Certainly cheaper, and nothing to lose.

The other major drawback to the factory headers is that they weight a freakin' tonne compared to aftermarket. It's actually a significant weight reduction ahead of the front axle going to aftermarket.

Don't get crap cheap ones. If they leak at the slip joints, you can weld them up, but it won't stop them cracking at the flanges. I got my ones used off a race car in the US, cost me $900NZD landed, but then you have to get them coated or heat wrapped too.

[slystiguy]

cheers for the replies il stay away from the cheap ones. Its not that I don't want the good ones it just 900 $ headers are way way way down on the list of needs right now

might wait until I see some good ones on trademe or here and just do the up pipe for now

the good thing about keeping stock is it has that nice rumble to

[slystiguy]

what do you guys reckon about this set on TM

http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=326513763

[marc]

 slystiguy said:

what do you guys reckon about this set on TM

http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=326513763

yeah not bad, mine were genuine SYMS but id say thoes are based on them as they look exactly the same but 3x cheeper. Honda sonding hard lol but still liked them. Cant tell you on increase vs stock as my sti came from jap land with them already ;D. made good power on them and bottom end power was prity good. thats my light on them

On yeah and watch for the slip joints on them as mentioned earlier. I tigd mine up so they didnt leak when i put thm on my built motor at 21+ psi

[Simon C]

At work right now, can't see TradeMe, but if they're a replica of SYMS headers then I can speak for them vs stock. Basically, no boxer rumble, much smoother harder edged note. My turbo spools about 300 RPM faster, car is much more responsive off boost, and more rev happy everywhere.

Since I can't see the photos right now, I'm going to assume that they're an integrated uppipe like mine? If not, then you have nothing to fear. If so, then they will be a PITA to install, as you'll need to jack the car up really high to rotate them in, and undo the engine mounts too.

[slystiguy]

awesome awesome,Did you guys heat wrap yours? looks like theyd be hard to wrap O_O but definitely want to wrap them because my engine bay was to hot recently.

Now just to find away to get them to chch hopefully the trader will be kind enough to drop them into my company up in aucks an they can chuck them on the next shipment we get,but still no answer from trader.

yes uppipe integrated into them.When you say jack car up high how high are we talking here? ive got drive on blocks that give about 40cm of clearance under the car which has been amazingly helpful(apart form being scared shitless about earthquakes lol) Will that be enough you reckon? or am I likely to need a car lift for this?

another wee thing I was wondering about was getting the turbo off the uppipe. Firstly I broke my socket then rounded out the only other piece I had an now its getting abit worrying. I've read that you can undo the uppipe from the exhaust side an then just pull it out from the top of engine. Can anyone confirm this method? Or give any tips on those stubborn bolts?

Your help has been really appreciated so far so thanks to everyone whos lending there information

[Guest]

you need to wrap them otherwise they will be laggy.

[slystiguy]

yeap was definitely going to wrap them. did you look at pic? looks like it would be hard to wrap the single pipes or would you just go around both at once? Is there anything wrong with redline performance heatwrap? seems like its half the price of any other shops heatwrap.ALSO should I heatwrap downpipe as well? I'm new to this stuff but I done a few projects in my times (suzukis an minis)

[marc]

Turbo can come off with up pipe attached . and as for heat wrap I did and yep was a fun : job lol. Ill try post a pic that I have some where. after a few hours I still couldnt get the wrap right tho lol. turned out ok but yea lol. Redline wrap is ok, Ive used it and havent had problems but yeah no heat wrap likes being ruffed up by shit you run over like mine .

[Simon C]

Definately need to heat wrap it. Those headers get bloody hot. I went overboard and wrapped everything individually, was a PITA but now I know that every square inch of metal has heat wrap in contact with it. Most people would just wrap adjacent pipes as one, you save a lot of money in heat wrap that way. Also wrap the first part of the downpipe, but not the horizontal bit at the exhaust end, otherwise water will splash up into your wrap and rot your downpipe.

You need enough lift to swing the headers lengthwise under your car, to rotate them 180 degrees. So your front crossmember has to be as high off the ground as the headers are wide. Can be done with a big jack. 40cm won't be enough. I had drunkenmonkey come around with his big jack and give me a hand.

Recommend you invest in some six-point sockets. Much less risk of rounding off your nuts. If you have a stock uppipe with the Subaru heatshields on it, AFAIK you have to get it out from underneath, and jack up the engine off its engine mounts to do so. It's actually much easier to put a heatwrapped aftermarket uppipe in than it is to take the stocker out.

Here's a photo of my SYMS ones for comparison. You can see the ones you're interested in are different. The weld work is not as tidy, and the O2 sensor bung is just below the turbo flange. Not sure if the pipe diameters enlarge after each 2-1 join like mine do. Longevity aside though, I'd imagine they'd perform similarly.

[slystiguy]

thank for for the pic, those are very nice looking headers

Guted I think the up pipe does have the heat shroud over it >.<

Just noticed the auction has changed

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=326513763

What is the difference between equal length an non equal length headers?

And are these still worth buying now knowing that?

I was ready to hit buynow until I saw that lol now I dont know what to think

EDIT* - after doing a bit of reading I see that equal length headers produce less heat than unequal which makes the car more reliable an is safer on the turbo

Can anyone reflect on this with subarus? hp wise it should make little difference? but reliability wise it will keep you engine cooler? also read that unequal will spool slightly faster ?

Cheers Sam

[Simon C]

Bollocks.

Equal length is the most efficient, it will create more power and spool the turbo faster because there is not turbulence with the exhaust pulses from each cylinder interfering with each other. Also, there is a pressure wave effect which increases scavenging from each cylinder when the lengths are properly tuned. Quite simply, the laws of physics are firmly on the side of the EL headers. But it's nothing to do with heat transfer or reliability. The only advantage of unequal length is that it will generate the characteristic boxer rumble exhaust note. This is because of the exhaust pulses interfering with each other. Essentially, you're sacrificing power for a funky exhaust note. Some people value this highly enough that they will swap back to UEL from EL. Me, you'll have to prise my EL headers from my cold dead hands.

[Guest]

im using these headers and am verry happy with them . the slip joints leak a bit if they ar not crankd up evanly but thats about it. turbo is fully spoold at about 3800 but am runnind a slightly larger turbo and car is still making power all the way through redline. do sound a bit like a honder but a decent exaust system will help. does fore mine

[slystiguy]

ahhh I c I c - On a stock car this wouldn't matter so much though right? Thought that sort of stuff only mattered when pushing for big numbers. Now im tempted to just weld up the existing headers and save myself the 300$ haha

So would you guys buy those headers for that price? im quite keen on them but don't know weither I should just stick with the stock sti headers?

[BC5RA]

 Simon C said:

Bollocks.

Equal length is the most efficient, it will create more power and spool the turbo faster because there is not turbulence with the exhaust pulses from each cylinder interfering with each other. Also, there is a pressure wave effect which increases scavenging from each cylinder when the lengths are properly tuned. Quite simply, the laws of physics are firmly on the side of the EL headers. But it's nothing to do with heat transfer or reliability. The only advantage of unequal length is that it will generate the characteristic boxer rumble exhaust note. This is because of the exhaust pulses interfering with each other. Essentially, you're sacrificing power for a funky exhaust note. Some people value this highly enough that they will swap back to UEL from EL. Me, you'll have to prise my EL headers from my cold dead hands.

You've made a lot of broad claims without any proof.

Such as the only advantage to unequal length is the note. I've seen varying results from OE headers in various states of modification.

[Guest]

 slystiguy said:

ahhh I c I c - On a stock car this wouldn't matter so much though right? Thought that sort of stuff only mattered when pushing for big numbers. Now im tempted to just weld up the existing headers and save myself the 300$ haha

So would you guys buy those headers for that price? im quite keen on them but don't know weither I should just stick with the stock sti headers?

For u stock would be fine

[slystiguy]

ok cheers, its just a stock redtop with a 3in downpipe (goes great with downpipe highly recommended)

Uppipe is gona cost me 100$ new -trademe

120$ 2ndhand genuine part at wrex lol seems odd they charge so much for a 2nd hand part

BUT possibly can be fixed after its removed ? I guess I should save my money for the gearbox coming up and the unfinished paintjob to (sigh will it ever be fixed)