Ft86speedfactory UEL header vs, Tomei Expreme UEL Header
 

Who has either? What do you like about it? What has better performance gains? Which is higher quality?

Tell me plx, I've narrowed my decision for headers down to those 2.

'14 Firestorm FRS Build Thread:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71248

Agency power or fa20club/tr3.

Thank you but I'm only interested in the headers I mentioned above. I appreciate the suggestions though. :)

'14 Firestorm FRS Build Thread:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71248

Speed factory without a tune, Tomei with a tune.

I planned on getting a tune after I get the headers and replace the front and down pipe, in that case would Tomei be the way to go since I can only do the tune a few months after I get all that?

'14 Firestorm FRS Build Thread:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71248

save up and get tune all at same time.

WTF...?

Just installed the Tomei UEL last night with a stg2 e85 tune. Fitment of the header was PERFECT, and it's obvious its of supreme quality. Due to it being catless, it creates a little bit of rasp with my straight through setup, but it sounds MEAN. I haven't got on it yet, waiting for my ECU to learn the proper fuel trims first, but I can already tell it has a lot more low down pull compared to the factory header. I am super pleased with my purchase!

The spot on fitment, quality, and welds are what is drawing me to tomei. I have the 80R and I love it to death. Are you gonna dyno it? I'd love to see the performance gains cause everyone with the tonei headers all say that you no longer have a torque dip which is sex to my ears

I feel that the Tomei header is more of a UEL than FT86SF header. I don't have a UEL header yet but I'd go with the Tomei if I had to choose between the 2. And the collector is right at the flange for the Tomei which is nice.

I am severely leaning towards the tomei.. Retarded question though: what's the collector?

The collector on the Tomei is beautiful, with all pipes meeting and creating a very sharp point. Everything is super smooth inside.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/attac...7&d=1406676519

It's gorgeous 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

Do more research. Catless header vs Catted Header. Obviously, the Catless header will yield better gains. With the Catless, it'll inevitably be quite a lot louder than a Catted Header. Also, price comes in to factor as well. Not to mention, if you get a Catless Header, you'll need a tune (it's mandatory, unless you don't want your engine to blow up- srs). With the Catted, it's fine to not have a tune, but having a tune on a Catted will be like an extra shielding. In other words, if the cat in the Catted Header, for some reason, malfunction and break, you'll be fine, knowing that you have a tune for extra safety and motor longevity. Also, the Tomei UEL is truely an UEL Header- very rumbly. The FT86 Catted Header is technically considered UEL, but doesn't quite sound as rumbly as you probably think. Other parts of your exhaust can and will affect the rumble of your whole exhaust system, keep that in mind.

I keep saying this but a lot of the volume from header will depend on your catback, my car is actually really quiet because of my perrin resonated CBE. (I have a Tomei uel)

I have a Tomei UEL and the rest of the exhaust stock. I love it. Quality of the piece was fantastic, collector was very nice, and the welds were all good. Install was fairly straightforward, although the header has a joint in the middle that allows you to slide the header wider or shorter in order to get the right fitment, and I couldn't get the damn thing to slide. But, after a few taps with a mallet on the flange, it widened up to correct size and I got her bolted up in no time.

Sound is great; it's got the classic burble. With the stock catback it is still fairly quiet when you are cruising. Cold starts are a bit raspy, but you can easily tune that out by adjusting the cold start timing in your map. The car feels hella torquey and has fantastic low end. On my OFT E85 tune, the infamous dip was basically nonexistent and the power band felt very linear. Overall, definitely a purchase that was well worth it, especially considering that it is priced very well.

Anyone have any experience with the tomei uel with a 93 stage 2 tune?

I just flashed it yesterday as its beginning to get too cold for ethanol. Doesn't seem too different, but perhaps a little bit less punchy down low. I'll get a better idea in the coming days/weeks though.

You do realize that ft86speedfactory makes an un-catted header too right? You shouldn't be telling people to do more research when you need to do more of your own.. And you also make the CEL light problem sound like then engine will explode lol it's just sensing that something is wrong because it doesn't sense a cat. There are defoulers available that correct this issue, but a tune is recommended for any aftermarket header. That's the only time you see the true gains.

I thought he was trolling since he would have answers for all of those when he was doing the research to rounded down to the two in the first place, however, I was wrong so it was just a joke, on me.

You may want to troll through most of that thread until people started having cells.
That thing is a much greater compromise, however, its claim that it will eliminate the torque dip appears to be true.

I'm planning on buying the Tomei UEL, Tomei Overpipe and Openflash Tablet all at once and installing them as my stage 2 upgrade.

At the moment I've got Takeda Intake and an Invidia Q300.

Planning on leaving the stock front pipe and cat so the sound won't be too over the top.

Who has either?

I have the Tomei UEL header. It's paired with the Greddy CS GTS exhaust system.

What do you like about it?

The build quality looks really good and it brings out the boxer rumble of the FA20. 0 installation issues and no CEL thrown yet. Running it for about 6000 km. Tracked too.

What has better performance gains?

I have yet to tune the engine. Hopefully will be able to commit the time to do it soon.

Which is higher quality?

Can't say much about the FTSpeedfactory one as I have not seen one for myself.

However, I would highly recommend the Tomei one, not against the FTSpeedfactory one but as a general product choice.

Two of my buddies have Tomei UEL and I have an Open Flash UEL. Openflash might still have some in stock so I would consider them too.

Do you have a front pipe replaced on your setup with no cats and do you have a video of your setup?

Sorry noob question, but if i go catted, my friend says that eventually the heat from the engine will melt it and make things messy.. Is it true?

I am debating the same thing. from all the videos i've seen, the tomei UEL sounds a little raspy (crappy mics on phones probably but i am not sure) while the FT86 header sounds awesome + it has a cat. People have praised the Tomei a lot so i am in two minds.

I don't know the performance gains between the two, but a tune should eliminate that torque dip regardless of which one we go with.

Stock front pipe. Hopefully I can get a clip up soon. Will post it here as soon as possible.

Thanks everyone for the info. I really am thinking of going tomei. Dat peer pressure doe. ;)

It's really going to depend on the rest of your exhaust.
Stock FP seems to keep the rasp away. Catless will more than likely have some rasp, but that's also dependant on your MP and muffler.

My experience...
Catless UEL header and rest of the exhaust stock = no rasp.
Threw a catless FP on and it had a little bit of rasp.
Catless UEL header, stock FP and Perrin 2.5" resonated = deep sound with no rasp.

Just figured I'd stop in again and reassert my new found love. This Tomei header is amazing! I've got a good ~100miles of fuel trim learning in now, and WOW does she pull down low. Night and day difference from stock(I'm also on the E juice though.)

My current setup consist of: Tomei UEL -> Tomei OP -> CNT Resonated FP -> Stock Catback. I will say, with no cats at all in the system, its pretty raspy, but not bad IMO. Actually I personally LOVE the way it sounds. It's a very tuned/aggressive rasp if that makes any sense? Not like a tin-y cheap rasp, I don't know, kinda hard to explain. I think some of this may have to do with the VERY agressive timing from the E85 tune. It pops and crackles alot, I love it. I should mention however, at cold start, when timing is retardedly retarded, it LOOOOOOUUUUUDDD, and VERY raspy! I will see what I can do about getting a video for you.

Ok, here ya go. Sounds alot deeper in person, this was taken with my iPhone..

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Wu-ECtzag"]Subaru BRZ Tomei UEL Header - YouTube[/ame]

Wow, those popping sounds... Just wow

Waiting for someone to ride out their 86 and find used collectors somewhere and put it on as an attempted exhaust tip :barf:

Do the Tomei UEL and OpenFlash UEL sound much different? Have there been any Tomei UEL dynos posted yet?

I would recomend the Tomei over the Speedfactory because it's cheaper and catless. Plus the Speedfactory ones have been having cracking issues, so I would stay clear. Wait 6 months to get a header that cracks? No thanks.

Tomei is the way to go, if you're in the market for an UEL Header--right behind JDL, if not on par, with quality. (JDL is more expensive because they offer a lifetime warranty). From personal experience, I'd go with Tomei because of their reputation as an aftermarket company--I had too many Tomei parts on my old 240 and not one of them cracked or were faulty. Currently as I type, I've clocked over 10k miles with the Tomei UEL on my 86 and nothing has gone wrong. Additionally, when I initially installed the header, no CEL lights popped up--this was when I was untuned. I later picked up an OFT and tuned the car just to be safe. I have nothing against the FT86 headers, it's just that if you're going to buy an aftermarket header for this platform, why would you go catted (assuming you're going to get the catted version)--you're restricting your car's maximum performance potential. Moreover, to the people that say that having a catless header will yield raspy exhaust tones, that's complete bull--if anything, it's the catback/ axleback that you have in your car that will determine the car's exhaust note. An unresonated and/or catless exhaust will always be raspy, no matter what.

If you're looking for performance, Tomei or JDL.

I personally have the FT86SF and my results where disappointing, losing low end tq and only gaining 5hp from a tune.


As of last month, I chisled off the FT86SF cat and the difference it made feels substantial, still need to go to the dyno to see what gains I got from removing the cat though.

As far as the FT86SF option, I can't comment as we haven't tuned one yet. We have, however, tuned quite a few of the Tomei UEL header and they are an absolute joy to work with. Great quality, fitment is spot on, and there are substantial gains to be had with it. I'd say that the Tomei is about one of the best bang for the buck pieces you can get right now.

Sincerely,

Zach
Delicious Tuning

I had similar results with mine. While the SF headers fixed the dip, I actually lost torques way down low.

How did you actually remove the cat from the header? Do you think this would've regained that lost torque way down low? Would it need another tune?