Header Comparison
05-04-2018, 07:10 PM
#1
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 35
Header Comparison
Hey everyone. So I finally found a good fit and I thought I'd share my experiences with everyone so you don't also go through the headache I did.
Attempt 1: Ebay Header + weapon-r cel eliminator
It started with an ebay header. About $100 bucks for a 4-1 design stainless steel. Looked ok and welds looked pretty solid from first glance. Fitment sucked. The upper mount portion looked like a good fit but after removing there were black leak marks all around the 4 holes in every direction. The lower mount section did not mount up nicely and I ended up slightly bending the mountin hole bracket on the stock s-pipe. I got it to bolt up tight enough though. After driving for a few days I could definitely hear a leak/s under heavy acceleration. Then came the rattling in my scuba tank. I took her to my muffler guy who said he thought the scuba needed replacing. He cut it out to find a big piece of metal inside of it that was casuing the rattling. This piece ended up being the little divider at the exit of the header that splits the piping from two to 1. The weld broke sending the piece through my exhaust into the scuba...luckily not damaging anything. He welded the scuba back in and I went straight home to remove the header.
Attempt 2: Tsudo Header + S-pipe + weapon-r cel eliminator
Since I bent the stock s-pipe trying to install the ebay header the stock header would no longer bolt up without a leak at that mount. So, I decided to try out the Tsudo set up since it came with the s-pipe and was cheaper than the weapon-r. It looked beautiful. After installing I noticed the piping hitting the front of the transmission casing (automatic). During idle the header rattled against the transmission causing a horrible noise and actually left marks on both the header piping and the transmission. I contacted Tsudo who sent me another setup as replacement. They said their headers were all hand bent and welded so there could be some differences. Second one same exact thing plus leaking. I eventually returned this entire setup and just bought a used stock s-pipe to put it back to stock. Basically, these headers do not fit the auto..I dont know about the manual. After uninstalling, they also had a ton of leak marks at the mounts. no bueno.
Attempt 3: DC Header + weapon-r cel eliminator
Months later I decided to give it another try with the DC Header. These are all machine built and you can tell when bolting this thing up. It fit literally perfect. no leaks. welds are beautiful and they are gorgeous as well. So in the end I wish I would've just went with DC in the first place. I used the stainless 4-2-1. The sound is just slightly deeper with a slight bit of rasp at 3/4 throttle which sort of disappears at full throttle...or my intake is louder and i just cant hear it anymore. either way sounds nice. Ive heard of some people fitting a high flow cat welded in since this removes the stock one and that sort of smoothes out the rasp. I didn't do this though.
Weapon R CEL eliminator: fits and worked perfectly. No codes on any of the three headers. I have the DC on the longest now for about 2 weeks and all is good. Ill report back if anything changes.
Things to note:
-The header turns a nice gold after use. Per the instructions I wiped the header down with a simple hand soap and water mixture with a couple clean rags to remove all finger prints and grease. If you don't do this they will turn a blueish color on all areas with it.
-Face the CEL eliminator toward the front of the car.
-You will need to bend the dipstick to fit any header. I used a hammer and gave it some good whacks to bend out of the way. Makes it a little harder to pull the stick out but who cares. I don't.
Hope that helps someone. Let me know if you have any questions.
Attempt 1: Ebay Header + weapon-r cel eliminator
It started with an ebay header. About $100 bucks for a 4-1 design stainless steel. Looked ok and welds looked pretty solid from first glance. Fitment sucked. The upper mount portion looked like a good fit but after removing there were black leak marks all around the 4 holes in every direction. The lower mount section did not mount up nicely and I ended up slightly bending the mountin hole bracket on the stock s-pipe. I got it to bolt up tight enough though. After driving for a few days I could definitely hear a leak/s under heavy acceleration. Then came the rattling in my scuba tank. I took her to my muffler guy who said he thought the scuba needed replacing. He cut it out to find a big piece of metal inside of it that was casuing the rattling. This piece ended up being the little divider at the exit of the header that splits the piping from two to 1. The weld broke sending the piece through my exhaust into the scuba...luckily not damaging anything. He welded the scuba back in and I went straight home to remove the header.
Attempt 2: Tsudo Header + S-pipe + weapon-r cel eliminator
Since I bent the stock s-pipe trying to install the ebay header the stock header would no longer bolt up without a leak at that mount. So, I decided to try out the Tsudo set up since it came with the s-pipe and was cheaper than the weapon-r. It looked beautiful. After installing I noticed the piping hitting the front of the transmission casing (automatic). During idle the header rattled against the transmission causing a horrible noise and actually left marks on both the header piping and the transmission. I contacted Tsudo who sent me another setup as replacement. They said their headers were all hand bent and welded so there could be some differences. Second one same exact thing plus leaking. I eventually returned this entire setup and just bought a used stock s-pipe to put it back to stock. Basically, these headers do not fit the auto..I dont know about the manual. After uninstalling, they also had a ton of leak marks at the mounts. no bueno.
Attempt 3: DC Header + weapon-r cel eliminator
Months later I decided to give it another try with the DC Header. These are all machine built and you can tell when bolting this thing up. It fit literally perfect. no leaks. welds are beautiful and they are gorgeous as well. So in the end I wish I would've just went with DC in the first place. I used the stainless 4-2-1. The sound is just slightly deeper with a slight bit of rasp at 3/4 throttle which sort of disappears at full throttle...or my intake is louder and i just cant hear it anymore. either way sounds nice. Ive heard of some people fitting a high flow cat welded in since this removes the stock one and that sort of smoothes out the rasp. I didn't do this though.
Weapon R CEL eliminator: fits and worked perfectly. No codes on any of the three headers. I have the DC on the longest now for about 2 weeks and all is good. Ill report back if anything changes.
Things to note:
-The header turns a nice gold after use. Per the instructions I wiped the header down with a simple hand soap and water mixture with a couple clean rags to remove all finger prints and grease. If you don't do this they will turn a blueish color on all areas with it.
-Face the CEL eliminator toward the front of the car.
-You will need to bend the dipstick to fit any header. I used a hammer and gave it some good whacks to bend out of the way. Makes it a little harder to pull the stick out but who cares. I don't.
Hope that helps someone. Let me know if you have any questions.
05-07-2018, 06:37 PM
#2
Sucks that you had to go through so many iterations to get something that worked correctly. As an add on to the ones you have run the Weapon-R header fits great with no leak issues and as an added bonus you don't need to bend the dipstick to fit it.
Excuse the dirty engine shot.
Excuse the dirty engine shot.
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