ssautochrome headers... anyone trust them?

[ra328i]

take a look at these headers and pipes guys. anyone buy these before? anyone trust these?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33631&item=2435798233

 

[BigEarl325is]

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Those are not headers. a lot of people don't understand what headers are so I'd like to clear it up for a few of them. Each single pipe on a header is the exact same length as the next. Cylinder 1,2, and 3 will have one header to them. The pipe coming off of cylinder 1 will meet the collector with the exact same length as the pipe coming off of cylinder 2 and 3. The same goes for cyldiner 4,5, and 6. See, the reason this helps is that no cyldiner is working to push the gases of more than one cylinder. In other words, when cylinder 1 fires, it only pushes its own gases through the header, same for cylinder 2 and 3. On our stock exhaust manifolds, cyldiner 1 and 4 have a lot of catch up work to do, in order to get the rest of the gases pushed through. Since each cylinder is pushing its own gas, it lets the engine run smoother and more efficiently, ultimately adding more power. Now, SuperSprint makes a header (singular) that makes all 6 cylinders the exact same length, adding even MORE performance. Just thought I might clear this up for you and anyone else who didn't realize it. Be careful, a lot of people think headers just have tubular pipes and are shiny, this is not true. In fact, a lot of inexpensive headers are black!

 

[Big Daddy]

I thought what you defined was called "Tuned Headers". I agree in theroy that all these things on eBay are is fancy exhaust manifolds, but I have seen headers for American made motors that were not of equal length pipe (non-tuned). (granted that was years ago)

 

[BigEarl325is]

right, that's basically what I was describing because "tuned headers" are the only thing that give you power in my opinion. See on these beefy American engines, slapping on bigger pipes will do the trick (gotta love them American motors) but our European, finely tuned engines, you need just the right balance of exhaust pressure to get our babies runnin strong. I really don't like these people that put this stuff up for sale. I feel it's false advertising. But perhapse you're right, maybe they are headers, just not tuned headers. Eitherway, I doubt they do much of anything compared to our stock manifolds

 

[ra328i]

thanks bigearl, i'm now looking into supersprint. just thought i'd ask because they would've been really cheap, and he has a lot of feedback...

 

[BigEarl325is]

These are tuned headers, these are well made and WILL give you extra power

http://www.bimmerworld.com/html/hiop-e36z3-6cyl-headers.htm

 

[Big Daddy]

Yep, we were on the same page. I agree that there is really no sense in buying and installing headers, however tuned headers....yes!

 

[Tigas Bud]

For those of you that remember your fluid dynamics training what about turbulance or laminar flow? I like the equal length theory but if someone were really tuning headers distance would not be singular consideration when balancing effort required to push exhaust gas.

 

[carcus]

Save your money, you will not get any big increase in HP with headers....even the cheap ones until you get new heads.....high dollar price for little HP increase. Unless you will install them yourself......feel the ass pain on the labor charge. Just my 2 cents.

 

[BigEarl325is]

I agree with carcus. Headers really aren't worth it if you're looking for power. They do offer a very nice sound however if you redo your whole exhaust

 

[carcus]

They all go together, intake, exhaust, headers, custom tuning.....well out of the range of most used BMW owners.....Like me. Heads...a few grand, cams, a few grand, intake...400 bucks, exhaust.....800 bucks.....throw 3 grand plus including over 1 grand plus for install.....OUCH! Only so much you can get from a E36, besides a supercharger....install and purchace on them is not cheap. You want a fast car, get a cheap 5.0 stang or F-Body.....if you want speed. If you have money you can make anything fast....the BMW is not cheap to make fast. It is a nice cruiser. NOT a RACER, except for the M3...but even the E36 M3 is not that quick. The E46 M3 is nice...but again, not cheap to mod. Again, depends on your deep pocket. Fastest car I have driven was my 98 Z28 LS1.....with over 330HP modded, high stall A4 torque converter, open cutout exhaust, that was fun, the deep roar of the V8 with open exhaust.....I like the BMW.....still fun to drive, but if I could throw that LS1 in my BMW convert.....OOHHH!!!!