Do all catless header sound like complete garbage?
 

Hi everyone,
I recently installed an OFH 2 UEL catless header on my 2013 GT86 and it sounds like crap.
I mean, almost like there's a leak. Except there's none! It sounds like my exhaust is made of coke cans. Sounds like a helicopter, almost. Do you see what I mean?

Here's what I've done:

1. I installed the header with 3 new gaskets - sounded bad
2. I retorqued everything to be absolutely sure everything was perfectly installed - still sounded bad
3. I unmounted the header, noticed a very very small crack (it's second hand) - rewelded it and rebolted the header after polishing the block, header and overpipe flanges and applied some Holts Firegum on the header to overpipe section - still, no improvement
4. Retorqued everything again after driving just to be sure.
Still bad

I already had that problem with a gutted stock header but assumed it was the empty cat that was creating some resonance.

So, simple question:
Do all catless header sound "tiny" like described above?
Can't even say it's because of the thinner stainless steel, it does it with a the gutted stock header as well.

Thank you for your inputs

Personally I found a catless UEL header to be obnoxiously loud on a NA car with a 2.5" XForce or decated OEM header back exhaust.

So much so I removed the Tomei UEL header within 2 weeks of installing it and replaced it with a decated OEM header.

I never found the OEM decated system tinny. And I decated both the hesder and front pipe.

I currently have an UEL header with my AVO turbo setup, but the turbo does an excellent job at muffling the noise.

I have a catless HKS header, resonated front pipe and resonated Perrin exhaust. I have zero raspiness. I could see the oem exhaust not being able to tone it down.

I have catless HKS headers and their R-Spec front pipe and find the tone just fine.

No drone or raspiness with my ofh. Completley stock from header back

you have uel they are designed intentionally to sound like trash.


i have ace headers and as of right now stock everything behind the merge and think it sounds fine. i will be pick up a 60s tomorrow so its probably going to sound like shit. ill probably get a custom straight through on the end or something

My catless JDL 4-2-1 EL sounds great with a stock FP with stock resonator removed and a nice vibrant resonator added in place and a mxp SP catback

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Unequal length is literally the sound of poor design. With that said, a catted UEL header gets the lumpiness without the bark

Nothing says performance like the sound of a dead cylinder.

I don't think the problem is EL/UEL.
It sounds like there's a leak. You see what I mean when I say the "helicopter sound", on throttle? Like pulses are resonating against thin metal. I don't have the problem with a catted stock header.

Had the problem with a gutted stock header that had the heat shield removed. Might try putting it back on and see what develops.

Why not pay a shop the labor to put it on the lift and find out if there's a leak? It's take them 2 minutes to diagnose

I was never happy with the quietness of the stock exhaust. (MY14) Did some reading and decided to keep stock EL header. Although I replaced the CAT with a straight section of stainless and replaced the O2 sensor bungs. It still didn't really sound like a sports car. Next I removed the muffler unit and replaced it with a single pipe to the left exit. I love it! No rasp! Very little cost! ( I intend to replace my muffler delete with a nice one, though.)

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done and rewelded in the process.
At low rev, the car just farts out that's embarassing.

Video... Not used to UEL sounds?

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