Joseph248

Hey, so I’m looking to buy some headers for my 08 HR but not sure what to get. I know motordyne just came out with their own, just wanted to get some opinions from y’all.
thanks!

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

what are your goals for new headers?

traditionally speaking - headers are not going to make substantial gains as the OEM headers (especially on the later HR and VHR models) are pretty good. Furthermore, if you expect gains you'll need to retune as well.

Joseph248

im not really going for horsepower gains, I just want it to sound just a little better than it already does. Soon im getting cams so I’ll have to retune anyway

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

Interesting ... headers and cams (for that matter) will be difficult to install and (despite you not really caring about power gains) will yield minimal gains ...

You do whatever you want as it's your car but headers and cams are you going to leave you desiring much more ... replace the gallery gasket while you're doing cams ...

if it was me, I'd forego headers and cams and spend $4k to $6k on a simple single turbo kit, push 8psi to 12psi and thoroughly enjoy 450hp to 500hp ... to me the sound of the turbo/wastegate/blowoff valve would be far better than cams and headers ... just my 2cents

Joseph248

well it’s not that I don’t care about horsepower gains. I just know there isn’t much gain out of headers. The cams I care about, that’s a decent sized hp gain I could get. The turbo has also been on my mind but also heard I could blow the bottom end, not sure how true that is. That’s why I’m here now lol

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

And you're in the right place and it's good that you're asking questions, and welcome!

I think you put more stress on the engine by running it at higher RPMs to get a 20hp to 30hp from cams than you would at normal RPMs running a conservative 8psi / 400hp on the HR. The HR engine can easily take 450hp to 550hp on stock internals with pretty good longevity. Tune the car down to 400hp / 400ft-lbs of torque and you'll have OEM reliability and longevity. The HR and VHR bottom ends were fortified (compared to the DE) and are pretty robust.

Joseph248

Thank you!
Okay cool. I heard the hr’s were pretty sturdy to a point. I just wasn’t sure how it would handle the boost. Any turbo kit suggestions? I appreciate the help!

Conway_160

iTrader: (1)

Best bang for the buck is stock HR + headers. Then if you can find Nismo HR headers for a good price they are equal length headers. Then you get into the aftermarket world, but if you are going down that route you might as well do LTH and call it a day,

bboypuertoroc

iTrader: (4)

You can blow the bottom end on quite literally ANY car slapping on a turbo kit and pushing more torque than the factory assembly can handle. You just need to learn what that limit is and stay below it.

RENFRO

iTrader: (1)

Headers and cams can completely change the character of the engine. Although "bang for buck" will rest on slapping a simple boost application the car, I didn't take that route. Just depends on your long term goals. I'm in the middle of a complete engine build and turbo, but am able to use 90% of all the parts I had already acquired, cams included.

In short, if you plan to keep the car, headers and cams will eventually be in your future. Just have to decide if you want those while you're NA, or later down the line after you're boosted.

bboypuertoroc

iTrader: (4)

If a turbo is in his future headers will be a complete waste of money and cam profile will likely change to suit the powerband of the engine/turbo combination. Just being able to reuse the cams doesn't mean they're optimal. Even on already boosted cars cams get changed with increased/decreased turbo size, engine displacement, etc. At the point he's at, money is better spent elsewhere.

Conway_160

iTrader: (1)

According to Sasha stock DE headers are good until about 600whp. Thats why he recommends Stock HR for cheap upgrades.

RENFRO

iTrader: (1)

Only a waste depending on the kit. A well engineered header can flow much more and improve spool times. You can also pick a cam profile that will work in both NA and boosted applications if you account for overlap and where you want the powerband to reside. I would argue that in 90% of cases, a decent NA cam will perform just fine under boosted applications. For the other 10% trying to squeeze out every available bit of power and fully optimize it, then yes, changing cams will likely happen; but on that same note, that 10% will likely be running a quality aftermarket header as well (if they aren't running a traditional turbo manifold setup).

I go back to my original thought, it just depends on the timeline and goals. If he's sticking with the platform, headers and cams will likely be in his future, regardless of boost or not.

bboypuertoroc

iTrader: (4)

Again, if he ends up boosting the car headers will be a waste. Headers get replaced by exhaust manifolds made to bolt turbos to and make room to fit all the additional plumbing. Therefore, waste of money.

DarkZ03

iTrader: (11)

Not necessarily true, a lot of kits for this platform use the stock manifolds. Furthermore if he went with a supercharger he could use them as well, I have yet to see a cam for this platform that won't work equally as good in boosted and NA applications. The days of "turbo cams" died with VVT, like others said only exceptions are extreme cases.

bboypuertoroc

iTrader: (4)

I didn't say anything about superchargers. Obviously those are gonna be different. If he wants to go single turbo then sure, there's a few. They're also overly complicated routing hot pipes all over the engine bay, adding much more heat than necessary where you don't want it.

Variable valve timing didn't kill "turbo" cams. If you think you're gonna get the same results from a 264 as would from a 288 you're dead wrong. No matter how much variable timing you have it's not happening.

OP needs to figure out what his end goal is for the car and base his build off of that so it's done right the first time and he's not needlessly cracking the engine open multiple times.

DarkZ03

iTrader: (11)

And 288 would be in the extreme category, not your average build. I would almost guarantee a 288 cam would be useless on 90% of builds out there in NA form anyway, this IS a VQ after all lol. Nobody said the results are the same, it was just stated that "most" builds can use the same cams for NA or boost and that still remains TRUE.

0taku

iTrader: (5)

I have long tubes on my Motordyne TDX2.

Not sure on a better exhaust for my setup.

Oh it sounds amazing btw, not the standard annoying trumpet.