I changed my whole exhaust setup, from th stock headers back i had a straight pie made to a magna fow muffler, it sounds great and runs great, even improved gas mileage, but ive heard that headers make a difference, any good headers I can bu, or cheap ones that are better than stock?

 

I suggest you get the racing beat headers with presilencer.
Don't bother with the pacesetter headers because the quality of them are no match for the racing beat headers.

 

MindTrain- great but expensive
Racing Beat- Also good. Best Value?
Pace Setter- Lowest quality of the bunch but they're cheap. Everyone bashes them but I've heard from several satisfied owners...

 

What is the difference between a down pipe and headers. Are the headers instead of the down pipe?

 

headers= NA
downpipe= Turbo

 

you can put a downpipe on a na

 

Stock is the exhaust manifold, entirely different from a header.

The header will flow far better than the manifold.

Downpipe on the manifold will flow better than the stock pre-cats. But, still no match for a header.

 

can u have both a down pipe and a header

 

Nope, the header connects to the pre-silencer, a cat, or a test pipe.

The down pipe runs in the space where the header runners are. Everything in exhaust is based on its place within the system. Mid pipe, exhaust pipe, tail pipe all are based on where they are.

 

which racing beat headers are good for my car? Its an 86 gxl, no p/s, no a/c, electric fan, engine being rebuilt and streetported, upgrading injectors, pump, and getting safc, doing a 100 nitrous wet shot soon. Should i get the road race headers, or the streetable ones. They're on their website.

 

What do you plan on doing with the car? auto-x, drag, or road racing?

The collected header (streetable) is going to give you a wider powerband, but the true duals header is going to give you better top end. (provided you run true duals)

It's really a design consideration as to the intended use of the car.

 

If you were looking to do auto-x. would a downpipe be better than a header for low end? (which u need for auto-x)

 

it isn't going to make a BIG difference. Between the 2 RB header, the streetable comes with the O2 sensor bung and is made to fit with their pre-silencer, together they are the same length from stock from the cat forward.

the RB road race header doesn't have the O2 bung but an exhaust shop should be able to tap one for you if you want. The road race header is much shorter and remains split (doesn't join) like the streetable does.

If you are going to have a cat-back with 2 mufflers (one on each side) I will go with the road race header and run straight pipes to the mufflers. Or you could join the ends together into a Y-pipe to the mufflers.

Who's rebuilding the engine for you ?

 

ok, the downpipe connects the NA engine's exhaust manifold to the main catalytic converter, bypassing the pre-cat.

Now you can replace the exhaust manifold & downpipe with "headers," but you'll need a pre-silencer I believe to provide some backpressure. Otherwise your 6ports won't work right. The exhaust manifold is a square piece bolted onto the engine block and has air fins for cooling. I'd imaging it does soak up quite a bit of heat, noise, and top end power, so you'll need to be sure the headers can handle some SERIOUS heat and won't sag over time.

Originally I though replacing the exhaust manifold/adding headers would kill low end torque, but now I'm thinking that's the function of the 6ports not backpressure from the exhaust.

Correct me if I'm wrong though people.

 

Any header you do will be far better than the stock exhaust manifold no matter who makes it. I actually have the Pace Setter header on my car right now and am pretty happy with it. Its only $100 so its not expected to be perfect. I used to use the Racing Beat header. I modified the Pace Setter collector for better flow. Its only temporary anyways until the turbo goes on.

True duals has better LOW END POWER. I used to have them. The low end is fantastic. The higher the rpm and the bigger the porting the less they are a benefit and eventually you will reach a point where they don't work as good.

 

Collecting a road race header (merging the two runners) will make for a very high rpm HP peak and very little torque unless you collected it after the mid pipe the sell for it that has two resonators in it. Then it would essentially be a long runner header and will give you very good bottom end for auto-x, but will weigh more as you'll have twice the tubing under the car.

The stock exhaust manifold should go bye-bye regardless of what you plan to run the car in. It doesn't make power. Period. The streetable header is the way to go for all around performance. (which is why they call it streetable)

 

true...but a header & racpipe/ catback is looooooud. I have a 2.5 inch downpipe, racepipe and dual N1 system and i couldn't deal w/ the car being any louder/deeper. headers even w/ the pre-silencer should produce some substantial noise compared to the stock manifold, correct?

 

Yes, it's obnoxiously loud. If I did it, I'd get the best muffling pre-silencer I could find (or two).

 

To maintain a comfortable noise level I think you would have to have some sort of pre muffler/pre-silencer setup with a catback When using headers.My setup is loud but not uncomfortbly loud.I'd say it's just about right.

 

ok, im planning on doing road racing, anyone know how to enter and where to enter races like in Gran Turismo 3? where cars race in a track and they are raced in class of hp? im planning on racoing on the track, andnon the street, what do you suggest, i have a straightback exhaust to one side, single exhaust, elminated the y, and it costs too much $ to go back, so true duals are out, talk to me peeps.

 

If you want full nose to the wall racing, well you'll probably need a roll cage & racing license at a minumum. SCCA has several IT classes (read near stock cars weight & HP).

You might try Solo II or auto-x first just to get a good feel for your car. Brakes & racing tires cost money, so full nose to the wall racing might require some sponsors

 

okat doesn't the RB site say that headers you will actually lose power on a stock port motor? correct me if I am wrong but they say that headers and the true dual setup will increase power only on a ported motor, btw I had the pacesetter headers with a true dual setup and you will lose all low end power! though after 5500rpms you notice a small increase in power, but by that time the crappy civic your racing has already passed you!!

 

Bottom end suffers on the streetable header with stock porting. When you wind out to the 4K+ range you'll really pull hard though. Small compromise. True duals on a street car that isn't ported will suck ***. You need the power gains from the collector. Collected exhaust is tuned so that the negative pulsewave of one runner is phased with the opening of the other runners exhaust port so the one side actually sucks the other side out of the chamber. This makes a pretty good improvement in flow and reduces the amount of work the engine needs to use expelling the burnt charge.

 

Can anyone tell me if a streetable header or header and presilencer combo will bolt straight up to the y pipe.... thanks

 

You all have got it backwards in regards to the true duals. They are good on a stock ported rotary but that is all. Low end is very good top end isn't. Sound is horrible and loud. Collected is best overall and the only way to go on a ported motor. A header will never lose power to the stock exhaust manifold no matter if it is ported or not. I have had both long and short primary as well as true duals in the past. I have also had stock and streetport 6-port engines as well as stock and streetported T-II's. I know which ones work and which ones don't for each application. My current 6 port setup is streetported with a long primary system. This works best on ported engines.