Anyone know why Stillen stopped making these headers?

 

Probably CAFE / Smog liability...

 

I thought that too but they are/were shorty headers that still utilized Cats

 

I would guess it's like so many other things..... supply/demand (financial decision). No one bought 'em (or is still buying them) so why try to produce and sell 'em when volume to be profitable just isn't there? I could see that with the difficulty factor outweighing the gains.

 

Mic - not to crap on your point but I bought a set back in the day and then sold them and now I'm looking for a set. With that being said - supply and demand. I thought it'd be easy for them to have a few sets on the shelf at any time.

Z1 makes a very similar product but its a few bills more per unit.

 

 

You're so smart Mic!

what Mic said

 

Hahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa..... I wish. Well, the *real* answer is a telephone call away. 714.540.5566

I'm flying to Irvine on biz in mid-Feb, maybe I'll stop in at Stillen (right across from the JW airport runway) and ask. (But don't count on it.... fly down, meet some peeps, eat some fuud, homeward bound.) Laff...

 

I thought they were smog legal?


I have a brand new boxed & unopened set in my garage for the highest bidder

 

They have a tag on them that says off road use only never to be driven on a highway

 

I emailed Stillen last night to see if they had any laying around that I could purchase. I got an email back and he asked for my location so I'm hoping I get lucky. Z1 does have headers but they require you to use DE cats/test pipes and I already have HR HFC's so not really looking to go that route. Same with Tomei headers. Stillen afaik were the only reputable, quality true bolt on Shorty headers for the HR platform.

 

NVM- just emailed me back and offered me DC sports headers

 

I'm guessing it's because these were not 50 state legal. As far as I know, the only 50 state legal (C.A.R.B. Legal) headers are the DC Sports. Here in CA, you don't have to worry about smog-ing your vehicle for the first 6 years since it's initial sale date (new off the lot). So the common trend I see are people purchasing brand new 370Zs and going ham on the mods (twin turbos, superchargers, headers, cat deletes, etc...). You pretty much don't have to worry about being "street legal" for 6 years so long as you don't get caught being stupid with your mods....but after that grace period ends, you're screwed. Obviously only those with a huge amount of expendable income can do this, and here in silicon valley these are a plenty.

Anyway, my point is, aftermarket manufacturers see high demand for headers and other non 50 state legal components for vehicles when they are fairly new (again within the first 6 years of date of original sale). Once the vehicle matures beyond that point, I would imagine demand drops significantly or completely with smog laws being a contributing factor. There are of course other factors such as new model vehicles catching the eyes/attention of both the aftermarket manufacturer and the public market. I would argue that new vehicle releases are the main reason why components for older cars get dropped. The only time exceptions to this are made, are when classic vehicles or vehicles with a strong cult following exist creating/keeping a strong demand that's financially viable to support. Right now I think there's still a strong aftermarket parts demand for the 350Z, but I have noticed over the past 4~5 years there's been a steady decline for certain components. Many high quality offerings from smaller outfits have been discontinued, this has left only the larger companies continuing production such as DC Sports. I still have a very nice set of Momentum Performance Headers for my VQ35DE, I was really sad to hear about them going out of business. These were some of the most beautifully crafted headers for the 350Z I have seen and as I recall Momentum's Single Turbo kit was also a gem.
-Icer

 

I suspect a few different factors are at play. Not being CARB compliant, couple with Cali's enforcement of exhaust regulations is likely a relevant factor. Lots of competition too, and for the price of a decent set of shorties, you can get long tubes from ISR.

Z1 Motorsports bought the rights to Momentums' products - the Z1 headers are rebranded Momentum headers with no changes, afaik.

 

Well I bought DC headers. Got a good deal on them so we'll see how it goes. Not expecting much but at least I can my exhaust is basically completed.