FT86SpeedFactory Catted UEL Review (long overdue)
 

This is my review of the headers.

First Impressions in Box

The box was whatever, packaging was nice and tight to prevent damage. Taking the headers out, it looked nice. The flanges were straight and it looked as I expected it to look so there was no let down due to "enhanced" images.
Came with all the necessary hardware. And let's not forget the magical laffy taffy!

Install

Couldn't wait to install it so i jacked up the car and immediately began to install.

it was lighter than stock obviously

02 sensors gave me some trouble but eventually got them out.

The rest of the install was just a simple bolt on. Connected to my Perrin OP no problem. NO EXHAUST LEAKS :thumbup:

Driving Impressions

at first, a big rattling sound occured and I knew it wasn't normal so up went the car again. found out that the skid plate gave me some clearance issues so i had to "modify" if so that it wouldn't rattle (circled it in red). One of the runners made contact with the plate so every time i accelerated, it vibrated like something was going to explode. I just installed it back without putting in the tabs and it gave me a few more mm of clearance and no problem since.

driving it was pretty nice. more midrange torque. and a MUCH better sound. sounds like a hybrid between a Subie and a pissed off Evo combined in my opinion. MPG was also surprisingly better backed by my fuelly. I can also climb hills on the freeway and other streets no problem on 6th gear now. That's right... 6th. I don't have to downshift to climb anymore. (depends on speed... but you get the point).

my butt dyno doesn't lie!

No drone with my exhaust set up. Civil when I'm cruising on the freeway and the streets, but ROARS when I step on it.

the rumble starts from low end up to about 4k-4.5k rpms, and at that point it starts to trail off and sound more Equal Length (hence the pissed off Evo). The rumble is also more prominent the more you step on the throttle (obviously).

Overall pretty happy with my purchase. Let's not forget the best part...
No SMELL! :clap:

- Installed since 4/14/14 (since then, I have logged 6,727 miles and no major issues)

videos
stationary and slow drive by

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCnCqqib-J8"]Ft86speedfactory Catted UEL - YouTube[/ame]

drive bys in various RPM ranges

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDEJoqnf1no"]Ft86speedfactory Catted UEL drive by - YouTube[/ame]

POV from exhaust: city driving and highway pulls

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-GZCT7WWHM"]Ft86SpeedFactory Catted UEL - YouTube[/ame]

In-Cabin

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qkVlqn8f8w"]Ft86speedfactory Catted UEL in-cabin - YouTube[/ame]

How long was this install? I'm looking to doing this and and overpipe swap as my first modification... Continue overtime!

about 2 hours of tinkering, not too bad although I can probably do this in less time now that I know what I'm doing :thumbsup:

do it! :popcorn:

Great review. I never had a problem with the skid plate but I'm glad you got it fixed. I love my sound and agree with your impressions. It's a great header!

I have a very similar setup. If anyone wants to hear how mine sounds, just click my build thread link on my signature and the first post has some videos.

I feel like the best way to get the rumble out of these catted headers is for the front pipe to be catless and, or resonated/unresonated, along with some aftermarket cat backs.

I'm running the header, a catted unresonated Nameless fp/op and a Perrin Resonated catback and the rumble is very clear with my car

That does sound pretty EL at higher RPM's. Probably because of fitting the cat and changing the runners a bit?

Sounds really good. Found a good balance of loudness. The only solution to removing some of the in cabin loudness is a helmholtz resonator in the front pipe.

Because the runners aren't as extremely unequal as say, jdl, it smooths out in the upper RPMs. In the video, it was just a frequency that the mic picked up. Normal driving you barely hear it. The set up is actually quieter than an evo3 catback. Once you step on it, it is a lot louder as expected, but the nice part is that it doesn't drone or hurt your ears under WOT(while equating the volume of a perrin headerback (catted fp non res) but yes, adding a helmholtz resonator would be nice :thumbsup:

It's just the design of the headers, and once you start going catless/nonres then it may get raspy.

you still havent posted an exterior sound clip of your setup, how dare you.

Is this stock CBE?
EDIT: NVM, just saw ARK DTS

Have you had the engine light come on with this manifold, or did you get a tune?

Huh, I have a buzzing/rattling with my OpenFlash header and I haven't been able to pinpoint it yet. I never thought about the skid pan. I'll have to take a look at it. Thanks!