Ceramic or Stainless Steel headers?

[BrutalB83]

nobody said anything about them being the same quality as brand named shit. we all know ebay specials are garbage. either they dont fit or they brake.

Uh yeah, actually somebody did. Read:

they are stainless steel, mandrel-bent, high-flowing quality exhaust products and you can always coat it with something to prevent rust.

Hence my long-ass post with the 4 points.

And FYI for 93civicracer, all stainless headers change color, it's not an indicator of bad quality, just in case you were wondering. I still wouldn't buy Ebay shit though. Like I said, I've heard about and witnessed too many situations where junk Ebay headers cracked and developed leaks.

And yes, they're cheap enough that it wouldn't be a huge loss and you can just buy another one, but think of it this way...for the cost of 3 or 4 crap Ebay headers you could just have a nice one to begin with. I just don't see the point of wasting any money on Ebay junk...

 

[RudeLude88]

thats good for you. im not using cheap parts. i have cheap headers becuase im not gonna go out and buy the real deal and have to replace them when the turbo kit comes. why buy the good headers and throw them away cuz im to lazy to resell them. the kit comes with a cast iron manifold. and the kit cost $3500. the headers are the only ebay part on my car. Greddy exhaust system. and the cat i had ordered in from a shop.

 

[RudeLude88]

wow $40 headers with shipping is really throwing my money away. its not a problem when i get free gas from the government and cost of living is really low in florida and i have a paycheck of $4200 a month as a police officer. trust me, if i was worried about it i wouldnt be doing it. and i have only bought three. and the third has held up for a while. i sold the other downpipes on ebay for 160 bux, lol made some money back.

 

[philyphreak2127]

thats good for you. im not using cheap parts. i have cheap headers becuase im not gonna go out and buy the real deal and have to replace them when the turbo kit comes. why buy the good headers and throw them away cuz im to lazy to resell them. the kit comes with a cast iron manifold. and the kit cost $3500. the headers are the only ebay part on my car. Greddy exhaust system. and the cat i had ordered in from a shop.

okay in this post you say you are too lazy to resell them yet, you have sold the down pipes for them when they break? Why don't you just hurry and buy the turbokit and quit wasting money on cheap ass headers? if you have to roll with the stock parts on there. The less money you spend on a part that is gonna be replaced when the kit comes the more money you have for the kit.

 

[philyphreak2127]

but civicracer I bought the same 4-2-1 headers from ebay because I had a crack in my exhaust manifold, and they do what they are meant to. add power, look nice, and sound good. You can feel the difference over the stock manifold. But if you plan on keeping the headers for good rather than turboing it I would spend the money and get the dc or megan header.

 

[93civicracer]

Yea, see, eventually I want to go turbo but the problem is that kind of money is a whole LOT of money to me. So I think just a cheap ceramic header from ebay with a test pipe and cat-back will at least last me til then and it will be a pretty long time. Besides, if they fail, I can just put my old parts back on and consider it a $100 loss and just save up for the turbo rather than a little all-motor for a little bit. Incase you didn't see, I updated my d15b vtec swap/boost/vtec thread and said I'm doing a small all-motor build to last me a little while.

Should look like this:
full header-back exhaust'
current Akimoto intake
S2 intake manifold
ported TB
maybe have the motor ported and polished
somewhat agressive cam
s2 valvetrain
75-100 shot of nitrous
pre-tuned chip with similar set-up

Hopefully make around 160 hp all motor and ~240 on the bottle.

 

[93civicracer]

Damn if you're makin over $4,000/month you should be buying the good parts in the first place! But then again...in my case...if I was making $4,000/month I would move into a cheap ass place just so I got more money for parts and possibly another car .

 

[philyphreak2127]

I'm with you. i would have a ton of cars with that much I have 2 cars on about $1200 a month.

 

[BrutalB83]

For what it's worth, I'd still say just skip all this crap. Think about it...

Cheap-ass header and test pipe combo - $50
Cheap-ass catback exhaust - $150
Nitrous kit - $200 - $400

Right there's a good $500 that could get you boosted that much sooner. In my mind, it makes so much more sense just to save that money and put it towards your turbo setup. It just seems like you're kind of impatient, like you can't stand not to have some kind of setup in the mean time.

It's your car and money, so do what you want, but the fact is you'll spend less and reach your turbo goal sooner if you just skip all this junk now. My question is why spend any money on something at all if it's not what you really want?

I'm done here...that's my opinion, take it or leave it...

 

[93civicracer]

Yea I want a little somethin somethin in the mean time. That's what I do I just get a job, stack up my money and quit so I can chill for a while then grab a new one when I'm dry. I worked at a chinese place to save up for the car stacked $3,000 then quit til the engine took a shit. Then I worked at another restaurant stacked up $2000 for my d15b vtec swap and other parts then quit again cause they wouldn't give me time off to work on it. And now I'm stuck with like $300 left time for a new job I'll prolly stack like $3,000 turbocharge the Civic then quit again n chill for a bit before I go to technical school for a mechanic career.

 

[awptickes]

I bought an eBay special header. It's ok, the only thing I have to say is watch out for the gaskets. A lot of times the gaskets it comes with are cheap shit. The gasket between the header and downpipe blew out in the first week I had it, and I couldn't figure out what the wierd noise was, I just assumed it was the new header. As it kept getting worse, I decided to throw it on a lift, and take a look.

Turned out the gasket had completely blown out, and it had been rattling so long that some of the nuts and studs started coming undone. AND because it was one of those chinese knockoffs, I couldn't just order a new gasket. I ended up using some asbestos putty and made a temporary gasket, it's lasted for a few months now.

eBay buyer beware. You end up getting shorted on the cheap shit. Like it won't mount up right, or it hangs too low, or the hangers don't fit on it right, and have to be stretched too far. Srsly, don't fuck up like me, just buy a decent exhaust the first time around.


I decided 'fuck it' about a week ago, and have an a'pexi worldsport coming in the mail. But I have a strong feeling my cheap header isn't going to mate properly to the rest of the system, and I'm going to get fucked again.

 

[BrutalB83]

Also, if you buy a cheap Ebay header, watch for the bottom gasket, the one that goes between the downpipe and the cat converter. A lot of times they'll send you a flat gasket, but you'll actually need a round, thick, donut gasket. I'd buy one beforehand just in case you need it. You can always take it back if you don't use it.

 

[93civicracer]

Thanks for the tips I was planning on getting higher quality gaskets anyway or reusing the ones I just bought right after the swap . I decided not to get the test pipe, 2whp for some extra noise doesn't sound too good to me not to mention that leaves more risk for fitment problems. I'll just get an ebay ceramic header and run that until I have the money for a turbo build, which I also decided not to do myself. Since it'll be my first time with boost I'd just like to make sure I've got everything i need for it and probably go with the Turbonetics kit and a T25 dual ball-bearing turbo good for 15psi, should make decent power after the engine build. I'll probably have to buy a whole new turbo-back exhaust huh?

 

[BrutalB83]

I'll probably have to buy a whole new turbo-back exhaust huh?

Yep. For a built, turbo'd engine you're probably going to want a 3" exhaust. I suppose you could go ahead and get it now, but it's gonna be way way too big for a stock 1.5 liter.

 

[93civicracer]

Yea, the 3" turbo-back will come when it's needed. Does anyone know of where I can buy one or does it have to be made at the muffler shop?

 

[BrutalB83]

You can have it done at a muffler shop, or you can order one from KTeller. I bought mine from them. Mine's just a 2 1/4", but they can make them in any size you want, with whatever muffler you want, and you have the choice of adding resonators. It's a little pricey, but I'm very satisfied with it.

Check it out: Welcome to Kteller.com

 

[philyphreak2127]

your car is gonna be pretty sick after the turbo setup

 

[93civicracer]

Yea...hopefully. That's if it doesn't blow up I mean it's not like I've boosted a nonturbo car before.