So, I purchased a porsche 997 Turbo and it had a evolution motorsports evt700 package on it. Apparently, the exhaust manifolds had a number of cracks and when the mechanic removed them to weld, he noticed that the diverter inside the manifold (pyramid thing at the base of where all three pipes meet) had broken off and lodge into the turbo duct. Luckily, it did not get to the turbines. Upon inspecting the second header, the same pyramid thing had already begun coming apart and was connected 1/3 of its sides.

I called Evolution and they said that the headers were not theirs. They now manufacture their own headers and this kit was an older kit. They believe it was fabspeed header and I contacted Fabspeed about their "limited lifetime warranty". I am still waiting on them to get back with me.

Evolution did say that they would work with me on the price of their headers IF fabspeed doesn't cover it under warranty.

My question is what is the best header / exhaust manifold for the 997 turbo? I was only able to find a few manufacturers: GMG, fabspeed, and evolution. Are there any reviews or recommendations? I don't want to deal with constant cracking and repairs. I just haven't found many reviews on any of them and was surprised at the number of cracks on the Fabspeed headers on the car. Thanks for any help...

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune here. Would you be able to post a pic of your headers (for recognition purposes, not to see the cracks)? I have headers from Evoms and want to see if they are the same, and if so, to contact Evoms to find out if they are part of any that have experienced cracks. Many thanks

 

If you want to reduce the chances of cracking dramatically I would recommend stock headers at your power level. The majority of 997TT owners stick to stock as they are the most reliable, hence not alot of reviews on aftermarket ones.

People consider aftermarket headers once they go for non VTG (OEM) turbos.

This is just my personal opinion, some may not agree..

 

I made well over 800whp on stock manifolds, 2nd the previous post.

 

Esmotor equal length headers , kline or bbi .

 

GMG for sure.

 

How long have yall had them on your car and any cracking?

 

i'd say stock or BBi inconel

 

From what I was told, Fabspeed will be warrantying the headers. Hats off to them for taking care of their products. Evolution has been very helpful in the situation as well. I will keep everyone updated.

BC of the tune, I was told that the engine may throw codes with the stock headers....

 

Not true, whomever told you this is either clueless or lying

 

that sounds like complete fluff.....

 

I expect it from the company selling the parts but my mechanic said the same thing. From factory, the ECU has set parameters and when the sensors detect things outside those parameters, it throws a code. He said the tuners go in and change those parameters to the mods you have and so if I were to go back to stock, it MAY throw codes if the change is outside the parameters. Trust me, I would rather be completely stock but I bought the car with the mods and now I feel like I'm stuck. Can anyone tell me if this is really fluff? Like for sure, for sure? I would hate to purchase stock headers and then get codes or suffer major issues. I am new to all of this stuff and can't really afford to make a ton of mistakes a long the way.

I know that there are probably going to be cracks down the road. Some companies have lifetime warranty against that. Is that the only negative or that it doesn't do anything as performance? Thanks for the help guys, I don't want to come off as argumentative but I want to understand how everyone is coming to their conclusions.

 

yes it is a 100% that changing headers will not throw a check engine light. they do not change anything in the ECU for headers. you can safely use stock headers.

 

Prodigymb is right. I had my car flashed with a tune prior to changing out my entire exhaust system. No codes were thrown. After changing out the entire system for a Kline system, still no codes were thrown. I find it strange that your mechanic would suggest this.

 

Ya'll were correct. Talked to evolution again and they said it likely won't throw any codes running the stock headers but it will have a "little more lag and less overall power". I may try to find some stock headers down the road and port/polish them prior to putting them on. Thanks for all the help everyone, I am so glad there are so many knowledgeable people willing to help.

Henry