UEL turbo header retrofit possible?

[Turbo]

Hey guys-

This is sort of a form-over-function post and I apologize for that. I REALLY enjoy how my street/track '86 drives. It's an 11 out of 10 on that front. But I want to like how it sounds, too, and right now I don't.


I have the CX racing turbo kit on my car, which utilizes an external wastegate turbo and comes with an EL header. Thing is - I am REALLY liking the low rumble of the N/A UEL-header'd cars I'm hearing - and my car sounds nothing like that at all. My guess is there isn't an exhaust or front pipe I can buy or build that will give me that sound or the low rumble on my setup - is there? I'm pretty sure that throbby low comes from the header configuration.


My wastegate also dumps right to atmosphere, which makes a ridiculously loud shriek when you're on it hard - so that, of course, makes it hard to hear the underlying "sound" I would get if/when I route that dump line back into the exhaust, but before I do that I am curious what I will sound like.



Given all that I have a few questions I'm hoping you guys can help with-

Is there anyone here running an EL turbo header without an open dump with sound clips so I could hear what it sounds like when driven hard? I searched but didn't find anything.

Does anyone have experience with this turbo-kit and know if there is an UEL turbo header out there with the right flanges that would be more-or-less bolt up for me? I checked with CX racing and they don't make one. I've attached a pic of my header to this post too.

Would going from an EL to UEL header require a different turbo? ie twin-scroll or something like that? Am I likely to see a significant performance change?


I imagine changing the header will mean I need to have my EcuTek guy re-tune me. Is this likely to be just 'tweaks' or a complete from-scratch re-tune? Wondering for allocating budgeting $$.

If I am going to require a re-tune, what other engine mods would you guys recommend I look at doing at the same time, to make maximum use of those tuning $$? Right now I'm running 250WHP. I want to stay in the 'safe' zone reliability-wise but a few more HP/TQ or improved midrange would always be welcome.

Would an electronic boost controller offer a significant performance improvement? I'm running a fairly low-boost setup (6psi) - I don't really want to run more boost, but I'm wondering if the faster spool-up would translate to better low and mid-range. I assume this would make the Ecutek re-tune more complicated?

[jflogerzi]

I think any decent shop might be able to fab this up, but due to the location of where the turbo needs to be, I am not sure an UEL header lends itself to a turbo design.