Need Headers. Help me decide

HI-NOS-Viper

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Posts
1,692
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
Well as the topic says, I need new headers. I have a broken stock header and well what better reason than to get performance headers. Ok so I know there are American racing headers, Bellanger headers, and B&B Headers. Out of those three what are the best ones to get performance wise? Also I notice a big price difference between the regular and stepped headers, like a $1500 difference. Is it worth going with the stepped design.
 
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Posts
4,969
Reaction score
0
Location
Omaha NE.
Belanger is the ONLY choice IMHO performance wise you will get the most although headers on the Gen3 cars don't really produce much gain.
 

C-Note

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Posts
1,239
Reaction score
0
Location
Near the Edge
I have Bellangers and I like them, beware problems with the down stream O2 sensor and cats when you do the work. I recently put headers and high flow cats along with the Corsa that was on my car and got about 50RWHP out of it on a supercharged 05.
I hear good things about B&B but have no experience with them the Americans or Hennessey's for that matter are stainless and if you ask me that is a bad thing, The stainless headers tend to run a lot hotter than the mild steel headers like Bellangers and stainless is not as forgiving when it comes to stress cracks.
Whether or not to go with stepped headers is a whole different question, I think with some research you would find that you will have VERY small gains over normal headers on a naturally aspired engine and no gain with forced induction,

Let me know if you would like more advise...
 

witz323

Viper Owner
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Posts
283
Reaction score
0
Location
Delafield, WI
Belanger all the way for performace and sound. Plan on having the computer re-programmed though cause it will throw off the mapping. I have done all of this recently, quite a learning experience. Absolutely love it though.
 

2001 GTS

Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 3, 2003
Posts
1,242
Reaction score
0
Location
Charlotte, NC
Little tid bit...check around at the big name tuners to see if you can buy used also. I got my 1-3/4 B&Bs used from UGR and they were just like new for less!
 

Ricketts

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 28, 2007
Posts
1,809
Reaction score
0
Location
Fayetteville NC
B&B's here.

Little tid bit...check around at the big name tuners to see if you can buy used also. I got my 1-3/4 B&Bs used from UGR and they were just like new for less!

Good point Steve, all those guys who switched to TT have to take theirs off.
 
OP
OP
H

HI-NOS-Viper

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Posts
1,692
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
Wow thank you everyone for the replies. That was really fast lol. So I think I will go with the Belanger then. So some have mentioned the computer needing retuning? I will not have the tools to do this. My Viper already had the Corsa exhaust and RT High flow cats installed. It was installed and tuned by Dan at DC Performance. Will it need more tuning? The reason I ask is becuase my car is actually in a "cough" "cough" Corvette shop. That is what ***** about being here in Hawaii. They can do the work and have worked on Viper truck engines before. I am just not sure about the tuning. Thanks all for your input.
 

MarcRoth

Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Posts
336
Reaction score
0
Plan on having the computer re-programmed ???Just start the car and let idle for twenty min,It will relearn by itself.
 
OP
OP
H

HI-NOS-Viper

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Posts
1,692
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
Belanger is the ONLY choice IMHO performance wise you will get the most although headers on the Gen3 cars don't really produce much gain.
Would it need to be retuned? Dan had already tuned my car but that was with the stock headers and corsa exhaust with RT High flow cats.
 
OP
OP
H

HI-NOS-Viper

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Posts
1,692
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
Little tid bit...check around at the big name tuners to see if you can buy used also. I got my 1-3/4 B&Bs used from UGR and they were just like new for less!
Very good point indeed. I will be giving them a call.
 
OP
OP
H

HI-NOS-Viper

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Posts
1,692
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
I have Bellangers and I like them, beware problems with the down stream O2 sensor and cats when you do the work. I recently put headers and high flow cats along with the Corsa that was on my car and got about 50RWHP out of it on a supercharged 05.
I hear good things about B&B but have no experience with them the Americans or Hennessey's for that matter are stainless and if you ask me that is a bad thing, The stainless headers tend to run a lot hotter than the mild steel headers like Bellangers and stainless is not as forgiving when it comes to stress cracks.
Whether or not to go with stepped headers is a whole different question, I think with some research you would find that you will have VERY small gains over normal headers on a naturally aspired engine and no gain with forced induction,

Let me know if you would like more advise...
Thank you C-Note. very helpful information about the differences. So will I still have problem with the 02 sensors? I have the two small cats left and the two RT High flow cats.
 

Kai SRT10

Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 4, 2004
Posts
1,580
Reaction score
7
Location
Salt Lake City
A couple of things about headers:

Not long after header install, you will notice that your gear shift suddenly becomes VERY hard to get into reverse, and overall gear shifting is difficult. This is because your wiring on the O2 sensor has gotten too close to the headers, the insulation melted, and there is a short, which blows the same fuse that your gear shift reverse lock-out solinoid uses. I can't keep track of the number of times this has happened to people. So, make sure that you insulate the wiring near the headers with heat resistant materials.

On a similar vein, I would highly recommend heat coating on your headers. I used a ceramic coating from HPC called "hypercoat extreme" I was truly amazed at the difference it made in keeping my headers (and engine compartment) cool.

http://www.hpcoatings.com/default.aspx
 

Austin

Enthusiast
Joined
May 29, 2003
Posts
5,076
Reaction score
0
Location
Clear Lake, TX
Whats bad about them Austin besides that steep price :(


Yeah, they're a little pricey. I know a few people who have put them in their SRT's. They all have liked them so far. I never see KOOKS mentioned here, so I thought Id at least throw that option out there.
 
OP
OP
H

HI-NOS-Viper

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Posts
1,692
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
Yeah, they're a little pricey. I know a few people who have put them in their SRT's. They all have liked them so far. I never see KOOKS mentioned here, so I thought Id at least throw that option out there.
Oh ok thanks Austin :) I will most likely be going with Belanger.
 

ILLSMOQ

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 27, 2005
Posts
1,885
Reaction score
0
Location
SAN JOSE, CA
I have kooks. I made a post about them a couple years ago. I like them a lot. The car made 494hp 522tq at the wheels with just the headers, no cats and a corsa....and it sounds mean!

I should have had them coated to cut down on the heat. Some of the flex loom on some wiring has melted, though I have seen the same thing on cars with belangers too which are coated.

Kooks angles the down stream o2 sensor to make more room to help reduce the chance of melting the wires.

Kooks headers are a 5 into 1 witha nice merge collecter and they are one peice so installation is very difficult compared to the other multi piece headers.....never had a leak though.
 

Viper X

Former VCA National President
VCA Officer
Joined
May 1, 2004
Posts
3,471
Reaction score
2
Belangers.

Good tips above.

Be sure the 02 sensor wires are insultated, routed and secured away from the headers.

Dan
 
OP
OP
H

HI-NOS-Viper

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Posts
1,692
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
Everyone thank you for your helpful information and tips. I will be going with the headers and get them ceramic coated as suggested. Good thing it was mentioned here so I can get them coated before I get them shipped as I cannot get them coated here. Thanks ILLSMOQ as now I am not worried about having to tune for the headers. Should be an easy job. I will have to get a sound byte when I get them.
 

mbccenter

Legacy Supporting Vendor
Supporting Vendor
Joined
Oct 25, 2006
Posts
1,045
Reaction score
5
Location
Forest Lake, MN
There is one brand that I would suggest that has not been named yet but I do have a biased opinion:)
 

treesnake

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 19, 2006
Posts
2,288
Reaction score
2
Location
St.L
M M Headers....:2tu:

Identical to Belangers except for one big difference....

$1000.00 cheaper..:omg:
 

C-Note

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Posts
1,239
Reaction score
0
Location
Near the Edge
Thank you C-Note. very helpful information about the differences. So will I still have problem with the 02 sensors? I have the two small cats left and the two RT High flow cats.

Looks like everyone touched on the questions about the O2 sensors, I was talking about the wiring problems. When you put the headers on there will only be room for one cat, the collector will be where the forward factory cat was. this means that instead of the O2 sensor being just behind the first cat in the wheel well it will have to be under the side sill between the cat and muffler. This is not the greatest place for the sensor as it gets to hot under there and can take out the wiring causing the for-mentioned reverse solenoid problem and throwing an engine light. Another problem is that the wires will not reach into the side sill area and you will need extensions. Another solution is to install cat Simms, being as how the post cat sim is only used by the computer to monitor the cat and not for tuning simms will not adversely affect anything else.
I ended up faking out my computer by placing the post cat O2 sensor on the outside of the collector and wrapping it up with the heat wrap that is installed on the entire header. In a year it has thrown the engine light once telling me that the downstream (post cat) sensor did not heat up fast enough. Simple two minute fix if you have a scan tool.

Also, I strongly suggest that you put heat wrap on the drivers side as headers have been known to overheat the clutch fluid where the line will be very close to the new headers. There is also some wiring that could be damaged in the same area, and if you do the drivers side you need to do that passengers.

My car is running Bellangers, High flow cats and Corsa track exhaust. It was a little loud with the Corsa before the cats and headers but now it is crazy loud! I like it but it is a bit much for most people that hear it. I am sure that my supercharger makes it a bit louder but thought you may like the warning.

If you put your car on a dyno after you are done you may find that with the new headers you are running a little leaner than you were before. If you send that dyno with the fuel curve and your PCM to DC they can adjust it and send it back to you. As it turned out on my post header dyno run I was at acceptable levels but was a little leaner than before.

I learned all of this as I went and I wish I would have known some of this going in.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

By the way, where are you in Hawaii? I go over there all the time and have many friends on the Big Island.
 
Last edited:

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
153,139
Posts
1,681,566
Members
17,640
Latest member
SDViper
Top