Does anyone know which header is better for the money?

 

I know that the Alphawerks header looks sweet as hell.

 

Does the Alpha header give off the same raspy noise as the megan header?

 

Isn't the Alphawerks header like uber expensive? Plus it's not CARB legal, so hope you don't have inspection. For the little difference in gain, the Megan header is probably your safest bet.

 

megan is not carb exempt, they applied for a carb number, but no go as of right now is the last info I recieved.

 

But since they have the high-flow pre-cat, wouldn't it still pass emissions?

 

Megan also has a lifetime warranty. I believe Alphawerks only has 1 year.

- $250 vs. $400+
- Marginal HP output differences between the two.
- Megan is stainless steel (coloration), Alphawerks is not (boring)
- Raspiness can be fixed with any combination of exhaust or s-pipe mods.

Why spend all that money for something that's only warrantied for one year, and has a downpipe that will never change coloration? You do the math.

 

Im almost certain that racing solution website said that alphawerks is stainless......actually your car will still pass emmisions with pretty much any header, its a clean running motor, but it wont pass visual inspection with ANY header.

 

but in megans defense, it does look like a really good header and its actually the one Im leaning towards.

 

You're right, my mistake, the Alphawerks headers ARE stainless steel.

Here's the three highlights of Megan that I like:
- Lower price
- Lifetime warranty
- Built-in precat

Alpha has none of those, and for the $400 pricetag it just doesn't make sense to buy them. I already have the Megan's, and the raspiness has been deepening over the days it's been on my car's block.

 

the lifetime warrenty is where its at I think!

 

I installed the megan head monday 4/4 and i cant deal with the rasp. sounds like a civic. Would the draxus s pipe be the fix for the rasp noise?

 

The TRD exhaust is the primary culprit for that problem, if you still have the stock exhaust then I'd recommend bolting that on and setting the TRD exhaust aside for now (or sell it). I've read a lot on here that a high-flow s-pipe (like Draxas) would also fix the problem.

I installed my megan headers a couple days ago and the tone has been deepening as time goes on. Give it a while before you make any drastic changes. That precat needs to break in, as well as the rest of the header.

 

Hello,
My name is Victor and I do R&D for Nexus Industry and worked some on the Alphawerks Scion tC racing header. On the Scion tC header I can review the warranty policy. Would a lifetime warranty be something that would assure you of the header? I would have no problem pushing this through because these headers are pretty much indistructable. If you have seen them in person you know.

Also...our headers come with an O2 SIMULATOR = NO CHECK ENGINE LIGHT problems. O2 SIMULATOR ADVANTAGES:

- No cat = maximum horsepower
- No cat rasp sound
- NO Check Engine Light EVER (O2 Sim eliminates all check engine light issues forever. If a header has a cat made overseas the header will not throw the check engine light at first, but after driving the car the cat on the headers will be used up rapidly and eventually throw a check engine light and then you are back at square one. This has been my experience with cats made in China/Taiwan. The source country for the headers also affects quality and price. You basically get what you pay for in horsepower and quality.)

If anyone has any questions at all, I am here everyday to answer all your questions on the headers. And it is my pleasure to meet with all you guys here. Take care...

Best regards,
Victor D.
Nexus Industry
Exclusive NA Distributor of Alphawerks Racing Development

 

Also...the alphawerks headers are 100% T-304 Stainless Steel. The headers are made of only the highest quality T-304 Stainless Steel.

Additionally all our products are ISO-9001 certified which is the highest grade of manufacturing possible (Higher than ISO-9002).

Finally, the Alphawerks headers come with the factory brackets on the collector to mount the header. Without this the headers will have problems with cracking at the welds to the flanges on the exhaust manifold because the scion tc engine mounts are very soft and the engine moves quite a bit especially under hard driving.

And as for horsepower, there is no other header with more power and to prove it there is a sponsorhip up for grabs in this. If you are a forum member and are willing to do an independent test dyno we will give you the header at cost.

I hope that this information is what you are looking for and I hope that you can appreciate the sponsorship offer. First come first served! We offered this same sponsorship for our 350z and our g35 headers and it only took 10 minutes to get the sponsorship so PM me asap.

Thanks...
Victor D.

 

People are quoting a marginal difference in HP gain between the Megan and Alphawerks’ headers, yet, I have not seen any dyno of just of the Alphawerks’ header alone. Only a dyno of the I/H/E and throttle body, which show a combined gain of 24whp. Is there a dyno for the Alphawerks’ header alone that I'm missing or are you all thinking of the DC header when you refer to marginal gains?

Victor, regarding the lifetime warranty, I feel that would be a great selling point, but, honestly, I would be more interested in seeing a dyno of just the headers. If the headers do provide a greater % increase in power, I would rather buy the Alphawerks’ header w/ a 1-year warranty that shows better gains and has no cat, an element that could possibly get clogged over time and seems to just add weight since it doesn’t prevent CELs by itself, then the Megan w/ a lifetime warrenty.

 

Im intrested in the sponsor but im in NJ.

 

Are there any actual dynos of the other products out there or are they all just speculation?

If anyone wants an Alphawerks dyno just PM me to do the sponsorship to do the independent dyno. All you have to do is make sure you do the write up here.

I believe on the header dyno alone it was right around +10whp.

Victor D.
Nexus Industry

 

Im really intrested in your header, but i need to make sure there is no rasp noise like the megan header. I also have the trd axle back.

 

Sent you a PM about 5 minutes after you first posted the offer. *crosses fingers* If you need any additional info just let me know. ^_^

As for other dyno's, yes, there are numbers for the DC header and Megan Header.

DC HP Dyno Sheet

DC TQ Dyno Sheet

Megan Baseline Dyno

Megan Header Dyno