996 headers

Before you flame, please don't, who makes the best header in terms of hp and torque? I have seen two basic designs with the difference being the collector arrangement. Any thoughts? I saw a nice dyno graph for B&B's and have heard great things about them for m3's. The fabspeeds and gemballa's look similiar as well. The ghl's loos way different with a strange collector, which from first appearance would probably not yeild the best flow, but their claims seem to suggest otherwise. Thanks! We seriously need someone to take their car on a dyno with each headers, mufflers, ecu's and get the real low down. NO FLAMES ABOUT, OH they all add nothing, come on. BTW there was a guy who did this for the s4 and it was great! Thanks.

The header sold by Fabspeed is excellent in design and quality - I've had it since 1999. It added 10 HP before/after on the dyno to my car. I am not familiar with the other headers or the "different" collector design to which you refer, but a short collector adds power at the top end while a longer collector increases power at the mid range. If any headers you are considering do not have equal length tubes, do not even consider them - they aren't worth any more than their sheet metal scrap value.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by SPR: <strong>Before you flame, please don't, who makes the best header in terms of hp and torque? I have seen two basic designs with the difference being the collector arrangement. Any thoughts? I saw a nice dyno graph for B&B's and have heard great things about them for m3's. The fabspeeds and gemballa's look similiar as well. The ghl's loos way different with a strange collector, which from first appearance would probably not yeild the best flow, but their claims seem to suggest otherwise. Thanks! We seriously need someone to take their car on a dyno with each headers, mufflers, ecu's and get the real low down. NO FLAMES ABOUT, OH they all add nothing, come on. BTW there was a guy who did this for the s4 and it was great! Thanks. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">I concur with your observations about the GHL collector design. It looks like a header for a turbo rather than something that one would expect for a normally aspirated engine. TTP and S-Car-Go have merge collectors which do not terminate the primary tubes at the collector but merge the header primaries creating a pyramid shape (example below). Others (e.g. Fabspeed) I'm not sure of. As much as I want to believe manufacture's claims independent results are what I believe in, especially if the product goes against convention. <img src="http://www.techworkseng.com/graphics/products/exhaust2_large.jpg" alt=" - " />

The fabspeed headers are the same as the example you show in the picture above. The funny thing is I could have sworn the tip inside felt like plastic and I was wondering if it would melt with the intense heat. Perhaps it is porcelain? the pyramid tip is definately not stainless steel. I saw some interesting looking headers at protomotive <a href="http://www.netquest.net/~knighton/boxster_996.htm" target="_blank">http://www.netquest.net/~knighton/boxster_996.htm</a>

that's a really nice merger in the header. What header is that one off or? Scargo? from my experiance building motors it's always best to go with a equal length header with a really nicely merged collector and a port to tube diameter that is correct as larger tubes sacrifice torque if the engine is not able to utilize the increased volume and hence loose velocity.

Wow the boxter headers are pretty. I didn't see a pic or ones for a 996 na though. Plus the boxter header price is a bit daunting over 2k?

I was refferring to the s car go ones btw-

I have an 01 C4 with the GHL exhaust and headers. The shop I use did the original development and dyno research for GHL. These guys don't recommend upgrades unless they know they work! For technical data talk to Bob or Bobby at Foreign Affairs at [phone removed]. No affiliation. Just a very satisfied customer. Regards, Mike