I drive an 87 fc n/a and i want to get a set of rb headers, but someone i know has a set of pacesetters and is selling them relatively cheap. My only dilema is that i want to get the most out of my car, price difference between the two is not an issue. The person told me that there will not be any considerable difference between the two but not sure if thats just a sales tactic. So i need your help guys...

 

if the price is a huge difference get the pacesetters. both that set and the racing beat aren't that great, despite Racing Beat's name in rotaries and performance their headers were never really refined all that well.

 

I have had both of these headers on my car, and I can say my *** dyno couldn't tell a bit of difference over the Pacesetter or RacingBeat header. Quality wise I would go with the RB, but with that you'll need the RB presilencer so that you can bolt up to your existing catback. With the Pacesetter header, it fits right in place of the stock header and 2 pre-cats. I've heard of OBX headers recently too, they seem to be about the same quality as Pacesetter and should be cheap too. I can't vouch on their quality, though.

I would however recommend the complete RB system if you were seriously looking for a good quality exhaust. My latest FC has it and it puts a smile on my face everytime the tach rises...

 

Like Brett says, RB quality is awesome.

And again like he says, you need the whole system [I can promise you, for a long time I had a RB header+presilencer with the stock catback.... And when I finally got the RB catback it was a world of difference ]

 

Do i have to run a cat? We dont have emissions testing here in KS so all my previous cars have run catless. Will i need the backpressure created by a cat or can i straight pipe it after the header? I have a turbo II catback exhaust that i will put on when i get the header? Also, how important/neccesary is the presilencer?

 

The presilencer is only needed if you don't care about noise pollution tickets. It's good for creating a bit quieter and milder exhaust tone. Also the cats are not needed for emissions free states.

 

I am not worried about noise pollution. I just didnt know if not having the presilencer would affect 6th port actuation at all since they operate using back pressure

 

Yes and No, the 86-88 racing beat presilencer has a pick up tube for the 5th and 6th port actuators. RX7 1986-1992: Exhaust - Headers: Presilencer - 86-88 RX-7 Non-turbo - Man Trans -
But if you go with a straight pipe setup just make sure you get the 86-88 header that also has the pickup tube. RX7 1986-1992: Exhaust - Headers: Road Race Header - 86-88 RX-7 -
Hope that helps,
Justin

 

I was just looking at those. I think ill go with the header that has the pick up tube. Save me money and will make it a ta bit louder. Thanks for all the help guys, very helpful

 

I'd say to forget about exhaust back pressure to actuate the ports...
I feel it's MUCH better to use the air pump's pressure, you'll be able to control the opening point and verify operation while parked. Using exhaust back pressure you have to drive the car or put it on a dyno to get the ports to actuate..

All you need is some plumbing from HomeDepot [or wherever] to make a T. One end steps down to a barbed fitting for the vacuum hose, one has a valve that dumps to air [or step downs to whatever size provides the correct opening timing] and the third one goes to the output of the airpump.

Attached is the original version of mine. [Do NOT buy that fake-steel braided hose from the HomeDepot plumbing section... It will melt >_> ]

 

That thing looks soo steampunk

 

I would never put anything Pacesetter on my car. Their headers sound like absolute ***. Their primaries aren't equal. Their "collectors" are total fail. I have heard of people switching to Pacesetter from the stock manifold an LOSING power. Racing Beat could be better than they are, but their stuff works pretty well and it sounds amazingly good.

 

F*&% OBShit. While I can't comment on the quality of their products for the rx7, I was very disappointed on their header for my gk tiburon.

Had no primary O2 bung (the important one)
Header was 6 inches to short to meeting the mid-pipe
Flange to the mid-pipe wasn't welded straight (twisted)
Stainless steel... what grade because it was starting to rust out while my stainless steel exhaust from Seoulful Racing looking like a ******* mirror when I sold the car

I would probably never buy anything from them again even if the product was legit. I think the "R" they put on their products stands for Retarded.

 

Is there a header thats better than rb? Rb headers are bery popular here. If there is a header that is better, i want to get that one. I will be running a header with a pick up tube and straight back to a turbo II catback which are essentially straight pipe themselves

 

just get RB....you cant go wrong with that or go fab your own one

 

I've had a pacesetter header for 6 years. No issues.

 

Had my pacesetter for 13 years now. Sounds great with racing beat presilencer y pipe and rb mufflers. But my car has seen rain maybe 3 times in those years. Racing beat is a heavier guage steel.

 

I have had a couple of friends at Auto-x with the Pacesetter headers and I agree they are complete crap as well.

They sound horrible from thin wall tube and unequal length and one friends actually cracked one of the runners in half.

I am not super enamored of Racing Beat quality either concerning their welds, choice of materials and design. I have owned several RB exhaust components.

I would try Corksport.

It might sound a little tiny from thin wall stainless tube, but it looks to have nice TIG welds, equal length with decent merge, fits to the stock cat, has instructions and even a dyno chart on the site.

 

Mindtrain used to make a header that trumped racing beat, but they are no longer in business that i know of.

Defined Autoworks also puts a chunk of time into actually testing and developing the exhaust but they are also about the priciest exhaust you will find.


there's an old saying "you get what you pay for" and the rule still applies. Pacesetter is the lowest quality, probably lower than OBX but should still give minimal gains similar to OBX. OBX is crap quality as well because their stainless is likely 304 which isn't very good for strength or corrosion resistance compared to other much higher quality stainless. Racing beat uses much higher quality materials and will take a bit more abuse but as far as i'm concerned there was no R+D put into it for power gains to be maximised, so if you are looking for the best then you're looking in the wrong place. Mindtrain used to make a simple header that put out about 7whp more than the RB(stock series 5 n/a) unit but it was constructed of basic steel finish, not the best of quality but it did perform better than the rest to date. Defined AW bench and chassis test the exhaust but they are also multiples in cost comparatively to the rest and can probably tune the headers for your particular application if you have deep enough pockets.

 

I currently have the entire RB system minus the pre-silencer for an 88 NA S4. Sound is nice; has a quiet idle and low rpm tone, when you open it up though it gets loud as hell. Quality is very good from what I have inspected. My only drawback to the system is that I've heard the piping diameter will be too small for a turbo setup, if you ever go that route (I could be way off base). This means you will have to scrap the exhaust for one that flows a bit more freely. Good thing it came with the car when I bought it

 

yes, turbo needs more diameter where non turbo engines need the scavenging effect from the exhaust to tune the powerband.

 

My pacesetter has no "tinny sound" . Your buddy is probably running a gutted cat or thin walled "test pipe".

 

Not saying its the best quality. But its certainly not crap. If your buddy has sound issues it is more than likely an exhaust leak from a poor installation.

 

I've had both. There is a definite difference in weight, with the RB being obviously heavier. On an NA, I doubt you'd see a difference in power though.

When your exhaust is already 123112 dB, whats a little more?