Best Catted Header for the Buck??
 

Hey ive seen a couple different threads on headers and different types, just wanted to see if anyone had good person experiences with catted headers. living in CA, its mandatory. i want to get rid of the low end torque so was wondering whats the best bang for the buck (possibly, cheapest) catted header? im planning to do leave everything stock and just bolt on header (is tune required if catted?)


ive seen threads like this as references of the differnt types

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31555

Even if there are catalytic converters in place, I don't think you are "legal" in california unless the items you use to replace the OEM components have a CARB EO (California Air Resources Board Executive Order) issued for them. That said, a catted header with the O2 bungs in the proper locations should prevent any CELs from bring triggered so, from that perspective and the inherently cleaner exhaust you'll get out of the tailpipe, there's still benefit to the aftermarket units beyond just power and sound.

Stock header, because California laws suck.

You aren't going to do much better than the stock header if you want to keep a cat there. 99% of the header gains you see on the dyno are from cat removal alone.

I'd rather get the best damn catless header I can, then pay a "little extra" to pass when I need to smog. Or, and omg I know this is such a big deal, swap the header for stock every 2 or 3 years or however many it is just to pass smog, then put the aftermarket piece back on.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ps7080310c.jpg

Catted header on pump, and E85 vs mostly stock system (catback installed on the baseline).

Looks pretty competative vs non catted headers.

This has not been my experience. Did u provide those dyno results?

Yes, that is my car and i have a few hundred pulls showing power gains.

Are there any test results with a tuned car comparing stock and aftermarket catted header? Basically, with the only variable/change being the header?

Or just a stock car (no tune) comparing stock and aftermarket catted header?

the ft86speedfactory catted header showed elimination of the torque dip and a few horsepower gain on the stock tune

To add some additional detail on this since I'm also curious about this issue, here is the dyno provided by FT86SF for their catted UEL header on pump.

Car is stock (including tune), with the only change being the header.

http://ft86speedfactory.com/images/f...ldynoSTOCK.jpg

I have all of those except for possibly an untuned header dyno. I'm just getting to work however so I won't be able to get to those until later.

Maybe some independant tuners with no ulterior motives can chime in. @mad_sb @jamesm @JuniorAWD

I saw similar gains to yours with my fa20 catted long tube, eliminated the dip and made an additional 10 - 15 whp up top on pump and e85. I don't have plots though... just cell phone pics of the graphs somewhere.

I'm sure there are gains from removing the cat and keeping otherwise stock configuration, but a properly designed header should make more power than stock with or without a cat.

ft86speedfactory is almost the only UEL catted header out there. P&L makes great stuff and them make a good catted EL header. fa20club has catted headers but they seem to have fallen off the map here on the forums. FT86 or P&L imo.