Looking at headers for 997 3.6L and the one major difference that I see is cost. All seem to be stainless steel, 100% mandrel bent, Race style collectors with equal length tubes, etc....(Agency Power and factory X-51's have a little different shape but all the others are roughly the same).

So why the big difference in price? Most are around 1,500 USD but the Tubi's are ~2,200 and on the opposite end the Schnell's at 675. What's the difference? Type or Gauge of steel is the only thing I can come up with other than "Name" and possible R+D costs.

Any thoughts? All things being equal, why spend 1,500 on Fabspeed or AWE when you can get the Schnell's at 1/2 the price. I'm new to the Porsche world and this forum, so go easy ;-)

 

Stock headers on the 3.6L are very good and personally I wouldn't waste my money. On the 3.8L is another story.

 

^Bump... as I'd like info on this too.

 

Porsche X51 headers are inexpensive and flow with the best of the aftermarket, Search and you'll find lots of discussion. Nere's what the guys at Europipe say about them:

The stock 997S headers have ø 42mm tubes. Both the 997S X51 and 996 GT3 headers have ø 48mm tubes. We have built and tested several equal length headers in both ø 45mm, ø 48mm and ø 50mm tube sizes. Eventually the OEM X51 headers turned out to equally good but without having the inevitable ground clearance issues.

 

Were they talking inner diameters?

 

And this is something that I haven't heard. The after market headers have a problem with ground clearance?

 

IIRC, some headers like AWE hang down lower maybe othes too - take a look at some of the pictures on their sites.

 

25K miles and never grounded the headers but yes, you can see them.

 

I have been doing homework on Headers as well. They all seem to "hang low" except for EVOMS, which are flat. If your car is lowered at all I would strongly consider these. My car scrapes a lot...I'd hate to drag my headers especially with a $2,500-$3,200 investment.

I really like the Werks1 rear diffuser as well, but I know I would just grid the hell out of it backing out of my driveway....wish they would make a ABS version, at a fraction of the cost.

 

The NHP X-51 headers which follow the OEM X-51 headers do not hang low as well.

 

Haven't heard of the NHP X-51. Who makes these? Where are they available?

 

So if the car is not lowered, and I'm not planning on lowering it, its not really an issue?

 

You will probably be okay then. Are talking about a 997TT or just a 997? The Turbo headers are the ones that hang low. The 997’s non-turbo has a completely different header configuration, therefore rending my comments useless. Sorry if I added any confusion. I have been running a set of Fabspeeds (headers and exhaust) on a 98 993 C2S for about ten years now...no issues at all.

 

Ahhh. This is a non-turbo car. Regular old C2 cabriolet. No worries!

 

^^^^^

I mirror his comments above.

As someone that sells this stuff, I say keep your stock headers on a 3.6L car.

The 3.8L is different story.

If you would like to read more on our 997 3.6/3.8L systems, please see here:

http://awe-tuning.com/pages/shared/p...IL=997Sexhaust

Email me directly if you would like to discuss further.

Mike@awe-tuning.com

To those that have commented positively on our system, thank you for your continued support. We sincerly appreciate it.