FT-86 SpeedFactory Catted UEL Header

[chas3wba0]

Originally Posted by Cartman

Myth

when I did my dynojet run with tune where I got 186WHP my setup was with the stock catback... basically my car goes from 3" to 2.13"

Still have 6WHP over him on a dynojet.

My current mods are:

K&N Drop in, Fiebruz spacers, FT86SF header, 2.5" OP, 3" Perrin Catted Front pipe, stock CBE.

I have less mods, and a less freeflowing exhaust.


Another thing, I'm betting that if you put a tune on your friends car, the difference you feel will disappear. Hell... even I felt a huge difference between the stock tune and the tuned setup, of course I never ran a tune with the stock header, so tune vs tune is something I haven't tried yet, but I'm pretty confidence I'll feel the same difference I felt when I tuned this header.

Interesting. I also wouldn't rule out that a simple tune might bring the stock car close to mine in feel. Maybe I just got lucky to have a setup in which everything works more or less pretty well together? Or the sound alone is enough to provide a non-quantitative "feel" of being faster and more responsive?

Only a dyno run would tell at this point. Part of me doesn't care enough about the numbers to go do it, and part of me just doesn't want to find out and ruin the fun. Perhaps one day, for science...

[Cartman]

At the end of the day, Im just providing facts with my testing, since no-one has really done any third party testing.

Is the header worth the near 1K price tag, absolutly not as it didn't provide gains, aside from faking the elimination of the tq dip by dropping low end tq.

Does it provide a great sound, absolutely, and its one of the best sounding UEL's in my opinion.

I wish I could get my hands on the official non-catted header to see how much of a restriction the cat actually has in terms of hp gains.

[Trettiosjuan]

Originally Posted by Cartman

Is the header worth the near 1K price tag, absolutly not as it didn't provide gains, aside from faking the elimination of the tq dip by dropping low end tq.

(subjective opinion on sound).... in my opinion.

.

I appreciate your efforts in testing, really do, but if you wondered why not everybody agrees is that we're mostly fanboys (girls?).

Some truth there but before you think that is actually so, there is another explanation. If you submitted your reports in a scientific setting, which you unspokenly seem to equal your testing to, I would have dismissed them and tell you to redo it all, academic or professional setting take your pick.
Too many uncontrolled variables, poor sampling, unclear reporting, no balanced discussion and plenty of jumping to conclusions.

That is a matter of my opinion as of now but if there is a qualified majority that agrees with my comments, it changes from being mere opinion to fact.

Not saying you're wrong, just that you can't really know you're right (yet) and as such, while your posts seem reasoned and you did actual testing, they are just opinion and not fact, yet posing as fact imo and that is usually not good for anybody involved...

[Cartman]

I will be testing this some more, I might even test without the spacer install to see if theres any difference... but so far, it ain't looking good.

[Trettiosjuan]

People hear the word "header" and get certain expectations.

So what are they?

For me, this header was never a number hunting excercise and I was fully aware that removing the torque dip wasn't the same as actually "filling" it completely. To which degree is up for debate, apparently. Pretty pointless for me to discuss 5lbft here or there as it depends on so many things, the general shape has been verified enough though and that is what I wanted and also received from what I gather from my butt dyno. The advertised change was never massive but it did change the feel of delivery which is what I wanted.

Subjectively a flatter torque curve will always feel, well, flatter and thus less exciting running through the whole revrange even if the new graph would sit on top of the old one. Something to keep in consideration.

To any new potential buyers, if you're hunting numbers on a full NA set-up don't choose a header with a cat that isn't super high flow. What it actually does probably depends on the set-up and the quality of the tune I suppose, so many different results with other set-ups also. Yes, if you have increased power expectations and spent money on other hardware mods, you will need a proper tune for sure. Being able to use these headers on a stock car without a tune doesn't mean it /replaces/ a tune!
The runners are higher flow but the cat is there, only so much a piece of hardware like this can do.

For me this header is a grown-up choice. Not a huge difference, but one that changes a few things that was a complaint on the original header (dip, sound, weight) but in way that it could still pass as factory fitted, with emission control and without added loudness.
Subtlety. You know, stuff "grown-ups" appreciate...

[Avo1789]

Ive been pretty happy running these headers for the past 5k miles. No CEL, smell, or other problems. I can definitely feel some extra pull in the 3k rpm range. Plus it sounds awesome with the q300!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[tahdizzle]

I haven't posted on this thread in a while; simply because I haven't had my car on a dyno to prove anything about what I "think".

If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have purchased the JDL UEL headers.

[Re~Mix]

A lot of negative reviews lately. I'll just leave this here...

I have been running the header for almost 8,500 miles now in combination with a TRD intake, TRD catback and OFT Stg 1 UEL tune. Car is awesome, performance is exactly where I would like it to be and a joy to drive.Power is delivered differently and speed builds to surprise me now (braking harder, later). Grunt is improved (technical, right?) on the highway so I don't need to downshift as much on inclines or in stop n go.

Food for thought. Myself and another colleague drove both my tuned car and a coworkers stock FR-S back to back minutes after one another. He said "your (tuned) car is an absolute riot, hilariously fun to drive. Money well spent". Still happy with my purchase, i'll see myself out.

[STV3]

Originally Posted by Re~Mix

A lot of negative reviews lately. I'll just leave this here...

I have been running the header for almost 8,500 miles now in combination with a TRD intake, TRD catback and OFT Stg 1 UEL tune. Car is awesome, performance is exactly where I would like it to be and a joy to drive.Power is delivered differently and speed builds to surprise me now (braking harder, later). Grunt is improved (technical, right?) on the highway so I don't need to downshift as much on inclines or in stop n go.

Food for thought. Myself and another colleague drove both my tuned car and a coworkers stock FR-S back to back minutes after one another. He said "your (tuned) car is an absolute riot, hilariously fun to drive. Money well spent". Still happy with my purchase, i'll see myself out.

You ever throw any CEL's with your setup?

[Re~Mix]

Originally Posted by STV3

You ever throw any CEL's with your setup?

I threw 3 CELs (one after another) for CEL P0420 prior to running a tune, all while cruising at 70mph too soon after a cold weather start. No issues since flashing the tune.

[STV3]

Originally Posted by Re~Mix

I threw 3 CELs (one after another) for CEL P0420 prior to running a tune, all while cruising at 70mph too soon after a cold weather start. No issues since flashing the tune.

Hmmm good to know.

I am going to flash the stage 1 tune when I get home (currently running the UEL stage 2 tune) and see what happens over the next few days.

I got the OFT because I was throwing the P0420 just about every other day and the only reason I flashed the Stage 2 tune was because I know it disables the no cat CEL.

[Re~Mix]

Originally Posted by STV3

Hmmm good to know.

I am going to flash the stage 1 tune when I get home (currently running the UEL stage 2 tune) and see what happens over the next few days.

I still think the only reason I threw a CEL was the running environment and my car not properly warmed up. I tend to let it idle a bit more before taking off now.

No noticeable difference on the butt-dyno between Stg 2 and Stg 1.

[355rockit]

Originally Posted by Re~Mix

I still think the only reason I threw a CEL was the running environment and my car not properly warmed up. I tend to let it idle a bit more before taking off now.

No noticeable difference on the butt-dyno between Stg 2 and Stg 1.

After running stage 2 for many months and couple of weeks ago going to stage 1, I see stage 1 as smoother, but not as torquey off the line. Acceleration comes on smoother with stage 1. Stage 2 gets a little too touchy when doing mellow start when car is hot. I overall I like stage 1 for driveability, but miss the off the line acceleration of stage 2.

[STV3]

Originally Posted by Re~Mix

I still think the only reason I threw a CEL was the running environment and my car not properly warmed up. I tend to let it idle a bit more before taking off now.

No noticeable difference on the butt-dyno between Stg 2 and Stg 1.

Well I would get the CEL under the circumstances you described, but also at other random times too.

I know you can add the no P0420 CEL code to the stage 1 tune with ROM raider, but I'm being too lazy to learn right now.

Originally Posted by 355rockit

After running stage 2 for many months and couple of weeks ago going to stage 1, I see stage 1 as smoother, but not as torquey off the line. Acceleration comes on smoother with stage 1. Stage 2 gets a little too touchy when doing mellow start when car is hot. I overall I like stage 1 for driveability, but miss the off the line acceleration of stage 2.

I did feel a little difference with the tune over stock I guess, but I honestly only got the OFT to rid of my CEL.

The main difference I felt was the throttle response is much better.