Need advice before I spend more money.

As of today my car has a K&N drop-in filter, plenum spacer, Y-Pipe and Fujitsubo exhaust. I am sitting on TS Headers and Helix Hi-flo cats that I am having installed next week.

My question is willl the headers really provide much improvement beyond doing the cats only given what is already on the car. With a little time and patience I can do the cats myself but the headers are more than I want to tackle.

So should I proceed with the header install which will cost me ~$480 because it will be a significant improvement or should I stop after self installing the hi-flo cats?

That is my dilema. What do you guys think or what has been the experiences of similarly modded Z owners?

 

install them all. You already have them. If it's too much, do it yourself. removing the stock cats is a pain in the @ss and they will take care of this in one swipe of the credit card. I spent about 7 hrs over 4 days installing my headers. Lots of banged up knuckles and raw/scraped up forearms.

 

Zivman,

I see you have the TS headers. How do you like them. Did they make a HP improvement that you could notice? How about the sound. What did it do, louder from the engine compartment or from the exhaust? And lastly, how about droning in the cockpit at highway cruising speeds ~75-85 MPH?

 

I'd like to know as well. I've the same headers and haven't installed them yet...

|dg

 

I just got them installed last week and haven't driven on them yet as it's winter here (or at least it is supposed to be). I have my car in storage and only have comprehensive insurance on it until March, so bascially I can't drive it.

Anyways, my impressions upon starting the car and reving it up. Car sounds basically the same as it did with just the test pipes. No real noticable difference in sound. Beyond that, I can't comment, but based on similar products, like the DC and Nismo headers, and the dyno runs done during the group buy I would guess the gains to be modest, but noticable.

 

Last week I just added Borla Headers, Borla Tru Dual Exhaust and a JWT Pop Charger. The difference from stock to this mod was dramatic in noise. Much louder in the engine compartment and much better sound from the exhaust. It sort of roars. I do think the headers made a difference in the sound. I did not do the hi flo cats... as of yet. The HP definatly went up... at 5K rpms it just pulls. When not hammering the pedal in evey gear its not all that loud in the cab. I really enjoyed this mod.

However, installing the headers and the hi flow cats won't be all that easy... you need a lift... the headers is not for the weak at heart... you take off much of the engine to get to them. Listen to the advice from up above... do the headers and the cats at the same time and just pay for them. Once you do headers... doing the cats go along with it.

Have fun.

by the way.. I didn't do my install... I own a MotorSport shop... I watched my engine guy work on my car for 8 hours doing my headers.

 

if you are planning on going f/i then maybe you shouldnt have the headers installed since they would then be replaced. but if you're not planning on going f/i then you should definitely get them installed.

 

Top Speed headers are great!

Mine sounds a lot better -I also have the Nismo exhaust.

Great seat of the pants improvement through out the power band.

Mine were installed for $200, which made it a REALLY good deal. I have been having some rattle issues under the car, should be fixed next week.

By the way, how do you like your plenum spacer? I think that's going to be my next mod.

 

Wow, I wish I could find someone to do the headers for $200! But alas, it seems that $400 is the best offer so far although that offer involves about an hours travel north to Palm Beach. So I have to consider if that is worth $80 to me.

As for the spacer I posted my impressions on another thread. It's the spacer from Motordyne not AAM. It's an "even all around" design so it lifts the entire plenum by 1/4" not just the front.

It doesn't change the engine sound, the car feels a little crisper and quicker off the line. I attribute that to the better throttle response I have experienced. It also seems to pull stronger above 3K RPM.

 

ZinMiami,

check your pm.

 

Back at you................

 

Here's something you want to be careful of, RASP.

I have a similar setup (DC headers, Kinetix cats, NFC Y Pipe). Until the headers were installed, the exhaust was sweet. I installed the DC headers and the throttle response was improved and nice mid range gains. The down side is rasp around 3K-4K RPM.

IMO, the headers made more of an improvement and since the Kinetix cats are easier to remove they're getting yanked and the OEM ones are coming back on.

BTW, the headers didn't make the exhaust that much louder. It took me a casual 15 hours over a few days to install.

 

I would install them. Anything you do to free up exhaust flow on the Z will help a great deal. Headers, cats (or pipes) and y-pipe/exhaust all work hand in hand with freeing up the exhaust path and make the best performance gains for bolt ons.
That install price isn't bad either.....
Go for it, might as well if you have them

 

If you are looking for a place that has done good work on 350Z header install for us in Miami, call Power Toyz. They have done a couple of installs for us on sponsored cars in the Florida area and they are a good group of guys that know how to work around that engine bay that is really tight. In fact they helped a little bit on one of our re-designs to ensure that our header would install w/o having to lift or remove the engine making it easier and cheaper to install.

Victor D.
Nexus Industry
Exclusive NA Distributor Alphawerks Racing Development

 

Thanks for the tip.