Anybody familiar with Zerotek headers for the 996?

Stumbled across this: http://www.andale.com/stores/sf_item...2996316&mode=1 Looks like a pretty good deal. Anybody heard of them before? They look like fabspeeds and actually copy some of fabspeed's product description. I wonder if this is fabspeeds way of blowing out some inventory without cheapening the brand.

I saw them as well and noticed the fabspeed quotes. I asked about it and they told me that they are made custom for zerotek. I ordered them, figuring at that price it is worth a shot. I should have them this week. When I have them installed I'll give you a report. I am also going to buy a set of sport cats from fabspeed shortly, and then I think I'm done.

Headers won't get you any appreciable power gains. Sport cats also do nothing for the power of the NA 996. Both are really a waste of money...

DDog is running the Evo SC... so the increased airflow of new headers should help him...

wassup, I'm new to the board, but have purchased some zerotek products in the past, and which did include their header system (which I did considerable research on beforehand). I noticed that they are very similar in construction and quality to other much more pricer systems, and when I did contact them they did tell me that the noticable difference was in the merge collector that is designed to create less turbulence than B&B and Fabspeed, thus better flow and hp output. And the only reason they price their products much cheaper is because they can, (according to them, no high priced advertising, etc) and don't believe in price gouging, popular in this market. If you guys wanted more info I would recommend talking to the VP at Zerotek at [phone removed] he was very helpful and knowledgeable.

xravedreamsx, haha, nice first post! Are YOU the VP at Zerotek....?

Still too much money for nothing, If it doesnt give HP ( not talking about a supercharged car) whats the point, and please dont say the sound, Buy mufflers for that!!

Agreed....

Ahhh, didn't realize that. They may give some small gains then since any exhaust restrictions can rob forced induction cars of HP very easily. How much is to be gained really depends on how well the headers are engineered versus the stock ones (i.e. how much better they really flow).

i'm calling bull**** on this post. i talked to them today. they're getting their first shipment of headers and exhausts in tomorrow after it clears customs. they're brand new to the exhaust game and nobody has these products yet. on another note, the guy i spoke to was pretty cool on the phone and seemed to know what he was talking about. i'm just waiting to see some real pics of one before i even consider it.

i have a 02 996 C2 cab and just went thru the exhaust header issue. it was recommended to put the header and exhaust at the same time, just got a new engine so i thought the timing was perfect, got the GHL and loved them even the techs at the dealer and other customers that heard them thought they were great, found the header i liked from DPS, i beleive they are Dansk which is an oem maker for porsche, the merge collector and merge inserts were great quality, i definitely recomend them over others and i spent some time researching them, they were $999. Having done all this i have to say the sound has changed after putting the headers on, hind sight, i would pass on the headers, even though they look great and you feel some mild extra torque, i was warned a few times before doing all this, that i would feel it in my *** and a touch in my foot on the acclerator, nothing more than this....(new sound) .it is a simple bolt on and off for the headers so i may just take them off as I am not convinced on the new sound effect....oh well...spend some money and learn....good luck!!

i'm in a different situation as i'm using forced induction now. the headers will probably help. how much louder are they over the ghl mufflers alone? i may take them off your hands if you want to dump them.

I guess I'll be the guinea pig. I've wasted more money than this on impulsive purchases, so I won't be upset if there is nothing to be gained other than saying I have headers on the car. I will try to take some pics of the headers before install, and on the car as well. On a second note, I was planning on buying a set of sport cats from Fabspeed. Does anyone have any thoughts on that subject. I sent an email to Fabspeed asking about headers and sport cats and am waiting for a reply.

the only thing i've heard bad about sport cats is that they may set a cel off. that might get kind of annoying. also heard exhaust gets a lot louder. when did they say your Zerotek headers would ship? as of yesterday, they were still on the docks waiting for customs. are you going to do a before and after dyno? if you're gonna spend $700 on headers, might as well throw in another $100 for two sessions on the dyno for your before and after.

I ordered them on the 11th, and emailed them today for shipping info so I don't know when I will have them. As for the dyno, I'd love to find a facility that would dyno the car for me. Does anyone no somewhere in the NY tristate area?

i would just starting calling around to some of the local tuning shops. someone will point you in the right direction. the porsche dealer may even know of one they trust. just make sure you get a before done, or you're wasting your time and money.

I received an email saying the headers are shipping tomorrow. I should have them Friday or Monday, I'll post pics next week. I also started another thread looking for a dyno center. I'll keep you posted.

yetis: haha... I am good friends with the guys over there, I used their turbo timer, BOV, and other various parts on my FC Rx7 before, and was able to help them in developing some of their exhaust systems(996 header and muffler system exclusivly and their new Turbo header/sport cat/muffler full system also). But yea, from a personal note, I liked working with them since they were a smaller less corporate company, and cut me some great deals since they don't have huge overhead costs and such, but don't take it from me, it looks as some of you will be purchasing their products in the future and will be testing them for yourselves and posting results here. On, another note, I am gonna try to get my tech buddy over there to get registered on this forum so you can be able to PM him questions directly.

I was just at their place checking out some of the new stuff, along with doing a photo shoot and the NEW pictures POSTED for all systems on the zerotek.net site. http://www.andale.com/store?view=CAT...=226101&mode=1

..

So far I'm not impressed. As I stated on the 17th they emailed me that the headers had shipped. The email included a fedex tracking # and link. When I check with fedex, they have no record of the shipment. I sent an email to Zerotek, and am waiting for a response. I will say that the new pictures on their site look good, I only wish I could verify that they are of the actual product at this point.

Well, I talked with one of their sales people tonight. He says they are ready to ship. I'm a little skeptical myself. Even at $700, it still looks a little risky. I just don't want to be the guinea pig

They responded to my email with a simple "yes, it has shipped" No comment on the bogus fedex #.

i bought a set from DPS, they are amzing quality etc....they are made by dansk which is a porsche OEM supplier, cost was $990 and if you want headers i would get those, i looked around....they are still going on a porsche and for me piece of mind for a few hundred bucks is worth it, delivered next day installed a day later....if it is so difficult now, imagine if you have a problem, as well i heard guys are importing these from taiwan and china, i would not touch anything like that....good luck....Ted

468593656046305 Hi, This is Lance from ZeroTek, my friend has informed me that there was a problem with a fedex shipment of headers and according to fedex it has been DELIEVERED. This is your fedex tracking numebr gary, I am sorry for any misunderstanding: 468593656046305. If you have any tech or important questions or comments you can reach me on my personal cell [phone removed].

I received the headers just before Thanksgiving. I just got back, so I haven't had time to install yet. I will post my post install thoughts later. For now, hears what I think. They look great. The welds are clean, the finish is very nice. I haven't had a chance to photo them, but they look exactly like the pictures on the website. The only discouraging thing I see is the box is marked made in Taiwan. The website states German Engineered, but does not mention where they are made so I can't complain. I'll let you know more after install.

good to hear you finally got them. please do a before and after dyno. unfortunately seat of the pants impressions don't count for much spring for the dyno runs!!! you just got a set of headers for half price.

Why don't you send him a check for the dyno runs!

I spoke with ICS in CT. They have a dyno facility, and will do a before and after. They were recomended by another rennlister. I'm going to try to set it up for this week, but if not it will be next week.

cause it's not my car it'd be nice to see zerotek pony up for it. from what i understand, they still haven't dyno'd a car here in the US with their headers.

This Lance agian fro Zerotek, I am borrowing my friends account. Gary if you would like to workout a deal, please contact me on my cell [phone removed]. Also, for any of you Rennlister's I am gonna be doing a special on these Porshe 996 systems for Rennlisters only! Their is limited quantity, call for price. Phone orders only. Here is the link to all our exhaust systems, including the sport system, and full system as well as our headers. http://www.andale.com/store?view=CAT...=226101&mode=1

Thanks Lance. I'll give you a call.

...

Im calling too, even thou the car is gone with in a couple of months, I just cant say no to a mod..

let's see some dyno runs. some before and after sound clips would be nice too.

I'm working on the dyno runs. I should have them in the next few weeks. I'm really tempted to just throw them on and see for myself, but I know a few of you are looking forward to seeing the dyno results so I'll try and hold out.

stay strong! wait for the dynos

Any word, someone, on the Zerotek mufflers? Sound clips or impressions, and a final price? I'm glad somebody is giving the regular names a run for the money... Thanks, Geert

Just put them on, chassis dynos are BS anyway, also be careful not to f up your awd. How do they look, are they as good as fabs?

No C4S, as in why does a set of stainless mufflers have to cost between 850 and 1xxx dollars. Granted, there is the R&D, jig set-up, tooling, whatever...I'm happy someone is showing up with a significantly lower price. As for my questions: what do they sound like? What is the general impression qua quality and fit? Any sound clips? Geert

"made in Taiwan", no wonder they're cheap, I'd send them back. Remember "if it's good it ain't cheap, and if it's cheap it ain't good".

how is a chassis dyno bull****? they claim 10-12 hp. a before and after on the same dyno under similar conditions should prove or disprove their claims. i'm not saying the dyno numbers are necessarily accurate, but it is certainly good for showing the difference between upgrades.

The only true dyno is a real engine dyno with a water brake. You actually pull the motor and plug it in and start testing. Chassis dynos were designed to test emissions on cars and regulate taxi meters. There is too much slop, too many calculated loss variables., an operator can add or subtract whatever they want and get whatever number they want. They are no more accurate than a 100$ G -meter. Why do you think any serious race team (ie NASCAR, ROLEX) wouldn't waste their time on one, they all test on real dynos, not the 'tuner' chassis versions. As far as the headers go, they seem to look identical to the fabspeed ones, even use the same add script. I wonder if they are not one in the same? Might be worth a shot for 600$.

I'll agree that the numbers produced aren't necessarily true HP numbers. However, it works just fine for measuring before and after. I'm not sure what you mean by the operators being able to add/subtract whatever they want. I went to an independent dyno shop before and after I had my supercharger done. They ran it to engine cutout three times in fourth gear and printed out the uncorrected numbers for me. They did it the exact same way both before and after. The runs were done within a couple weeks of each other. I woudn't suggest doing them on different dynos, with different operators, and extreme atmospheric differences, but for what we're trying to see here it will work perfectly. Although I have to comment that my before run was within about 2HP of factory spec. That's pretty damn accurate if you ask me. Not to mention that the dyno operator was a Nissan turbo tuner and had no idea what kind of HP my car should be making. The zerotek stuff is made in Tawain. Isn't fabspeed stuff all produced here? One other thing that interests me is that I recently spoke with a major tuner about headers for the 996. They sell headers, so I can't say their name. They told me that they had yet to see a set of headers produce any real HP (other than a couple peak) on a NA 996. Other than dyno charts on manufacturers websites, I have yet to see a consumer go out and dyno their car before and after a set of headers. Sounds like Lance from zerotek may chip in some for the dyno run. Hell, if Cohen has a paypal account, I'll chip in 5-10 bucks. I'm sure there is enough interest on this product that we could get him enough money to get this dyno run done.

There was an interesting article by Steve Dinan on the gross inaccuracy of the famous chassis dyno. Someone must have a link they can post. I recall something about the amount of airflow could drastically affect the numbers, then there is the extremely "precise" corrections for drivetrain losses. I agree they are a tool to check for before and after changes, but I wouldn't hang my hat on them. I'm still waiting for one of the tuners to put there stuff on a real engine dyno, like any professional race team, and post their results. But I'm not holding my breath...

Just to make a correction, these headers are made at one of the largest factories in the world, utilizing Japanese State of the Art Machines, and all ISO certs. See the pictures for yourself. Most production facilities in the US can't match the technology, since many US factories don�t run enough quantity to afford such expensive equipment. If you haven't been up to speed on world politics now, the US industry has been on a downward trend, nearing a second rate country in terms of large scale industrial production, with techonlogy leaving the US and into foreign countries. Nearly every big US company is investing there money in China and Africa not only for financial benefits but for tech and quality benefits. So PLEASE, do not degrade a product, just because where it was manufactured. If it was made in USA on the exact same machines, you wouldn�t know the difference. "if it's good it ain't cheap, and if it's cheap it ain't good" -- In direct response to this, how can you infer the quality of a item solely based on price alone. If we all did this, the US would be run by monopolies, the Capitalist system would totally fail, and competition wouldn't exist. Lower prices on nearly identical products FOR SURE infers a number of things: LESS GREED, LESS PROFITS or MORE EFFCIENT PRODUCTION. Are you going to degrade a brand new porsche from the dealership just because the salesman gives you a better price than the next?? Of course not. The fact of the matter is, please don't rant, rave, or degrade on a post such as this, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVEN'T EVEN TOUCHED OR TESTED THE PRODUCT YOURSELF. IF you want, take it to the rants section of craigslist. Just my $0.02.

You put 'em on your car if you like them so much, I'm not buying any. And save the sales pitch for another forum. As has been my experience usually if something is markedly below the standard price point there is some catch. Maybe your headers are different. Wheels for example, there are tons of cast knock offs floating around that look like the well known forged brands but at 1/3-1/4 the price. Would you rather have some cast knock off or a forged BBS wheel at 140mph on the track? And that's my .02

DJ 996, I agree with you on the following point. Buy them, put them on, and see if you like them. For those that do, please let us know what you think. Therein lies much value of this list. However, I disagree that there is necessarily a "hitch" or catch, if a company brings out a similar product at significantly reduced price. There are a phletora of examples to choose from, going from wine marketed under different labels to appliances that are identical in spec, but are sold under separate brand labels. Moreover, we are talking about a range of prices. Surely, the RUF system at close to $2,000 is currently pricing itself out of our market. The mufflers we are discussing fall within the $600-$900 range. Why couldn't the $600 set be competitive in quality? They are 30% apart in price, and the new kid on the block currently appears eager to simply break into a market where much is inflated under the guise of exclusivety. Yes, I know...why don't I try it then for myself? Perhaps I will, as soon as I can make up my mind as to whether or not I want louder mufflers on my cab with orange cap mod--the latter which really boosted WOT induction noise. Ideally, I would get one of the systems with volume control (PSE, Gemballa, etc.) but that puts you into the $2,000 to $2500 range with the install, which I feel is too much to spend on mufflers. Geert

Geert, I agree 2K is way too much for mufflers. $600 for mufflers is very reasonable, I guess I should have been more specific, I was talking about the headers. I don't know about any body else but if I bought something that was marketed as "German engineered" and found "made in Taiwan" on the box, I would be very pissed. To me that's a catch, and misleading to the consumer. On the other hand I have CCW wheels for track use, they are forged high quality (made in USA fwiw) that are less expensive than BBS wheels. The difference is they are a small company making a high quality product that many racers use in the GrandAm cup series. You would probably like the regular (aka quiet) GHLs, they have a nice sound over stock and zero resonance. Doug

i have the ghl loud which is what they recommend for an 02 and up, they are great zero resonance and the dealer that put them on could not believe how good they sounded and still true porsche sound. i am very pleased with them.

Trozenhorse, I'm assuming GLH recommends the "loud" for the 02 and up, since those already come with more sound/louder muffler. Perhaps that would be the way to look at the GLH's: "quiet version" brings it up to stock 02+ sound levels, "loud version" to something above that. My worry with the Zerotek is that their blurb states that they have a flow- through design for improved performance. That makes me suspect they may be pretty darn loud--good for coupes, perhaps bad for cabs. To tell you all the truth, it's beyond me how someone would try to sell a muffler/header system these days without having a soundclip available somewhere on the web. Really, what's that? An hour worth of work? Geert

Like I said, I am pursuing the dyno tests for those of you who are interested. I really don't care that much about it do be honest. I find it very funny how offended people can get on this board in reference to this subject. As for the country of origin, as a manufacturer I manufacture all over the world. Quality isn't an issue of what country you produce in, but more a result of an individual factory and the QC standards that they adhere to. At this point I can only comment on the physical appearance of the headers, and like I said they look sweet. When I finalize the dyno I will post further comments.

I was all set to buy a set until I saw the anti USA crap, think I'll stick with second rate American stuff, rather than east asian crap. If these guys want to push their wares on rennlist thay need to poney up and become sponsors, John D you watching?

Wondering wether gcohen ever installed his Zeroteks after all. I was considering a set, but, would like to get some feedback from someone on the board who has done this.

Not yet. I haven't had a chance to arrange it. I have to leave the car for a day.

Thanks gcohen, I can't see how you could go wrong with them. The sound is always going to be better (I figure), and, as you said, the visual quaility seems to be excellent, light, so, as long as there is no resonance (which is what i am worried about), I will definitely try them. Even if the hp increase is not as high as stated (which I would doubt anyways), as long as there is a few ponies and not a decrease.

Those of you waiting on dyno's from me may be out of luck. Unfortunately yesterday morning during my routine morning coffee stop a truck backed up into my car. In all probability I'll have the headers installed at the body shop while they are replacing my quarter panel, wheel well, and rear bumper.

That sucks man, hope the frame is ok. Luckily ,with the loser transit strike I've been taking the freakin' trains. Good luck, let us know how it works out.

make sure they're careful with that header install. i've heard it's easy to break the studs if the car is a little bit on the older side.

sorry to hear that gcohen, hope you did your homework (or have good experience with that bodyshop) and it comes out great (undetectable). Make sure to let us know how the Zerotek install comes out. I didn't really care about the dyno numbers, just want to make sure you get some type of feeling of a better snap, and good sound, not any type of loss of power feel.

we'll never know without the dyno runs, as seat of the pants doesn't mean ****. i guess you can at least comment on how they fit. i'm going with the suncoast headers. i'll post the before and after numbers. they are willing to let me test them before i pay for them.

I have some data on my G-Tech from a couple of weeks ago. I'll see how they compare to new runs with the headers. The only problem is that the outside temps will probably be about 30 degrees different. Anyway I'll let all of you know in about a month when I get the car back.

gcohen, don't worry about data, enjoy the headers and repaired car! The climate will also make a big difference. Good luck.

just did before and after dyno runs on my new suncoast headers. 25-30 rear wheel HP at 5K and 10-11 rear wheel HP at peak. these things are the dog's danlgies i'll post my dyno charts in the other thread when i get the raw dyno data from the tuner in the am. i still can't believe they worked. i found the magic headers finally

Thats promising. From the pictures I've seen the only difference to the Zerotek is the gaskets, so the results should be comparable.

i'm guessing probably not, but you never know. all these headers pretty much look alike. i think it boils down to ID, OD, and the tubing length/bends. you gotta get yours dyno'd. it's only a hundred bucks for a before and after. the same people that built my headers tested a bunch of others and came up with either nothing or next to that. that's why they built they're own set. who knows? you may have the steal of the century there if yours can put up similar numbers.

I live in the 916, where this company is from so maybe they can hook me up with some exhaust and I'll get it dyno'd for them before and after. ZeroTek contact me.

i posted my dyno charts over on "my lovely new headers" thread.

LOL, good luck with that one. I already tried.

I just posted this on 6speed and wanted it here for the Rennlisters too. I finally got my car back from the body shop this past Friday. So I left some time open this weekend to put on my new HRE's and the Ztek headers. The wheels look amazing, but that's not what we are discussing here. The header install went fine. Fit was perfect. I will not comment on performance gains because I did not put the car on a dyno. As for driving impressions it's hard to say becuase I've been driving my Allroad for 6 weeks, so of course the C4S feels really strong. The only thing I can say is that it still pulls strong all the way to redline. As for the sound, there was definately a difference once they were on. I love it. The car has a mean growl just of idle, and I think there was a slight reduction of resonance at WOT. I'm not looking to start any arguments or offend anyone who has other products, these are just my observations. Lastly, in reference to the C of O, I don't care whether they are made in the US, Germany, or Asia. I was just being honest in that post on Rennlist and wanted everyone to know what they were going to get if they ordered the Zteks.