[mickyboy]

Hey
Has anyone installed headers on their Oz zed?
If so, could you let me know what type & if they made any difference?
I have been reading the US forums on this topic, but wanting some Oz flavour.
I have been offered some in Oz (bought in from Japan/China?) for around 1 grand mark fitted so want some first hand experience before parting with the cash.

Do you think Oz cars might have a greater power/torque increase than the American spec cars, just like the hight-tech exhaust gave greater gains than anything else they have in US (because of the differences in tuning, exhaust bends, emissions etc?)

If enough people showed interest I may be able to get this company to pay for dyno time to prove a gain (or loss).

I can't seem to upload the photo, so if anyone wants i can email it to them. They ar stainless steel with some sort of gold finish to them?

 

[nang3]

i can upload it if you want

email;

nang3 at hotmail.com

 

[mickyboy]

sending now.
thanks

 

[nang3]

here ya go Mickyboy

 

[scathing]

I haven't personally, but I've spoken to the guys who installed Fujitsubo headers on Mike Fitzgerald's car.

Its a bitch of a job, given how cramped the Z33 engine bay is and how much crap is in the way. It took them a solid half a day to swap them out.

If your warranty is of any concern to you, be sure to call your service centre before installing. Mine said it would void engine warranty, which is one reason why I haven't looked too hard at getting them as of yet.

Also, make sure you know where they're from. Headers designed for a LHD car won't work on RHD vehicles.

 

[ky350]

IIRC, Liverpool Exhausts in Sydney manufactured some headers for the Z33. No idea how good / bad they are though.

 

[nizmo pete]

If the quoated price of $1000 fitted & they are made of stainless is correct, then these are a bargin.
They appear to be very close to equal length.
The gold appearance is cadnium plating
I dont expect much increase in power with these or any headers if they are all that is being changed. But the sum of various mods all start to add up.
Only you can decide if a grand is good value based on what else you intend to do to your motor.

 

[db350z]

The Fujitsubo Claim their header will increase Torque more than power. It will increase by about 15nm and 1rwkw.

you guys can check in here:
http://www.fujitsubo.co.jp/sc-srch/

Cheers

 

[nizmo pete]

Originally posted by db350z@Dec 8 2004, 04:25 PM
The Fujitsubo Claim their header will increase Torque more than power. It will increase by about 15nm and 1rwkw.

you guys can check in here:
http://www.fujitsubo.co.jp/sc-srch/

Cheers

If it,s making more Tq then its making more HP, no if's, buts or maybe's.
Wherever in the rpm range tq is higher than previous then the HP will be higher.
All dyno's measure tq & then a mathmatical calulation based on revs is applied to give a HP reading.
HP = TQ X RPM divided by 5252

 

[zuffy]

The claim of more torque than power is realy about more mid range torque yet near no "peak" power gains.

As stated above you can't have more torque and not more power.

Tuning houses seem to quote HP as peak HP and torque as the best gain in the whole range. It's stupid but it has seem to have stuck in the US market as the standard.

 

[scathing]

Personally, if I make powertrain mods I want dyno graphs before and after. The actual numbers don't mean that much, but the shape of the curve tells you how the car performs, and changes to the curve will tell you what it actually does.

 

[nang3]

yeh exactly scathing, you always need a before reference point to see if the cash you just outlaid has made a difference...

speaking of which, this monday i am getting some kinetix cats and a hi-tech exhaust installed and they will be dyno-ing it before and after the install on the same dyno.. hopefully i will gain a few kw and that lurrrvly hitech sound !!

 

[scathing]

You'll definitely get power from the HiTech, and when you rev it you'll feel the engine free-flowing.

Under the right conditions (don't ask me what they are because I don't know) you'll also get a VTEC-style kick at a little past 5000RPM that carries you to redline.

As for the cats, I don't know but any reduction in exhaust restriction has to be a good thing.

 

[nang3]

yeh the guy i got them from reckoned the hiflow cats made more of a difference than the hitech when he installed them ???... oh well either way it will sound nice hehe...

 

[mr rizk]

Just keep in mind that US made headers do not fit the JDM model ie: OZ

Correct me if I'm wrong please.

Liverpool did make a jig and zaust for the Z. They claimed 15 RWKW for both in total. They never went in production as they wanted a supplier to pitch in with funds.

Personally I would buy a decent exhaust and not worry about the hearders *unless* you bought a Ti Exhaust and headers and saved on the weight.

Michael

 

[mickyboy]

Us spec headers require a slight adjustment to clear the steering column.
YOU WROTE: Personally I would buy a decent exhaust and not worry about the hearders *unless* you bought a Ti Exhaust and headers and saved on the weight.
How would that save weight? The Ti exhaust yes, but I doubt headers would save any weight!
Unless the headers are dirt cheap (not in quality but in price) then the bang for buck may not be worth it because of the install cost.
I am waiting for a reply from my source on dyno figures for his headers, so I (& others) can make a decision on whether it is worth it.

Consider this: a unichip (or any other aftermarket chip) costs minimum $1200 - $1500 for approx (& I say Approx) 6-12kw increase.
If the headers I have sourced get the same then I will be ahead $200-$500.
Also the high tech exhaust costs approx $1800 (APS costs $1900) with 12-19kw gain. ALSO the same bang for your buck!

The ultimate system would be headers-high flow cats-& exhaust.
Just my 2cents

 

[scathing]

Why bother with a Unichip? You can reprogram the factory ECU, especially if you're talking light-tune modifications. If you want to integrate boost control into your mapping fair enough, but if you're talking about a simple exhaust upgrade and taking out some of the slack in the factory setup, just stick with what's in the car.

Its basically impossible to tell that the ECU has been reflashed unless someone downloads the ECU's map and compares it with factory. There's no hacking at the loom to plug in a piggyback, or having to take the unit in and out every time you go to Nissan.

 

[mickyboy]

Now it's going off the thread topic,
The unichip I mentioned just to illustrate a point about bang for your buck & what mr rizk wrote about not bothering about doing headers.

 

[scathing]

True.

The reviews I've heard, from people in the know, is that extractors by themselves provide a moderate increase, but as a part of an entire free flowing exhaust they make good gains.

If you're getting a set of decent, stainless-steel tuned-length extractors fitted for $1000 its a bloody good deal. Its a lot of work to put extractors on a Z33 - the smart money is on taking the engine out; an in-situ install is a right pain in the ass (I'll post pics of the extractors later).

Considering a brand-new set costs about as much as a cat-back exhaust, and installation would cost you a packet, the price is definitely worth it.

As I said, call Nissan first to double-check your warranty status before doing it, though. "Returning to stock" is not really an option.

 

[scathing]

http://my350zis.fucken.1337.as/gallery/my3...350Z_Touring_23

That's as far in as I could get the camera.

The heat shielded / bash plated item on the lower left is the cat. The flange you can see connects the cat to the manifold. You can't see all the cabling and wiring that's under the manifold, but this gives you a rough idea of how much room you've got to stick tools in to adjust the bolts on the exhaust manifold, and take it out.


After seeing that, I understood why it took my friends half a day of solid work (i.e. one person would come off the car and immediately be replaced by other set of hands) for them to install the extractors on the car.