I have always used ported stock headers, I recently noticed there are a few getting aftermarket ones. Can someone chime in here and tell us the benefits of going the aftermarket route?

I know the majority of these come through the far East (think we all know that) and I know there might be 3/4 different manufacturer but I notice prices from $550 up to $1300, why the huge difference in costs?

Pierre's look pretty good, lol

 

If you get them cheap do them. Otherwise dont waste your time. IMO


Suman

 

i'd say it depends upon which turbos you have... stock turbos.. no need but with K24s or anything larger I'd get a set of equal length headers with a nice merge collector... There are ones from china but just make sure they're "clean" on the inside. You don't want any FOD....

 

Sharkster, do you have a recommendation?

Thanks,

 

Yip, would like to know also, thanks Sharky

 

Certainly equal length headers on my 996 C2 CAB was a complete waste of money whilst changing the cats was a great investment; headers are bull****

 

Larger headers permit greater airflow. Conversely, smaller headers may impede airflow. As Sharky stated, it depends on the turbos you are using.

Craig

 

I also run the ported/ polished factory headers on the K16's. After talking to many tuners, I decided this was the way to go. Based on my discussions, there were little or no gains with aftermarket headers. I ported and polished them myself wearing my ballerina slippers and all! What I gathered was there was no substantial hp gains to justify the cost.

 

Nice 1 Gancho

I bet you had that little TuTu on.

 

I believe EVOMS website shows a significant HP gain with their K24 headers.
(Sharkey?). The far east headers are sold thru a variety of sources and their
quality is all over the board. The cheapo ones I got required heating, bending, and honing on the inside. I believe blind monks made them with an old arc welder and jig made from a tree...The ones EVOMS have look to be of much better quality.

MK

 

Totally agree. Although i dont have first hand experience with ported stock headers, i got my FVD's from Suman, and it made a very noticeable difference with my setup

 

Well I've seen a lot of the cheapo stuff from the east but I've also seen some really nice work as well. My favorites (in no particular order) are probably the GT-Series headers from EVO and the Scargo ones. Both are not cheap tho!

 

My how the attitude about headers has changed. It was too many years ago almost everyone was all but calling us liars about the gains we were realizing with headers and our turbo's. The prevailing wisdom was headers lose power. Does this mean everyone else had small turbo's.

 

Nobody listens to old timers - what do they know eh ? There's a few things/misconceptions though on these cars. 1)You do NOT need the craziest, longest-tube headers you can find... (that will not really help in "most" cases). 2)For certain applications and more complex header solutions it's only part of the puzzle- you need tuning 3)The larger turbos really do benefit from improving the header design but K16s (not really worth it- you can spend the same money and get more HP elsewhere) 4)Who needs headers anyways

 

im going with a set of ported and polished stock headers .... and im going to ceramic coat the outer aswell.. im using these with k24/18h hybrids. i just dont see spending the money on after market ones for maybe 1-3 hp difference , and worry about cracking down the road also.