For my personal opinion looking at the dyno graph above that I got, I would say they are worth it. The peak gains are definitely not there (I'm sure it would be a lot higher if it was compared to OEM ones) but if you look at it overall, the entire power band just shifts up for TQ as well for HP after 3k RPM. When you gain power like this, your car will be much faster. Sometimes people get too caught up on peak power, but really if you have a DD, how often are you in that range? For my driving style, the more usable power is between 2.5k RPM - 5.5k RPM.

 

The headers sounds much better then before, deeper and less drone. I'll take some videos when all the things are done, but unfortunately it'll sound different since I'll have the cams in, which should alter the sound even more.

 

In his situation with essentially no meaningful, power producing mods, headers would be even less beneficial. As stated, the tomei's are one of the few that I would buy, but it would be the very last thing I would do in terms of bolt-ons. For the same cost I would do 3.9 or 4.08 gears with install. Just me. If I were in your position (i.e installing cams) I would install headers to maximize the gains, but not as one of my initial bolt-on parts.

 

OP,

In the end it's really up to you, on what you plan to do. We are just here to post our experiences and our opinions. Keep in mind that, the headers will require some fuel correction to really see the entire benefits, which is mainly true for almost all breather mods.

03threefiftyz,

Don't disagree with you in any ways. It's good for him to hear different opinions. I was also planning to get FD, but it would render itself kinda useless if i got FI so i decided to only get Cusco LSD with no FD. What are your next upgrades for your car?

 

I am going to take the plenum apart, smooth out the castings on the upper and lower. Do a light hand port on the lower plenum. I think I might send the upper plenum to get the TB inlet lathed (sp?) to 74mm or 76mm and have the tb ported to match. At the same time I am going to install a thick IMG that I have had sitting forever. I figure if it can drop the AIT's close to the combustion chamber it can't help but be beneficial.

I have an OS Gilken integrated clutch set-up being installed next week....the whole assembly (clutch/flywheel/sleeve/ and bearing) weigh a total of 25 pounds. Should be a fun set-up.

After that I am going to take a break for a bit and decide on future changes or just sell the car and get a c6. We'll see.

Sorry for the OT peeps. I'll keep it on topic from here.

 

I'm going to be the devils advocate and say, "get the headers" then get an UpRev/Osiris tune (Be sure you invest in the $700 standard tune, so that when you add another power mod, you can update your tune for $50 there after). One persons results is never the same as anothers. Who knows? you might get some exponential gains, but then again...maybe not. I know it will be a lot of money, but who said modding was cheap? You think cheap, you treat your car cheap, in the end...that's what it is...cheap.

Although one may not quite drive WOT all the time in the sweet spot of the VQ (like say on the roadcourse), it's always nice to know its there when you want it, like when overtaking cars.

I have headers on, with Uprev/Osiris. Track or street, I'm VERY happy by the seat of my pants. Dyno numbers are nice, but numbers dont win races. having deap pockets help too

 

Thanks everyone for all their inputs, I think im just going to upgrade my FD. Its not like i track my car daily but i do plan on taking it to the 1/4. Maybe in the future I will get headers, when I run out of Bolt-ons to do. Those Tomei's do show some nice gains compare to the other headers, i wonder how much are the gains compared to stock. Price is a bit steep though.

 

Strup

 

marginally better than stock and at ~$900 installed, not worth it.