Headers

[Riverine]

Good day everyone I have been searching around and want to get everyone’s take on what brand headers you recommend. Looking at Kooks, SW, SP, and American Racing. I do plan on one day going SC but that will not be for some time(years). Is it worth the price for Kooks HO Greencats over some of the more budget friendly options out there?

My end state for exhaust is Long Tube with Borla atak switchfire. I had a 17 GT with Corsa Extreme catback but didn’t have LT Headers so new to the header discussion.

Thanks for your inputs and happy to finally have a Mach.

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[skinnyb]

Stainless works was my first pick. Great headers, fit really well. BUT, they were taking forever to get here when I ordered them initially so I switched to Texas Speed. They are great as well. That said, a Switchfire and ATAK exhaust will literally make your ears ring. I have S type and mine was really nice before the headers but was absolutely mind numbing obnoxious once installed headers, catted headers no less. I put the Borla resonator in place of the X pipe and it is much more to my liking now. Still loud but the tone is more pleasant...

 

[NGOT8R]

I went with Ultimate Headers. I would say they are one of the top tier brands. If you’re going to run a SC down the road, be aware that the cats probably won’t hold up for long. I have nitrous on my car and I blew the cats out during a pass at the drag strip. It was at that same time that I noticed cracked welds on the mid pipe. I ended up having vibrant mini race mufflers welded into the mid pipe, as well as the cracked welds repaired.

 

[SheepDog]

Good day everyone I have been searching around and want to get everyone’s take on what brand headers you recommend. Looking at Kooks, SW, SP, and American Racing. I do plan on one day going SC but that will not be for some time(years). Is it worth the price for Kooks HO Greencats over some of the more budget friendly options out there?

My end state for exhaust is Long Tube with Borla atak switchfire. I had a 17 GT with Corsa Extreme catback but didn’t have LT Headers so new to the header discussion.

Thanks for your inputs and happy to finally have a Mach.

Keep the OEM active mufflers, nothing sounds better, and once you go headers you will hate the aftermarket cat back options.

I have Stainless Power 1-7/8", the Corsa Double H-pipe, mated to the factory axle back section. Stainless Works/power offer an extended connection pipe that is 3" all the way,(The "S" Section that has the rear O2 sensors in it) so all I had to do was cut off the flared section of pipe, and still had plenty of length to meet the Corsa Slip fitting. This allowed me to get rid of the factory 2.25" connection, while still using the OEM active axle back. Sounds amazeballs, no drone, and in quite mode is still totally quite going down the highway.

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

I put stainless power on mine with the stock resonator and factory active exhaust. I just love the sound, it's definitely louder than stock but it still sounds factory. Stainless power is the budget line from stainless works and they only get a 2 year warranty vs. lifetime. I paid ~1400 for the complete kit from american muscle.

 

[Green Man #1]

High Flow catted LTH with stock (active exhaust) mufflers and X pipe .
Reasonably quiet in quiet mode, fairly loud in normal mode, lay into it in sport or track mode and all Hell breaks loose !

 

[NGOT8R]

High Flow catted LTH with stock (active exhaust) mufflers and X pipe .
Reasonably quiet in quiet mode, fairly loud in normal mode, lay into it in sport or track mode and all Hell breaks loose !

That’s is indeed a good combo. I ran mine like that for a while too and liked it a lot.

 

[Duece McCracken]

Keep the OEM active mufflers, nothing sounds better, and once you go headers you will hate the aftermarket cat back options.

I have Stainless Power 1-7/8", the Corsa Double H-pipe, mated to the factory axle back section. Stainless Works/power offer an extended connection pipe that is 3" all the way,(The "S" Section that has the rear O2 sensors in it) so all I had to do was cut off the flared section of pipe, and still had plenty of length to meet the Corsa Slip fitting. This allowed me to get rid of the factory 2.25" connection, while still using the OEM active axle back. Sounds amazeballs, no drone, and in quite mode is still totally quite going down the highway.

American Racing headers also has a "bottleneck eliminator" setup that does this.

I run meowless 1-7/8" ARH, the bottleneck eliminator, to Borla ATAK CF active exhaust. So I have 2 x pipes, and no restrictions besides mufflers.

Active exhaust keeps my neighbors somewhat happy. I run it on sport mode besides quiet start. Track mode is very loud, lol

 

[Riverine]

Thanks for the inputs. I guess I’m just trying to justify paying $1k more for a set of headers but guessing it’s not that big of a difference besides price.

 

[Sloww302]

Good day everyone I have been searching around and want to get everyone’s take on what brand headers you recommend. Looking at Kooks, SW, SP, and American Racing. I do plan on one day going SC but that will not be for some time(years). Is it worth the price for Kooks HO Greencats over some of the more budget friendly options out there?

My end state for exhaust is Long Tube with Borla atak switchfire. I had a 17 GT with Corsa Extreme catback but didn’t have LT Headers so new to the header discussion.

Thanks for your inputs and happy to finally have a Mach.

I have stainless works on my 15 GT paired with borla ataks and I love the sound. Just recently picked up my mach1 and plan on doing the same with it. They fit nice, no rubbing on the AC line.

 

[agmattocks]

I'm looking at MBRP since I have the race catbacks already installed.

 

[Deleted member 69311]

Why doesn’t anyone ever recommend BBK headers? I have their LTH and my car screams! Are they bad or something?

 

[SheepDog]

Why doesn’t anyone ever recommend BBK headers? I have their LTH and my car screams! Are they bad or something?

BBK Headers aren't stainless steel. Even though they sell them with ceramic coating, they will rust from the inside out

 

[RiotfunK]

I'm looking at doing headers too, now.
I'm going ESS g3 120mm next week and running the stock headers for now. I have Stainless Works cat back and sounds really good. I want to go to an aftermarket catted setup at some point, but do not want it to be obnoxiously loud. So not sure what to look at. And unsure of going with SW again after the initial issues I had with the exhaust being welded wrong.

I keep seeing posts that you need headers if your boosted and others saying you don't. If they constantly install the Roush and Whipples at Ford, why aren't they ever changing headers?

This is my daily and I'm not drag racing or tracking the shit out of it. 60-130s though. And do run it hard at times when cruising back roads as we have some phenomenal driving out by me. Do I need to change them? Or would the stock headers be ok for a bit?

 

[robvas]

I keep seeing posts that you need headers if your boosted and others saying you don't. If they constantly install the Roush and Whipples at Ford, why aren't they ever changing headers?

You don't need them. But many people add them as they give you more power and you may burn up the stock cats with the blower. So if you install headers without cats, you don't have to worry about that.

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