5th Gen / 5.5 Gen Header Thread

[steven88]

Originally Posted by Utsutsu

When I had my headers installed at the shop it took 9-10hrs for the whole installation.

your shop didn't know what they were doing....or they ran into some problems...becuz I went through two header installs and both ran 6 hours each (no lift and no air tools)

[upstatemax]

Originally Posted by steven88

your shop didn't know what they were doing....or they ran into some problems...becuz I went through two header installs and both ran 6 hours each (no lift and no air tools)

My header install was 5.5 hours.

[KabirUTA13]

mine took 2 days... 3 hours of hard labor the first day and 8 hours of drinking none stop beers... and 3 hours the next day... none stop beers before and after working on the car... in the end *BORAT's voice* GREAT SUCCESS!!!

[Utsutsu]

Originally Posted by steven88

your shop didn't know what they were doing....or they ran into some problems...becuz I went through two header installs and both ran 6 hours each (no lift and no air tools)

I would like to do it myself, but i work at a slower pace and would have taken me probably a whole week lol.

I called several shops, and was told the same thing close to a 10hr work. All the shops told me that the rear manifold was a PITA to take out.

[upstatemax]

Originally Posted by Utsutsu

I called several shops, and was told the same thing close to a 10hr work. All the shops told me that the rear manifold was a PITA to take out.

It is a PIA to take out... But certainly does not take 6 hours to swap the rear manifold.

They might be quoting you to remove the upper intake manifold to get to the rear exhaust manifold and you don't have to do that. Just tilt the motor so the rear bank faces you more after you remove the engine brace with the front and rear motor mounts.

[Puppetmaster]

WTF.... Tilley, Cutler, and I took 6 hours to do my headers, motor mount inserts, go to Arby's for lunch (we ate there), go to Lowe's, go for a test drive after the install, AND go for a spin in his turboed '99.

We used jack stands and hand tools mostly, an impact was only used to drop the subframe. You people need to take it to people who know how to work on these cars and save yourself some money.

Heck, if I had more time I should start doing installs for cheap.

[BlackBIRDVQ]

5 hours

Clutch
Insert ES motor mounts
Headers
02 simulator

In between we had small lunch- pizza was delivered to my shop.

In 10 hours you could remove the engine, remove the manifolds off the engine on the engine stand, reinstall the engine back in the car and STILL have bout 5 hours left.

[huffdaddy2008]

i know HS is no longer an option so i ordered the only other obvious option last week from Mr. Catts over the phone. Now dont rape me too bad but i was wondering if you experienced header peeps out there really think the cattman headers are worth 1/3 more than HS? I dont know how accurate the hotshot website is but when i last visited it quoted their headers at 550? Mr. Catts seems like a reasonable respectable maxima enthusiast and i know now that HS is out he should and can charge more for his header and i honestly dont mind paying 799$ for headers considering the hp gained and all that jazz but i was wondering if there is really that much of a difference in the cattman vs. HS setup? From what ive seen in the dyno threads they seem to give similar gains? Mr. Catts said the next batch of 50 should arrive late this week and be shipped by the end of the week. Another ?...has anybody ordered off of this latest batch and what did you pay? I hate to sound so cheap and dont mean to bad mouth Mr. Catts because from what ive read hes got a pretty good rep and seems to offer quality products for our cars but being a college student and comparing them to HS, $250 is almost a months rent for me and really goes a long way while in school. I know ill be happy w/ them even if i have to drop 1G, i was just hoping someone out there has some helpful info for me. Thanks yall.

[upstatemax]

Originally Posted by huffdaddy2008

i know HS is no longer an option so i ordered the only other obvious option last week from Mr. Catts over the phone. Now dont rape me too bad but i was wondering if you experienced header peeps out there really think the cattman headers are worth 1/3 more than HS? I dont know how accurate the hotshot website is but when i last visited it quoted their headers at 550? Mr. Catts seems like a reasonable respectable maxima enthusiast and i know now that HS is out he should and can charge more for his header and i honestly dont mind paying 799$ for headers considering the hp gained and all that jazz but i was wondering if there is really that much of a difference in the cattman vs. HS setup? From what ive seen in the dyno threads they seem to give similar gains? Mr. Catts said the next batch of 50 should arrive late this week and be shipped by the end of the week. Another ?...has anybody ordered off of this latest batch and what did you pay? I hate to sound so cheap and dont mean to bad mouth Mr. Catts because from what ive read hes got a pretty good rep and seems to offer quality products for our cars but being a college student and comparing them to HS, $250 is almost a months rent for me and really goes a long way while in school. I know ill be happy w/ them even if i have to drop 1G, i was just hoping someone out there has some helpful info for me. Thanks yall.

The two main differences between Cattman and Hotshot are one, materials used to make the headers. Cattman uses top quality stainless steel, while Hotshot used a cheaper "normal" steel and then just ceramic coats them.

The second main difference is Hotshot made the headers in-house, they just had to send them out for the coating... Cattman has to outsource them to fabricators making them much more expensive to produce.

Cattman stands behind his products, so you are also buying peace of mind. Hotshot stood behind their headers for me also... But now they are out of business and we are left alone with no support for them.

[MaxBoost925]

Originally Posted by vq356sp

NO it doesnt Grant! How about sooner than later

Dave. Please believe bro, before Hot Import Nights in the bay area lol.

give some credit to me lol. My friend is doing a baseline dyno for me in his stock 5.0 gen for me to compare it.

[huffdaddy2008]

The two main differences between Cattman and Hotshot are one, materials used to make the headers. Cattman uses top quality stainless steel, while Hotshot used a cheaper "normal" steel and then just ceramic coats them.

The ceramic coat is just gonna help prevent rust right?

[Puppetmaster]

Originally Posted by MaxBoost925

My friend is doing a baseline dyno for me in his stock 5.0 gen for me to compare it.

I'd like to see a dyno too, however, comparing a different 5th Gen's baseline is not the same as comparing your baseline because we've seen in the past that the variance can be pretty significant between cars. You can draw some general conclusions, but you have to take those with a grain of salt. Just sayin'.

[upstatemax]

Originally Posted by huffdaddy2008

The ceramic coat is just gonna help prevent rust right?

Helps prevent rust (but it will come anyway) but mainly to help dissipate heat so they run cooler.

[huffdaddy2008]

Oh also, Brian was saying that he recommends going to the stealership for the install as compared to like a muffler/performance shop. Stealership would prolly charge a lot for labor etc. right? I think Im way out of my league trying to do this in my apartment parking lot haha, although the experience would be nice.

[upstatemax]

Originally Posted by huffdaddy2008

Oh also, Brian was saying that he recommends going to the stealership for the install as compared to like a muffler/performance shop. Stealership would prolly charge a lot for labor etc. right? I think Im way out of my league trying to do this in my apartment parking lot haha, although the experience would be nice.

Dealerships tend to know our cars better... But, they also don't always have the most competent people working there.

I would take the car and the headers to a few shops and get quotes. For just a header install you should not pay more than $350.

[MaxBoost925]

Originally Posted by Puppetmaster

I'd like to see a dyno too, however, comparing a different 5th Gen's baseline is not the same as comparing your baseline because we've seen in the past that the variance can be pretty significant between cars. You can draw some general conclusions, but you have to take those with a grain of salt. Just sayin'.

You are very right. I personally believe the main discrepency is in the wear and tear of the VIAS. My friend happens to have a 5-speed with about 50,000 miles. So theoretically his VIAS should still be ok (assuming he didn't mash it too much)

Hopefully we get some good results. I will definitely post the results up for other .orger's to look at.

[huffdaddy2008]

I would take the car and the headers to a few shops and get quotes. For just a header install you should not pay more than $350.

I wonder if I could buy all the tools needed for $350 then do the install myself? Excluding time, i think itd be worth it.

[upstatemax]

Originally Posted by huffdaddy2008

I wonder if I could buy all the tools needed for $350 then do the install myself? Excluding time, i think itd be worth it.

You CAN do it...

But it is a lot of time and work. Using air tools and torches helps a lot, but for $350 thats out of the question.

[Utsutsu]

I had my headers for several weeks now, I got say I like it. I can feel that extra kick. I will post the Dyno sheet tomorrow.

I'm currently I making 225hp/ 211TQ on their Dyno, previously a few months ago I dyno my max with the cattman y-pipe and made 202HP/176TQ. It was the same shop and same dyno operator.

I forgot to ask for the run files, I was so excited to test the car out when I went to pick it up. Soonest I left the shop, I could tell it was a different car and liked it.

I'm taking my car to the track saturday to see how I do. It will be my first time

[steven88]

Originally Posted by Utsutsu

I had my headers for several weeks now, I got say I like it. I can feel that extra kick. I will post the Dyno sheet tomorrow.

I'm currently I making 225hp/ 211TQ on their Dyno, previously a few months ago I dyno my max with the cattman y-pipe and made 202HP/176TQ. It was the same shop and same dyno operator.

I forgot to ask for the run files, I was so excited to test the car out when I went to pick it up. Soonest I left the shop, I could tell it was a different car and liked it.

I'm taking my car to the track saturday to see how I do. It will be my first time

wow something is wrong with your tq with your previous dyno

[Utsutsu]

Sorry I read the sheet wrong, it was pass 1am and I was half a sleep, lol.
You can see the sheet for yourself.

This is my last dyno with the Cattman Headers with all the mods under my sig.



This was taken during the summer July 15, 06. It was really hot that day.
Here is the dyno sheet from then.

[Puppetmaster]

Seriously... can the pics be resized please?

It might also benefit you (and us) to start a separate thread in the dyno forum to discuss the numbers. Thanks.

Btw, no AFR data?