The truth about headers

[owequitit]

The stainless headers bring the engine bay temp up pretty close to stock. Once the header gets hot, it radiates heat more efficiently than the stock manifold, so the engine bay temps come right up.

With the ceramic though, the engine bay stays noticably cooler, because ceramic is a great insulator. More heat stays in the exhaust stream and exits out of the exhaust pipe, rather than radiating into the engine bay.

[Mike]

one more differnce is that headers like rage ($500-700) are "equal length" which greatly increses hp... up to i think 8 installed on an h22.....however im not an expert and i dont know how that increases horsepower (can someone clean that up for me)

[HenRoc]

I tend to think that you can also use heat wrap to better insulate the header...alot less costly than ceramic.

[4genaccordfreak]

some ppl are right.. some ppl are wrong...

truth of the matter is..... BOLT-ONS DO NOT ADD POWER

things like header, intake, exhaust, spark plugs/wires, intake manifolds.. etc etc.. FREE UP POWER.. with the increased air flow...since you are freeing up OEM restrictions.

any honda/acura motor.. or any import for that matter will NOT free up any serious numbers because of they're lack of displacement.. unless you have some serious n/a internals (like high-comp pistons, rods, cams, lightened flywheel, chipped ECU etc.) <<-- which in that case you will get power GAINS..

same goes for Turbo or S/C.. having a stock 2" exhaust kills you and therefore restricts flow.. add a 3" full exhaust and you notice huge differences..

even though light/mild bolt-on's do not free up enough power or flow to actually make it EXTREMELY noticable.. the better an engine inhales and exhales.. the more power CAN be gained... the cleaner and more efficient it will run (to a degree) and over-all the better/peppier your engine will run with all those parts working together.. engine breathing systems are the MOST restricted components that come from the factory.. for a number of reasons.. whether it be emmisions.. to stay in a certain low-power class of vehicles.. noise restrictions.. etc...

OBX or MEGAN.. or NO-NAME GENERIC EBAY junk.. only sell their products for money purposes.. to make a quick buck...

companies like AEM, Skunk 2, Edelbrock, SMSP, LOVEFAB, APEX'I, GREDDY, AEBS, SPOON, MUGEN etc. .. all have their products extensively tested for quality, dyno tested for actual HP GAINS, tested for the best component FITMENT.. and overall LIFE-SPAN.. of their products.. with those company's .. you pay for R&D (Research & Development). Making the product is fairly cheap.. its the time taken and money spent to make it right.. make it work.. and make last.. that is what you pay for...

i've learned this through MANY years of swapping motors, full motor builds, custom turbo kits.. and custom piping fabrication for charge piping and exhausts.. please.. if anything.. save the money you WOULD be paying for some knock-off item that only will "look good" on ur motor.. and save up or buy something that will actually make a difference with over-all handling or performance...

and remember..

"A wise man once told me, only a fool buy's quality that doesn't show on a dyno"

^^ no arguments about that saying.. its true to a point..

stick around next week for chapter 2!!!!

[starchland]

Whos to say that those proven companies you listed never started as shit? they all have to grow from somewhere right

[4genaccordfreak]

^^ whats your point..???

companies.. like HKS, Mugen, Greddy/Trust and APEX'i... have been around since the 80's believe it or not.....

and then came along AEM, EDELBROCK (import parts), Skunk 2, STR.. etc in the mid/later 90's

why wouldnt you trust companies that have now established themselves for over 10-20 years of experience, knowledge, trial/error.. quality and concept..

just because those companies DID have to start somewhere.. just like MEGAN.. or OBX.. or GENERIC SHIT... doesnt mean that those newer products can come close to competing with what these older more quality based companies have already been doing for years... you fools that only buy shit cuz its cheap and looks good.. is the STOOOOPIDEST thing i have ever heard..

dont get me wrong "EACH TO THEIR OWN" im just enlightening some ppl with some truth.. and some facts that might actually guide them in the right direction to choose proper parts that they can be happy they own.. and happy to know that their investment.. (which alot of these parts get fairly expensive) they know that in the end it was worth paying the extra little bit.. and was money well spent..

[RANT]
i've just suddenly noticed like 4 other threads on.. "what header to buy" "best header for this... " etc etc..
and what do i see when i go in there.. i see ppl suggesting crappy EBAY shit.. saying "oh yeah i've heard only good things"

what GOOD THINGS can you possibly have heard about EBAY shit.. that it looks good when u pop the hood.. OHH YEAH.. HEARD GOOD THINGS..

man.. if anyone on here actually believes any of the shit that those budget companies on there SAY about their products is friggin fool..!!!

ebay even says headlights add 6-8 horsepower for fucksake.... [/RANT]

[accordme93]

I always heard that the you really couldn't beat the EX headers. So I've never bothered with an aftermarket one.

[gloryaccordy]

4thgenaccordfreak you're just wrong dude; don't be a brand whore my man. OBX and Megan Racing are both almost on par with DC Sports, and there is proof on HT. Some dude make about 10HP with a MR header on his H23. In Turbo mag this month they take a GS-R and put smog-legal bolt-ons on it, like AEM/DC Sports shit, and with I/H/E it made like 15-20 HP over stock. Not that the B18C1 is anything like our engines, but hell...our engine's stock I/H/E are def. no better than those of a GS-R, so why wouldn't they make power?

OBX is trying very hard and I'm kind of a fan. They're brave dude...they made LSD's and B-series VTEC cams. No Ebay brand or even brand whore brand like AEM/DC Sports is trying stuff like that...and all the JDM brands have been around for decades and even work directly with car manufacturers (Mugen for example had a big hand in the development of the S2000). So for the little guys to be making rumbles is good to me. And headers/intakes/exhausts are just pipes...obviously a Bisimoto header will reign supreme, but honestly if OBX directly rips off of DC Sports design with the same dimensions and everything, what makes one better? A higher price? MR's header is dyno proven dude, remember that...

[Direthought]

And seriously, the dude that started this post wanted the opinion's on what the best header would be, Not what you think on the entire scene.
Just throw out that, yes, e-*** does suck, and megan/dc headers are the same. Damn, dont go on these crazy rants.
Oh, and btw, the main point for most of these posts about what different set-ups to use is because, A) Most people dont have the thought to, DUH, Search the entire web instead just this site & B) Do not want to spend the 800+ for the best header seeeing as they have many other things in mind they could do with the 650 saved from buying a megan.

[zipcreature]

I noticed trq coming around 2,900-3,300 with my DC 4-2-1 trq step header.

I would ditch it in a heartbeat for a 4-1 header though, for more high rpm hp (by that I mean it becomes more efficient at a higher rpm, but may lack trq in lower rpms). Why? Because I never go "driving" and keep the car at low (2,500-3,900) rpms. So why would I care about making low end power?

TIP: If you have a DC 4-2-1 with the 2" collector cut it off and weld in a wider one - 2.25 or so. That way you get you little back pressure (4lbs?) and also get the flow.

Tuning is really just deciding where in the RPM rang you want to make power, isn't it?

You would be fine with Megam or DC Sports or a race header. Just depends on what you want.

- Zipcreature

[starchland]

that guy really got his back up, and completely missed my point! Probably hasnt tried a Megan header either, and until youve seen a dyno stfu. Some of us on here dont have incredibly deep pockets, so Megan will have to do. man your a brand slut, or are you working off commission?

[accrdpower]

all i can say is that i have felt the difference between a dc header and a megan header on a 92 lx accord....the kid swapped out his megan and put on a dc header.....ceterous peribus.....the dc sports put out an average of 1.7hp better!!!! other than that i would say get a dc ceramic header. one can be had for under 225 if u look hard enough. if that is not your brand of vodka go with bisimoto. kinda expensive though lol the hp gain could just be coinsidental or dc is actually better...who knows

[DrLove'sKuDang]

i say there is nothing wrong with these supposed "ebay" brands. megan exhaust products serve their purpose. im sure there is little to no difference between a megan and a dc header... other than the price. and most people dont care about the carb tag.

and take aem... garbage. ive heard alot of bad shit about their products, especially the camgears. they slip like that was their purpose. and the all too popular intake question. $300 aem vs. $30 ebay intake. ill save $270 any day. as a matter of fact, im currently running an ebay intake... and i have been for years.


there are times when i will only trust companies with a history, like when it comes to cams. i would go with trusted companies like skunk or crower... not that there is anything wrong with obx cams, but they havent been around long enough for me to get a feel for the quality of that specific product.



on a side note, smsp is in a catagory of their own. they are way above the likes of aem/greddy/mugen/etc.

smsp is to greddy, what greddy is to megan.

[starkrice]

I would like to say that the JUN header is one of the best header for H22s from my knolge and tested its a great header for no vtec lagg like common DC's then greddy makes one other good header that wont "sac" your low/ mid/ high as for ebay and DC's they are mainly the same. the only thing your paing for DC's is that its 50 state legal

[accrdpower]

I would like to say that the JUN header is one of the best header for H22s from my knolge and tested its a great header for no vtec lagg like common DC's then greddy makes one other good header that wont "sac" your low/ mid/ high as for ebay and DC's they are mainly the same. the only thing your paing for DC's is that its 50 state legal

hmmm no not quite right about dc....u r paying for the name yes but also the R&D. any fool can slap together custom piping and call it a header...but as for other issues i found when reading these posts...... ceramic is the way to go if u r looking for the clean look. if u wanna use some wrap thats fine but it def def won't look nearly as good as the ceramic header. and yes ceramic is very good bc it does lower the engine bay temp. stainless steel is worthless, u r paying for looks that will fade to different colors in the end. as for the issue about aem, how do u say aem is a bad product???? have U had any experience with aem products? i guess not if u say they are crap. as for the intake issue i do agree that u can get a ebay intake or a autozone one and make out just fine. who the hell pays 200+ for a sr intake? i payed 65bucks for my aem SR intake. and the cold air can be had for under 190. dunno where the 300 came from....but anyway, i guess the short scoop is this..............ceramic=good, clean, decreases engine bay temps.....and don't bash on products,companies u have had NO experience with whatsoever. i HEARD so many bad things...blah blah blah. unless u have delt with the product in question in some way or another, mouth should be kept shut. ty