PPE Engineering Headers Installation and DIY
 

I purchased the Header and Overpipe in High temp black coating from Jeff at Micro Image. The welds are amazing and of high quality. The black finish is pretty stealthy and looks clean in the engine bay. This post will have pictures of both header and overpipe, including side by side between PPE Header and stock header. 2nd post will have DIY guide, which I've updated with gained experience. 3rd post will have the dyno graph of my car as it stands, no before graph for comparison.

It is loud with Berk catted front pipe and stock catback. There is rasp with this setup. I have some added engine noise 3-4k with the Visconti STG1 tune, and now at 4k+, it just roars.

With the tune, I didn't have any CEL lights, as I'm sure the defouler they designed in does its job. Works with the stock tune and didn't throw a CEL for the few hours I had it flashed. Visconti tune worked well and made a noticeable difference with smoother idle and helped the midrange. Trying to find time next week to dyno.

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IMG_4528 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4527 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4539 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4537 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4533 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4540 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4542 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4541 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Side by side:

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IMG_4551 by jdkane527, on Flickr

DIY Guide:

I had my neighbor help me install this. It is possible to do by yourself, but much easier with an extra set of hands. I posed the question in another thread if it is possible to do this without lifting up the rear of the car. To prove it, I did it myself, and it is possible to do it with only the front lifted.

It's good to have a few various sizes of wrenches and sockets between 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, and 17mm, as well as a few long socket extensions. The header nuts require a deep 14mm socket to reach. I used a crescent wrench to remove the O2 sensor, since the largest wrench I have is 19mm.

First disconnect the wires for the O2 sensors. They will be located left of the alternator. The O2 sensor will be removed when the header is off the car.
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IMG_4529 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Use a flathead screwdriver or something appropriate to remove the clips holding the wires to the engine block. There are 2 clips for each O2 sensor.
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IMG_4547 by jdkane527, on Flickr


Crawl underneath the car and remove the 2 undercovers, the metal one in the front under the engine and the plastic in the rear under the transmission. Didn't have pictures for the next few steps.
Spray PB-Blaster or equivalent on the 6 nuts securing the header onto the engine block. Spray the 2 nuts holding the header to the overpipe, and if necessary, the 2 nuts holding the overpipe to the front pipe.

Using deep 14mm socket with extension, remove 4 of the nuts, and leave 2 just to hold it up. Remove the 4 nuts holding the overpipe, and remove the bolt holding the frontpipe mount to the transmission mount. It is the bolt that attaches to the bracket on the front pipe.
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2013-03-29 15.41.09 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Remove 2 nuts holding header and drop stock headers with O2 sensors still in place.

To remove the overpipe, unbolt the 2 motor mounts to the chassis with 14mm socket with extension. Put a jack under the front part of the transmission and slowly raise it approximately 1" to remove the overpipe. If you feel comfortable jacking it from under the motor, that works too. Once removed, the engine can be returned to its original position and motor mount bolts installed. Torque nuts under motor mount to 50 ft-lbs. The Toyota manual says 70 ft-lbs, but 50 is adequate. At 70 ft-lbs, the nut kept rotating and wasn't tightening so I did not want to destroy the mount.

Spray PB Blaster or equivalent on the threads of the O2 sensors. I did not do it for one and almost thought I screwed up the threads.
Remove O2 sensors from stock header and install on PPE Header, noting which were first and second in exhaust gas flow. The first O2 sensor will be installed directly to the tube of the header. The second O2 sensor will install off the right angle. First time I wasn't thinking and switched the 2. Idle was rough but car didn't throw a CEL with stock tune or Visconti tune.
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IMG_4552 by jdkane527, on Flickr

For the first O2 sensor, the cable needs to be spliced and extended. Jeff included the wires with connectors for me.
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IMG_4560 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Note in this picture I had the O2 sensors in incorrect location and the sensor that needs to be extended is the sensor installed directly to the tube. I cut the connector off leaving a few inches of wire with the connector and pulled back on the loom to give me some more wire to work with. Strip wire and solder wire extension on. In the picture though I crimped the wires. After a few days, the wire came out from the crimp connector because the wire gauge is to small. Strongly recommend soldering! You can see how I cut a slit in the loom. I used heatsink on each wire and a large piece around the set. In the picture, I wrapped electrical tape around the 4 connectors to keep them protected.
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IMG_4562 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4563 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Didn't get pictures of this, but install header onto engine block. PPE didn't include new gaskets, so I reused the OEM ones. My car has 1900 miles, so they still looked good.

Here are the exhaust gas ports on the underside of the FA20 block.
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2013-03-29 13.04.30 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Here is the picture with the header installed. I could only get a socket on 3 of the 6 nuts. The nuts need to be torqued to 29 ft-lbs. For the other 3 nuts that can't be reached, a wrench works fine. Check the torqued nut to see how 29 ft-lbs feels, and then try to get those 3 nuts approximately as tight.
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2013-03-29 15.40.38 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Move the front pipe out of the way a bit, and work the overpipe in. I reused the gaskets here again, and used the included hardware. Lining everything up by working from the front back, header-overpipe, and then overpipe-front pipe.
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2013-03-29 15.41.31 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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2013-03-29 15.41.16 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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2013-03-29 15.41.09 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Plug connectors back in for O2 sensors. Use zipties to secure the cables as needed. I left more wire on, as having more length to work with in the event that I wanted to move the O2 sensor further back.
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IMG_4567 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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IMG_4568 by jdkane527, on Flickr

Crawl under again to make sure no wires are loose or nearby the header tubes or engine block.
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2013-03-29 15.41.40 by jdkane527, on Flickr

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2013-03-29 15.41.53 by jdkane527, on Flickr


Put all the undercovers back in place, admire your work, and take it for a spin! :burnrubber:

Reserved for Dyno.

[ame]http://youtu.be/B1qMJmzH3G4[/ame]

I have Perrin inlet tube, GFB lightweight pulleys, PPE Headers and overpipe, and Berk catted front pipe, with Visconti STG1 Tune.

Went to KT Motoring in Chatsworth near my home to get dyno'd. The guys were way chill and took their time setting everything up.
Measured 163 whp peak. I'll have to search around to find a stock graph on a dyno dynamics. It measures low, they estimate it might read about 188whp on a dynojet. This will be my baseline and I will work up my build from there.

I played around with paint and was able to make the graph area transparent on the stock dyno, and after lining up the graphs and scaling appropriately, have somewhat of a comparison between stock, and my car. The blurry thick red line is the stock taken from Dynosty, link below if you want to do the exercise yourself and overlay the graphs. The torque dip occurs earlier in the power band, and is shorter. Midrange at 4k+ rpm looks great, with gains of 20+whp and close to 30ft-lbs torque. The bottom end looks like a retune would help.

Dynosty measured 153 whp peak on a stock FR-S on a Dyno Dynamics machine.
http://www.dynosty.com/2012/06/scion...dyno-baseline/

Considering I gained 10whp peak on a hot day, it's not bad. I'll play around with photoshop to see if I can overlay their stock graph on my graph to compare the midrange, what I'm more interested in than peak.

This is really nice. I'm waiting for a company to make a nice catted header to keep dBl down

I would be lying if I said it wasn't loud haha. :party0030:
If a catted header were available with catted front pipe, it would be pretty calm sounding. Driving around town so far, staying between 2-3.5k rpm, it's not bad. Manageable with radio on. It roars 4k+, but if you're in that range, you're not looking for a quiet ride. ;)

That's nice. I just want better flow than stock. I have everything but a overpipe and tune. But my vortech ships monday:wub:

Such a nice looking header makes a person wish it was mounted on top instead of the bottom. lol.

I have the prototype in my car, but it is silver; I like the black better.

After putting 200 miles on it, it has gotten a little quieter. There is some rasp but with a proper catback it should be less noticeable. I flashed the stock tune and it didn't throw a CEL so the extension for the second O2 sensor works. Idle is smooth as well. The tune helped the midrange torque according to the butt dyno. Overall very happy, the car sounds pretty badass :thumbup::D

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Realized I had goofed during installation and had switched O2 sensors. Secondary O2 sensor was in direct path of gas, and the first O2 sensor was on the right angle, not directly in path of gas.

Switching the 2, my idle is smooth now and drives better. Funny though that with the incorrect configuration, the car didn't throw a CEL, even on stock tune. @Visconti tune works well with it. :thumbup::D

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Great write-up and pics!

Is there any drone? Can you make a in car video?

There is some drone, but it rasps more than drone I would say. I'll try to get a video tonight. I have a Canon 600D and ContourHD, they both shoot in 1080p, but I think the 600D has a better microphone.

I think a catback will make the overall exhaust drone more, while making the rasp less noticeable.

JDKane is right, PPE did he entire exhaust (my entire exhaust is light and open), and the drone is there on the freeway and city streets in the 3-4 rpm range, or when revs are dropping. My wife does not like it, by I can live with it, like I live with coilovers, and all of the other PIAs of driving a DD/Autox car.

Btw, my co-driver thinks the car sounds cool, and when I hear it when he or my wife is autoxing it, the car sound freakin' great. It flat out roars.

Car threw a CEL light this morning. Codes were P0134 and P0030, both dealing with the first O2 sensor that I extended. When I clear DTC, it comes back a few minutes later. I'll have to check the connection to see if a wire got loose. If the crimp connector got loose, I'll probably just solder it to be on the safe side.

Edit: Confirmed 3 of the 4 wires to the first O2 sensor became undone in the crimp connector. Will be soldering in the evening to fix this. Car still runs and hasn't entered limp mode.

Cool bro! Don't forget that video. Too bad this drones but I really want to hear what it sounds like.

I love the construction of the headers but I am concerned about how these will look in a year.

The last set of Hedman Hedders long tube headers on my '68 SS I had were black-coated when I bought them. They were rust-coated in 6 months.

Scott

I got some video footage, after work I'll upload it.

Went home during lunch and took off all the connectors and soldered connections. CEL went away after clearing it and there's no codes.

Awesome bro!

Holy Shooot I'm sold on these headers ! the finish looks crazy can't wait for the dyno #'s.

may i know what did it cost ?

That looks great...nice writeup. Can't go wrong with PPE. The coating covers up those nice TIG welds, solid job for sure.

Ppe makes some good quality parts, had themon my celica... Loved them

The audio I got was bad quality and I noticed there was a leak in the connection between overpipe and front pipe. The way the exhaust sits naturally, it wants to sit high on the car. Installing the bolt through the bracket that connects to the front pipe pushes the pipes down, and caused a leak to develop on the top section. When the car was idling with the hood open, exhaust bubbles could be seen escaping. Retightening everything after a few days is normal as everything has settled in place. Now everything is tight and no visible leaks are present. Smells a little better, but with 1 high flow cat, there is a noticeable scent. I'll get audio off my phone to get you guys an idea how it sounds. Driving with a light foot helps keep it quiet. It's easy to make it roar haha.

[ame]http://youtu.be/jqj8YmgBkwI[/ame]

WOW!

Can you give us some in car driving videos?

Sounds good!

Teaser

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Here is the graph from the dyno dynamics at KT Motoring. Measures lower than dyno jets and only marginally lower than mustang dynos. Peak power was 163 whp average. They haven't seen a stock 86, but I saw a graph posted by Dynosty that their stock FR-S made 153 whp peak. I'm interested to see what the midrange comparison is like.

They were a chill group of guys that have worked with John Visconti on a few occasions.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

After playing around with Paint, I was able to line up the graphs to get a comparison.

Thick blurry red line is stock run, and the other 3 graphs are with mods.

The torque dip occurs earlier in the power band. Midrange picked up 20+ whp between 4k-6125 rpm, and close to 30 ft-lbs of torque at 4250 rpm. There is a nice increase in overall area under the graphs.

Sorry, but the graph is all but useless without YOUR baseline. If you do further modifications you can compare the results with this graph, but this static data tells us nothing about the results of your efforts.

While true, it helps in comparing the torque characteristics. I never got a stock baseline, and don't plan to, so this will serve as best approximation.

The overlay is off. If you look at 5252RPM you see the stock crosses there but your head runs cross at 5000.

I know you did it in paint and kudos for that but if you shift everything to line up on 5252rpm the torque dip is more or less the same. Shorter yes but not as dramatic as it seems for the chop. :)

Now that you mention it, I also noticed the number marks on the overlaid graph don't line up with the vertical lines, screw it. It is what it is. I'm not going to spend all day putting 2 graphs together to quantitatively see how much I really gained because the stock graph isn't the proper baseline.

What to take away from it is I'm not losing power, and the torque dip occurs sooner in power band with the setup.

Dip is alot shorter that's what counts.

I am about to install nameless catted front pipe, and p&L catted headers, ill try post a video of the sound,

Really like the finish on PPE header.

Oh heck yes!

Yes please! start a new thread though. Is in the front pipe down pipe combo or just front pipe?

Its still on thups t truck though, So wait a few weeks. Its front and over pipe combo with cat and helm bolts resonator. My downpipe and muffler is a custom magna flow set up made by accelerated performance.


To op sorry for derailing, I'm in for more pictures of it installed

[ame]http://youtu.be/B1qMJmzH3G4[/ame]

Finally got around to downloading the footage off my phone.
Filmed off Samsung GS3

We need some in car video bro!

Haven't heard anything more about PPE headers... Would want a replacement o2 sensor.

Ever get it custom tuned?