Performance nut
Well-Known Member
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- #1
First, I want to say thanks to [MENTION=17009]marylandspeed[/MENTION] for the awesome deal on the headers. Not only was the price very good, to add the coating on top of that was just phenomenal.
I kept the stock resonator and mufflers since headers are notorious for adding grunt to the exhaust note. So please bear that in mind for this review.
First, the great stuff. The note on the car has been dramatically enhanced at the upper RPM range and kept it neighborhood friendly down low. In fact, I can hardly hear the difference at idle (start is a bit more grumble) and doesn't really start getting loud until around 3k RPM. Inside the car is also great. Nothing noticeable at idle or low RPM but it gets progressively louder as RPM's increase. In my opinion, it sounds great. Nothing obnoxious, no drone, just muscle car sound that doesn't compete with my radio. Also, no codes!!! 100% stock tune, no codes and nothing but improvements as far as how the engine runs. I realize a tune will wake the car up but it is good to run these without having to tune and not have to retune when I do my next upgrade.
The good is several things. Low end power seems unaffected but you can feel it at the top. Can't quantify it since I did not do a dyno but its there. Temperatures seem to be affected too. Usually when I'm at a light with the window down, I can feel heat radiate around the car if my arm is on my door. Now, I can put my head at the bottom of my car after driving 30 miles and not feel much as far as heat. In the engine bay, all the heat is coming up front from the radiator, back of the bay seems quite cool in comparison. IAT's didn't really seem to improve though when I was idling but I'm not all that concerned with IAT's.
Now the bad. I was hoping the green cats would be better than performance cats in regards to smell and I was right. Though definitely not as good as the stock cats. They do good at idle but once you start revving the engine, you get a good ol' whiff but nothing really strong (in comparison to cars without cats, this is like smelling roses). Not a big deal for me as I was expecting this and it was better than what I expected. These are also a major pain due to clearance issues. Fortunately, I was smart enough to have these professionally installed but my mechanic told me what it takes to get these in, definitely not in my wheel house to do.
As soon as I upload the video, I'll add it to the exhaust sound sticky on the forum and post a link on this thread. Overall, I'm extremely impressed and very happy with my headers. Highly, highly recommend them.
Edit: Video added.
Edit (11/4): Got my first code Tuesday. Not sure when it happened, just noticed it when I was driving to work. Cleared it out and hasn't returned yet.
[ame="[MEDIA=youtube]LQnnu4OcFZo[/MEDIA]"]Video of idle and revving the engine[/ame]
I kept the stock resonator and mufflers since headers are notorious for adding grunt to the exhaust note. So please bear that in mind for this review.
First, the great stuff. The note on the car has been dramatically enhanced at the upper RPM range and kept it neighborhood friendly down low. In fact, I can hardly hear the difference at idle (start is a bit more grumble) and doesn't really start getting loud until around 3k RPM. Inside the car is also great. Nothing noticeable at idle or low RPM but it gets progressively louder as RPM's increase. In my opinion, it sounds great. Nothing obnoxious, no drone, just muscle car sound that doesn't compete with my radio. Also, no codes!!! 100% stock tune, no codes and nothing but improvements as far as how the engine runs. I realize a tune will wake the car up but it is good to run these without having to tune and not have to retune when I do my next upgrade.
The good is several things. Low end power seems unaffected but you can feel it at the top. Can't quantify it since I did not do a dyno but its there. Temperatures seem to be affected too. Usually when I'm at a light with the window down, I can feel heat radiate around the car if my arm is on my door. Now, I can put my head at the bottom of my car after driving 30 miles and not feel much as far as heat. In the engine bay, all the heat is coming up front from the radiator, back of the bay seems quite cool in comparison. IAT's didn't really seem to improve though when I was idling but I'm not all that concerned with IAT's.
Now the bad. I was hoping the green cats would be better than performance cats in regards to smell and I was right. Though definitely not as good as the stock cats. They do good at idle but once you start revving the engine, you get a good ol' whiff but nothing really strong (in comparison to cars without cats, this is like smelling roses). Not a big deal for me as I was expecting this and it was better than what I expected. These are also a major pain due to clearance issues. Fortunately, I was smart enough to have these professionally installed but my mechanic told me what it takes to get these in, definitely not in my wheel house to do.
As soon as I upload the video, I'll add it to the exhaust sound sticky on the forum and post a link on this thread. Overall, I'm extremely impressed and very happy with my headers. Highly, highly recommend them.
Edit: Video added.
Edit (11/4): Got my first code Tuesday. Not sure when it happened, just noticed it when I was driving to work. Cleared it out and hasn't returned yet.
[ame="[MEDIA=youtube]LQnnu4OcFZo[/MEDIA]"]Video of idle and revving the engine[/ame]
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