Stainless Steel Headers from eBay

[tjones02]

I like closure and that was some good closure.

Nick, sorry to have missed meeting you at the last Euro Sunday. I was there, saw your great Riviera and was driving this with the owner.

http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o236/tjones02_bucket/deWitt%201800TiSA/

[ryansti]

Why buy that one?

I'd buy one from Tom at 02again. http://www.02again.com/?page_id=24 Might as well buy from a forum member. And it's cheaper.

I agree, go through Tom at 02again. I got mine from him. Great service and a great product!

[M3M3]

It may not be the most fantastically amazing header out there, I guess, but I am 100% positive it is better than a stock cast iron exhaust manifold for performance and looks.

100% positive it is better for performance? curious....do you have back to back dyno sheets or some other measure to back that claim up? i have no idea if it is better or not, but general statements without any data to back them up are always suspect.

[dmcinfo]

Tom from 02 Again Wrote:

I have a BA in manufacturing from Fresno State. (way back in Jan 1976).

Tom:

You are a Bulldog! So am I. Graduated in 1971. Now in Sacramento working on my 1972 Tii.

Go Dogs!

[cj]

Another vote for Tom. I had an early version('06/'07) that developed a crack at the 1-4 juction. Called Tom, had another in a couple days.

Awsome service.

[andrey]

It may not be the most fantastically amazing header out there, I guess, but I am 100% positive it is better than a stock cast iron exhaust manifold for performance and looks.

100% positive it is better for performance? curious....do you have back to back dyno sheets or some other measure to back that claim up? i have no idea if it is better or not, but general statements without any data to back them up are always suspect.

Right, the "conclusion" here makes no sense. Here's my take on what happened:

- you replaced a working cast-iron factory part with an aftermarket stainless steel part

- the new part probably flows the same as the factory part, at best.

- the new part does not handle heat like cast iron did (the reason BMW used cast iron here was partly to insulate the engine bay, spark plug wires, etc from exhaust heat)

- the new part makes more noise than the old part did (cast iron works better to reduce noise, hence again why BMW used it)

- the new part can't even be seen under the hood, though it can be heard. If you did this right you put the big 320i exhaust gasket + heat shield on to protect the ignition wires.

The reason that aftermarket parts like these are stainless steel is partly because companies can't cast iron cheaply and partly because it's "cool looking" and weighs less. Don't kid yourself though, you haven't "upgraded" a single thing, you just removed an ugly but well-designed part and replaced it with something from eBay that retains the same performance you had, if you are lucky.

Now, if you don't want to deal with rusting-out exhaust and that sort of thing, it might make sense to replace the down pipe and back to the tail pipe with stainless steel rather than mild steel parts. Again, these are heavier and might be a little louder, but at least there's some technical reason to try it.

[NickVyse]

And by the way we ran dyno tests back to back with the stock tii manifold on a stock tii and found about a 7 to 10% increase in power and torque.......icing on the cake

Hi Tom - surprising dyno figures as the manifold looks like a tubular version of the tii manifold - do you have the dyno runs to compare and see how it effected the curve? Is the diameter of the tubing different to stock?

Nice looking part - presumably not made in China ;-)

Nick

[Guest Anonymous]

I do have the dyno run printout as well as some pictures of the car on the dyno. If you'll email me I'll send them to you. The original intent was to do as well as the tii manifold and I think we did that. Second goal was to make it lighter and that was easy. The BMW design is very good in that the effective length of all 4 tubes is pretty close......Close, if you consider that the 1 and 4 2 and 3 tubes are tied together (and are tied to the 2 individual downpipes) so that return pulses and scavenging effects of all 4 exhaust ports are pretty close. I think that is why the exhaust System as stock is very close to many 4 pipe headers. We did other testing comparing our system to a well know 4 pipe long header using the G-tech accelerometer to measure. Results were we won Again. Not by a lot but, but enough to say its a good design.

[NickVyse]

I do have the dyno run printout as well as some pictures of the car on the dyno. If you'll email me I'll send them to you. The original intent was to do as well as the tii manifold and I think we did that. Second goal was to make it lighter and that was easy. The BMW design is very good in that the effective length of all 4 tubes is pretty close......Close, if you consider that the 1 and 4 2 and 3 tubes are tied together (and are tied to the 2 individual downpipes) so that return pulses and scavenging effects of all 4 exhaust ports are pretty close. I think that is why the exhaust System as stock is very close to many 4 pipe headers. We did other testing comparing our system to a well know 4 pipe long header using the G-tech accelerometer to measure. Results were we won Again. Not by a lot but, but enough to say its a good design.

email sent

[tito559]

I am Metal Concepts. And my BMW car stuff is 02Again. It's all me. I have a BA in manufacturing from Fresno State. (way back in Jan 1976). Worked for the Navy for 17 Years in Production Engineering. Metal Concepts has manufactured in excess of 250,000 bicycle carriers sold all over the world as Traps. (still making them and they are distributed by Saris.com).

Tom

Hey I'm also a Fresno State Alum!!

[02for2]

deluboz burst onto the Porsche Boxster scene a couple years ago promising lots of things. Has relatives in China which make the parts.

Honestly, reviews were mixed. IMHO, some of the positive reviews were due to the high cost of alternate headers.

Over time, some issues with quality came forward - welds beaking, flange warping, CELs due to less than ideal O2 sensor readings, etc.

Personally, I'd stay away, but there were many who loved the part.

'Course, this was a completely different header for a totally different engine.

Cheers!

[Robert Kyle]

Tom no longer making headers? 

[John_in_VA]

3 hours ago, Robert Kyle said:

Tom no longer making headers? 

 

I don't see them listed at his site, but you could check with him: 

https://02again.com/

[Dudeland]

 

 

I don't see them listed at his site, but you could check with him: 

https://02again.com/

Tom is one of the most rock solid people I have ever done business with. 

[Mike A]

Without the data any claims about added torque and hp are just so much blah. Saw all kinds of claims over the years about aftermarket performance parts that turned out to be nothing but bling. The Porsche constituency is likewise a fertile market for  “upgrades “ .  A good instructor, tires and suspension tuning in that order reap the most performance gains on a value per dollar basis.