Headers - Kooks vs ARH

[v8hgt]

I’m after some real world experience on these two options for our mustangs. I have a RHD mustang GT so I don’t have any other brands available. Given the following prices which would you go for and what?

Kooks £2300 or $3220
ARH £2450 Or $3430
Both with 200 cel cats

I figure the arh are a bit longer so in theory should give more power but less torque. However they may loose a little ground clearance.

I only plan to do this once and I’m going to coat them in zircotec which isn’t cheap so I want to make sure I choose right.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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[Lonmon]

I would do the ARH and match your exhaust but for those prices I would just do Mak cat deletes. Jeezus! The cat deletes make almost as much power for way less money.

 

[Souldriver]

The arh with their system sounds amazing, espeacially if you chose the h pipe. They are also located a town or two over from me so its hard not to recommend. With that said kooks has never been a slouch either.

 

[Burkey]

Have you considered importing “Pacemaker” headers?
Made in Australia, should be MUCH cheaper than any of those.
Approx $1500 AUD (with cats and all the bits) plush whatever freight and import duties you
might be looking at.
They’re the same headers used by Streetfighter but without the price tag.

 

[v8hgt]

I would do the ARH and match your exhaust but for those prices I would just do Mak cat deletes. Jeezus! The cat deletes make almost as much power for way less money.

Sadly where I live I need cats on the car. Also on RHD cars we have a restricted header design as stock hence looking to loose the factory items.

 

[v8hgt]

Have you considered importing “Pacemaker” headers?
Made in Australia, should be MUCH cheaper than any of those.
Approx $1500 AUD (with cats and all the bits) plush whatever freight and import duties you
might be looking at.
They’re the same headers used by Streetfighter but without the price tag.

Good shout. Thanks for that. I will look into pacemaker headers and shipping/duty.

 

[Lonmon]

Sadly where I live I need cats on the car. Also on RHD cars we have a restricted header design as stock hence looking to loose the factory items.

Just FYI, I added 200 cell magnaflow converters to my cat delete setup and it only made a 1hp difference on the dyno. I later swapped out the cat delete set up with hf cats for a catless SP longtube setup and only picked up a few hp. That was my experience. I made 450+whp on cat delete pipes with hf cats. For that reason I have chosen not to put Long tubes on my 18 and just do cat delete pipes and then swap the factory cats back in when emissions time comes around. I do understand it may be different for you with a RHD since the factory header itself may be more of a restriction where as for us its the factory cats that are the main restriction. Good luck!:cheers:

 

[yote41]

i have kooks and have perfect fit.no leaks. sounds insane.

 

[WhiteyDog]

i have kooks and have perfect fit.no leaks. sounds insane.

All true. Same thoughts exactly. But h*ll, both are awesome. You can't go wrong with either.

 

[Eric Z.]

Just FYI, I added 200 cell magnaflow converters to my cat delete setup and it only made a 1hp difference on the dyno. I later swapped out the cat delete set up with hf cats for a catless SP longtube setup and only picked up a few hp. That was my experience. I made 450+whp on cat delete pipes with hf cats. For that reason I have chosen not to put Long tubes on my 18 and just do cat delete pipes and then swap the factory cats back in when emissions time comes around. I do understand it may be different for you with a RHD since the factory header itself may be more of a restriction where as for us its the factory cats that are the main restriction. Good luck!:cheers:

I'm planning on going this route myself. This is the information I've been looking for. Thanks for posting your experience.

At what point do you think these headers will make enough difference to justify these prices?

 

[Lonmon]

I'm planning on going this route myself. This is the information I've been looking for. Thanks for posting your experience.

At what point do you think these headers will make enough difference to justify these prices?

A maximum effort build, if you are doing cams/headwork, or if you are going power adder then the headers will do more for you. I believe a bolt on NA car doesn't really gain much from cat deletes (unless maybe a RHD car). I have seen reports of as much as 15whp over cat deletes from Long tubes but did not see that from my dyno testing. A few hp and tq at best, same dyno and conditions. Same tuner (Lund). It actually made me a bit sick after spending over $700 and several hours installing the long tubes to hit the dyno expecting to see at least a 10hp bump and only making a few. Not a good return for the money and time spent.

 

[Kevin Tullock]

Good shout. Thanks for that. I will look into pacemaker headers and shipping/duty.

How did you get on with these buddy? really interested to know.

 

[v8hgt]

Pacemaker certainly much cheaper but they aren’t stainless. Fine in Australia but not suitable for the U.K. sadly

 

[AZ18yote]

Pacemaker certainly much cheaper but they aren’t stainless. Fine in Australia but not suitable for the U.K. sadly

I went ARH catted with a direct connect to my Corsa on my 18GT. Perfect fit. Performance gains were legit and sound was crazy. I am guessing RHD setups are more and import taxes etc as mine were less than half that cost.

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