TCpete

Well i got my header on finally last week so im going to post a review for all and for other who have the header to please chime in and post your reviews based on performance and sound ONLY!

REGARDING RASP:
after installing my mmw header first off, i have no rasp what so ever. I really dont know why some ppl have been complaining about rasp etc. because the only time i experience the rasp is when im not moving and with a super quick tap to rev the car in neutral and its so minor of a rasp its almost un-noticable.. thats it.. im still using my stock OEM exhuast piping and muffler so keep that in mind but i have double check all my bolt before starting the car and so far no rasp after a good 500+ miles. i suggest anyone encountering rasp to really make sure your bolts have been properly tightened and in sync and not just one after the other.

POWER:
My power band has now shifted in alot of ways in the respect of now i have loss some of the low end TQ pep and throw back into my seat that i usually had with my OEM header. Us manuals usually have a nice throw back (atleast me) starting at about 3k-3.5k rpms and then we usually feel a nice jump of power from 4l to about 5.5k rpms and then the car pretty much falls flat (especially in the TQ).

With the header on now, i did loose a little bit of TQ in the lower rpms but now the powerband from about 3.5k rpms all the way to redline feels more linear. I do get that small jump of power at 4k but it seems to continue all the way for me to redline which is great now and what the car needed badly. I usually see this kind of power band from a 4-1 design header and not a 4-2-1 design which has me puzzled because usually with a 4-2-1 your power band is now in the low and midrange and not mid range and high like mines.. go figure!...

Its a little depressing some what to loose that low end jump but at the same time as soon as i jump into 3rd gear im flying..I guess i was expecting for this to not happen. I can attribute this to the larger primaries of the mmw header and its 2.5 collector/spipe....I think if it was a 2.25 collector and spipe the TQ could have been kept a little more but theres a give a take that i have to expect 1. with adding a header period. and 2 the fact that the primaries are larger the OEM and the collector/spipe is 2.5.

Another issue and i think this is why i may be loosing some TQ and ***** in the begining is that i have an exaust leak were the spipe meets the OEM midpipe which has been a common issue when adding aftermarket spips to the OEM mid pipe. Its pretty big by my standards, i would say blow on your hand as hard as you can and thats how i am some what at iddle form the top and a hair leak in the bottom also. I can hear clearly and feel it also clearly when i first step on the gas which is why i think i may be loosing some TQ in the begining. ( correct me if im wrong that a pretty bad leak will cause this ) but from my thoughts i think a small leak in the exhaust can hurt your TQ and HP numbers. I think this is what might be happening to me and i am in the process of fixing that gasket with either a new one ( if its not burned out ) or by buying some exhaust sealer (RTV) and re install the gasket with the sealer to try to stop the leak... I dont have a leak were the spipe meets the header which is great!.. and there are no leaks coming from any of the sensors which is great also but ill double check it again this weekend.

so other then my exhuast leak which i think is causing me to loose some low end TQ and HP, which makes me a little sad, once i get into the higher rpms and gears the car really flies and the power band is very linear and smooth all the way to red line which is a great improvement from before were we normally experience a die down of power after 5.5k rpms so its been a give and take.

When i fix the leak ill come back and post if i gained anything back and give a final though on this header but so far i think its pretty good. welds are nice and the poweband seems alot more stronger when passing 4k rpms. I did race a few friends and 1st 2nd gear they would kinda keep up but when i hit 3rd im gone lol...

Other owners please post your reviews and thoughts on your header and power band and try to be specific. I find alot of general posts saying wow it sucks and wow its great and doesnt really give the reader a good idea of WTF they are getting into when adding this header...so please be detailed.

* side note ill be fixing my exhaust leak this weekend and when im done fixing everything ill chime and finish with a with a final review and probbaly a DYNO sheet if i can... current mods on car are Injen CAI and ZPI crank pulley with OEM exhuast ...i do plan on getting a nice vibrant exhaust later this month which should help giving me a few extra HP since i know the current axleback is a 4 channel chamber with alot of restriction..

davedavetC

iTrader: (4)

i thought u were boosted....

TCpete

this motor is my spare motor.. my other motor im building up for boost currently from the ground up so ill be back to N/A unfortunately for a few months.. sucks but i'd rather have a stronger motor later when im done then blowing it because of a weak piston ring placement.

pls keep this though on topic dave. contact me via PM if anything.

davedavetC

iTrader: (4)

my bad.

is the MMW header worth the 550? if thats what you spent?ive been lookin at this header for a while, but theres somethin about MMW i dont like....

TCpete

for the money you get a well constructed and nicely welded header WITH and spipe and cell eliminator.. if you put together how much ppl are charging for a cell eliminator + heder + spipe = more or less the same amount of money.. + with the group buy you get some heat wrap + the spipe to oem exhuast gasket and the donut gasket for the header to spipe which is also typically NOT provided by most companies and cost money to buy extra if the stock one is bad. you also get the 2 spring and nut/bolts you need to bolt up the spipe and header together and 2 more nut and bolts to bolt up the stock exhuast to the spipe that also costs money and is not provided.. couting all those thing extra they put in i think its a pretty good deal.. and the heat wrap they are throwing is also a nice add on even though right now i have chose to not use it.. but for all the things you get and quality.. its a good deal for 550 shipped. and so far past 4k rpms all the way to red line im very happy with the results... the only thing im not happy with is the little loss of TQ and HP in the low rpms which is kinda typical when adding any header. but i think my leak is whats causing my problem.. so ill have to wait to fix it to really see the benefits completely.. but so far im pretty happy.. not 100% yet but very close...

davedavetC

iTrader: (4)

looks like ill have to save up 550 then... ive wanted this header for a while, but idk...

soros151

Nice writeup.

TCpete

just think of it this way.. our car is not a top end car.. 4-1 header will give you even more loss of TQ in the low end and some loss midrange.. yea your top end will be great but i think a 4-1 on this car with its low rpm is almost a waste at some point on getting it moving quickly at low rpms and gear. TQ helps you get moving and on this heavy low revving car you need as much of it to get off the line or in atleast 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear to really help push you along.. once your in third (cross over point) 3rd, 4th,5th is were you wont need that much TQ by then HP is taking over to help keeping you move along.. look at anyone TQ curve past 4k.. you see it starts to dip. i dont think ppl have taken that into consideration. now if i was able to rev to 8k rpms.. i probably would have gone with a 4-1 but since we dont, we gotta focus peak performance at all levels and not just "top end"

WhitetC21

I don't think this 4 2 1 will be that drastically different than a 4 1 setup. Mmw vs alphawerks and an aftermarket spipe? Negligible.

dCvingtC

Okay, maybe I'm missing something but just so you guy's know the MMW website says it now costs $750.

I am still interested in getting one, but what happened to the old price. Or is it hiding somewhere and I don't see it.

Someone let me know.

soros151

$550 is for a Group Buy... GB.

NYNATIV

Wow.... $550 is a great deal for those headers. I have wanted them for a while. The price keeps drawing me away even though it's worth it.. off to look for the group buy...

TCpete

ok can we keep this on topic PLEASE lolol... i'd like to hear opinions from other MMW header owners.. i know they are here.. WTF were are you guys!

flintMicaTC

well i've had my MMW header s-pipe combo on for a week now and yeah the rasp is pretty bad but mine is because the exhaust leak where the s-pipe meets the mid-pipe just need to tighten up properly no prob but love the wide range of power low to high still stock exhaust but need an axle back and resonater to make it sound to my taste. guess i'm the first review on here...

samichmansTc

Well MMW did a great job on this header and it's great. i have the MMW header w/ S-pipe and i have no rasp with my ARK N2 cat back exhaust, the sounds is deep and it's great.

TCpete

ok i wana hear more about your power gains guys.. i know the quality is nice.. but please elaborate more on your power band and gains in the power band ..

now on to me and my leak again...
I fixed the exhuast leak with some RTV permatex (copper) compound. I think the leak is 99% fixed i think i still feel some exhuast leak but its so minute that i think its not hurting me like before.. The car feels alot better now getting off the line and i defenitely felt that i got my TQ back a little.. Its still not like it was stock but i guess ill have to sacrifice some of it to gain in the upper RPMs.. I think the reason for the loss is that MMW made the spipe 2.5 inches which i think for this car is a tad to much. I think with a 2.25 it would have been better.... Im going to later on make a custom 2.25 full exhuast and replace the MMW spipe with a 2.25 one and see how it goes. worse case is i go back to the MMW one.. no biggie.. but for now im much happier then i was originally. So now that the leak is fixed im not completely frowning. How ever im going to wait another month to save up to do a full exhuast 2.25 spipe with 2.25 mid pipe and a vibrant 2.25 custom axle back. I think with that i should really get some good gains finally out of the header. Dont get me wrong im not bashing this header in any way. Ive been pretty happy with it, I just think it needed a hair of tweaking (atleast for my taste and car) vs. what others have been saying.

Im trying to make this as detailed orientated so that future ppl when searching to solve this problem can figure out alternatives on what to do. Since i find sometimes ppl say good things in 4 words which doesnt really help anyone out sometimes... details and thorough reviews are always better.. Ill be keeping tabs on this thread and get some dyno numbers soon for you all. Im just saving up for the custom piping and mandrel bending i need done.. the vibrant muffler i cannot wait to get!

UnFaZeD

i have the mmw header with megan racing exhaust and mine rasps all the time.......the header also rattles a whole lot and it smacks the a part of the car underneath, not sure why......when i took it to a shop to see if they could fix it they said it was poorly designed and all they advised me to do was to put some kind of cushion thing on the car so it wouldnt make noise when it rattled.....i personally dont like it and cant wait to get my turbo to get rid of this thing

TCpete

i know what your talking about.. thats an easy fix..just slide a 3/ wrench in that small gap or use a flat head and start bending the tube in the opposite direction. i did that and moved it about .25 of an inch and i clear perfectly..

i dunno why everyones header rattles.. i really think some of you guys need to double check the tightening order of the header and how your tightening up all the bolts.. i have no rasp at all. and all the other headers ive installed from megan to alphaworks on friends cars have no rasp also..

WhitetC21

My alphawerks header and cc spipe don't rattle or rasp at all with my hks. I drove my friend mmw header and hks axle back and I honeslt felt very little difference. Slightly more low end tq, but the top end pull was the same. Maybe my aw was alittle better, but its broken in slightly more, like 100 miles

rolloutrs1

does your spipe rub on the frame of the car? i installed my header today and it sometimes rubs on the frame of the car causing a slight rattle. i also have a leak where the header meets the spipe and where the spipe meets the mid pipe.