When the headers came out of the box, I looked at them closely and the pipes had considerable larger diameters than the stock headers and the welds were well done. The pipes look exactly like a much higher priced competitor's pipes relative to shape and design. Headers really are just pipes.

I also have a hard time believing/understanding the holes not aligning, because the company that makes them makes headers and parts for a lot of cars and why would they design and order a quantity of the item if they don't fit? Wouldn't the first thing they would do once your order arrived is check the fit?

Supporting this is they have over 38,000 feedbacks on eBay and a 99.5% positive feedback rating. I didn't leave feedback, because I don't know truly if there was an issue with my headers. I also did not receive any money back from them.

 

Seems like you're establishing the finish and specs are good and going by a huge assumption on the fitment.

I don't see any solid evidence of any power gains here.

 

There was never an assumption, nor a huge assumption.

Not sure if it was because of the plenum or the header or both combined together, or the combination of the headers and plenum in front of my 200 cell cats and better sounding mufflers, but I can say after I added the headers and the cats, my car does feel more lively and spirited. I'm happy with it.

As far as the fitment of the headers, I suggested he contact the seller first and tell the story and she how they can assure him he will not have a problem. And as I have always said I am not assuming a problem or not a problem, I don't know.

Why do you care?

 

They are pipes. Headers = pipes.

 

That would show there are positive gains. I swear my car feels significantly more spirited. Another poster noted the X51 headers have larger diameters than stock and hot rodders have been swapping headers for years.

So maybe I'm mistaken, the Dyno is wrong, Porsche is wrong and the entire hot rodding community is wrong too...

 

I'm glad it has worked in your setup but I care because I don't want the next unsuspecting guy to think that eBay headers in general produce power and are built better than factory headers.

If I were a newbie, I certainly wouldn't want to be disappointed by a forum's recommendation and finding out the hard way that I basically have a shiny but beautiful looking pile of $hit.

I'm not saying this is the case with all eBay stuff but my experience hasn't been so favorable when it comes to items like this.

With that said, most larger tubed headers will offer some kind of increase in power band(instead of just a shift) with FI such as a supercharger or running more aggressive cams along with a proper ECU tune.

 

So what you are saying is:

• You have no direct first hand knowledge about the headers that the OP is inquiring about,

• I do have first hand experience and have been frank about it, but you would rather tell your opinion that they are shiny and will cause a 10HP power loss,

• Despite a dyno showing the opposite,

• That you are helping protect a Newbie from making an uninformed and bad decision.

That's good logic. I think I follow it.

 

So far you only mentioned fit and finish and butt dyno feel. We all know how credible that is. The video doesn't show or prove jack.

I want everyone to get these headers and heavy 19" wheels and see if they can beat a Hyundai Genesis Coupe.

 

I think gold wheels and a front lip to enhance performance would be a more appropriate request.

Or is it to make the car classy?

 

I have to admit its not going to be everyone's cup of tea but I like it. BBS and OEM Porsche thinks its ok too.

 

I didnt expect this post to start up a pissing match wow!Maybe the question should have been are they as good as the higher priced ones?Im sure that the high dollar ones would have much better customer service.The guys at Shark Werks,Fabspeed and Evolution Motorsports know there stuff.Im thinking that a maybe the headers and cats at the same time would be the way to go if I do anything.

 

Honestly, the one DoninDen posted seems to be one of the better ones in terms of finish at least. You'll notice all the cheap headers on ebay will have two piece construction around the header flange area. There's not a one piece tube that comes from the exhaust flange all the way down. There's a short 1-2" section that's welded on. That's for ease of manufacturing and cost cutting.

One of the main complaints of eBay headers has been sloppy welds inside of the tubes and the header bolt holes not lining up 100%. Some of the cheaper ones have misaligned tubes that don't allow the collector flange to mate up 100% to the rest of the exhaust system. Some have ground down welds to compensate and hide the sloppy welding job. Some use slightly thinner flanges to save on costs. Etc...

ALL of the ones I've seen on eBay for under $300 however DO NOT have a true merge collector. All the higher end headers usually use true merge collector as it offers the best flow and performance characteristics. Burns Stainless for example, sells merge collectors for header makers and some of them are not cheap.

My theory is that only a handful of manufacturers actually make the headers and others are rebranded as different names and such. The really cheap ones were probably rejected by the reseller/distributor for the various issues listed above and some seller took it at a fire sale price from the manufacturer and tacked on his margin to make some money.

And that's where the problem lies in the fact that these sellers are just to make the profit and have no affiliation or knowledge of the car itself and are willing to sell "B" grade parts to any unsuspecting guy. They aren't enthusiast and could care less about your car, it's purely about the bottom dollar. If they need to diffuse any situation customer service wise, they will to retain their seller's rep so they can sell more to others. That's the only time they will get involved.

If you have the time and patience and want to take on some risk, there is nothing wrong with trying the cheaper headers but it can be like playing Russian Roullette.

Same with cheaper aftermarket body parts, if you're paying someone to install it, the installation cost might cost more to install than just having bought some reputable headers to begin with. my $.02.

It would be GREAT if these headers were indeed the same as Fabspeed or some other company like that. Don't know if that's the case without doing an a/b comparison.

 

Unless somebody decides to several thorough engine dyno tests, there is no way to tell. Porsche and the serious aftermarket providers charges a premium price partly due to the cost of the testing they have performed during development. I guess that the headers sold on eBay for a fraction of the cost compaired to the branded ones hardly are tested at all. More likely somebody has tried to make them look like somebody elses product. While this might work, referring to my earlier post on how critical header design is, my guess is that this is unlikely.

Rather than spending my money on eBay headers and cats, I would go for Fabspeed X-pipe cats only. From all my mods (intake, plenum, headers, X-pipe cats, exhausts and ECU) they gave the most noticable gains.

 

What ecu do you have and when in your modification process did you get it?

 

EVOMSit. Ordered it for all the engine mods and fitted it one week before the X-pipes as I could not wait to give it a try.