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A couple of years ago, I added the Soul Performance exhaust on my 981 Spyder (which, BTW, still commands attention on the road). I had considered adding headers on at the time but recall there are issues with emissions in California. Now that I've moved to Texas, I don't think I will have those issues.
Admittedly, I'm no expert when it comes to understanding what headers will do from a performance perspective (other than looking at charts and seeing improvement). In fact, I lean on this forum for all of the expertise coming from those who have a passion (some call it insanely cult-like) for all things Porsche. To be honest, I'm much more of an audiophile. Adding that Soul exhaust a couple of years ago made my driving experience 100% better. And even though exhaust tips don't have anything to do with sound (I think), adding the Soul Satin Black tips a few months later just made the look overall look better. Do y'all (that's my adopted Texan accent) think performance headers would be a good addition? What are the drawbacks?
Headers are the best mod for power/sounds IMO. The sound past 4k RPM is racey and awesome. Power boost is nice too, tuned. Only downsides are cost and increased loudness (which is also a plus). Listen to some YT vids with and without race headers. No vid can do it justice, but you'll get the idea.
Hey Diablo Blanco... I'm connecting the dots from my other thread. Thanks for the reply there
So you had the PSE on your Spyder and you replaced it with the Soul Perf exhaust? What was the difference?
In my case I'm wondering if I need the PSE or Soul or keep the fabspeed but add headers
So I had the PSE. That gave me the sport exhaust function. Then I got the Soul Performance exhaust. There is a thread with a video of the sound.
Basically, the exhaust note was more of a high pitched, waling sound. I felt that with a 911 Carrera S engine, the note should have been deeper and more gutteral. I know there were limitations due to the 6 cylinders but I took a chance on Soul Performance after talking to somebody on the phone.
I am contemplating headers myself. If you have a fab speed exhaust that sounds good, You may want to consider headers.
Dear White Devil, welcome to Texas, we're thrilled to add you to the tax base, but please leave your California ideas in California.
Soul has an excellent warranty on their headers and for street use, you can't go wrong.
But, you're in Austin and have access to COTA, so I hope that you take advantage of that. Headers and track use seem to conflict, but as mentioned, Soul has a great warranty.
Call John or Mike for discussion.
I have been very impressed with the Cargraphic headers I installed on my '14 Cayman S. Impressive gains in performance and great sound. Read this topic:
I have Cargraphic sport headers, love the sound. I put in the straight pipe replacements for the cats for track season. One recommendation though, if you have the headers coated with Swain ceramic coating, do not have the cat portion of the header coated. The Swain material does a good job of reducing heat in the engine bay, but you need to let the material around the cats release as much heat as possible to promote longevity of the cat material and bonding agent inside the header tube that holds the cat material in place.
I have PSE and a Fabspeed X-pipe tip installed with these headers and I get compliments all the time at track days from people I don't know about how good my car sounds and what have I done to get the sounds.
As said previously, welcome to Texas! I’m running fabspeeds catless headers with the stock (non pse) exhaust. Definitely elevated the sound and really woke the car up from stock. Nice torque bump down low (3,500rpm) and I’m not sure there is much top end added, but geez the sound it makes now. I can only imagine PSE or another aftermarket exhaust would make it just that much better. Hope to see you and others at COTA later this year.
CarGraphics Sport Headers on a 2015 Boxster GTS with PSE. Exhaust otherwise stock. No ECU tune.
Thoughts:
At startup/idle more of a low-end (bass) rumble now.
Mildly louder when driving; more noticeable with PSE engaged (no surprise).
No drone.
No CEL
HP/torque was fairly non-linear to begin with (break seems to be 3500-4K rpm) but seems more pronounced now. I happen to like it but if flat HP/torque is more your thing, you might not.
Installation on jack stands was mild on the PITA meter. If you have a lift, or access to one, it's probably not bad at all.
If you're in Texas, suggest full race headers. I just added them, and love it. However, definitely not for the timid, it's goes from sporty sound to GT / cup car sounds. The exhaust you choose will definitely make a difference in level of drone. I have a FVD sport exhaust and it pairs great with my FS long tube race headers. A revised tune will bring it nicely together, Cobb's stg. 2 tune works great.
A couple of years ago, I added the Soul Performance exhaust on my 981 Spyder (which, BTW, still commands attention on the road). I had considered adding headers on at the time but recall there are issues with emissions in California. Now that I've moved to Texas, I don't think I will have those issues.
Admittedly, I'm no expert when it comes to understanding what headers will do from a performance perspective (other than looking at charts and seeing improvement). In fact, I lean on this forum for all of the expertise coming from those who have a passion (some call it insanely cult-like) for all things Porsche. To be honest, I'm much more of an audiophile. Adding that SOUL exhaust a couple of years ago made my driving experience 100% better. And even though exhaust tips don't have anything to do with sound (I think), adding the SOUL Satin Black tips a few months later just made the look overall look better. Do y'all (that's my adopted Texan accent) think performance headers would be a good addition? What are the drawbacks?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
DiabloBlanco, first off thank you very much for your business and joining the SOUL community. It's always a pleasure working with enthusiasts such as yourself, and we love ensuring that our fellow Porsche owners make an educated decision on their performance upgrades. Headers (and software) offer the best return on investment for performance improvement on the Porsche platform. If you couple headers with a software upgrade you can expect a solid 20-30hp improvement. Although this may not seem much compared to gains on turbocharged applications or large displacement engines, it is rather transformational to the powercurve on our cars. Where you see the most gains in the powercurve is going to shift a bit depending on the headers. Our street headers with cats will net more low end/mid range performance and has a smoother powercurve for stop and go acceleration conditions like what you would find on the street. Our competition headers will net the most overall gain across the powercurve, and are tailored to maximizing the mid range/high end of the powercurve as seen under enthusiastic driving and track use. They pull like a freight train from 3k to redline haha. The Competition Headers will need a tune to turn of the check engine light associated with running catless (O2 spacers are only so reliable), but you should tune that car anyway so that shouldn't necessarily be a drawback.
My cell is 484 883 6197 and I would love to have a more in depth chat about the different avenues you can pursue with your car and also what it will mean for the sound of your car. We can also chat a bit about some other low hanging fruit for track performance as you'll be hitting COTA, I know these cars very well and it would be great to connect with you
I also want to make this as clear as possible to everyone...We Have a Lifetime Warranty Our Products and This Includes Track Use! We even warranty the HJS cat cores in our street headers for track use for 3 years, given you don't use race or leaded fuel that destroys the cats. These are Porsches, they are meant to be on the track. We expect you to beat on our exhaust systems, and we have a strict no excuses/no BS customer service policy. Even for circumstances outside of warranty we will make sure the conclusion is fair for all parties and you are happy. You and your car deserve the best service and support, we will give you the best.
Here is some information on our relevant 981 headers for you to view. We do have 987.1 and 987.2 fitment as well.
DiabloBlanco, first off thank you very much for your business and joining the SOUL community. It's always a pleasure working with enthusiasts such as yourself, and we love ensuring that our fellow Porsche owners make an educated decision on their performance upgrades. Headers (and software) offer the best return on investment for performance improvement on the Porsche platform. If you couple headers with a software upgrade you can expect a solid 20-30hp improvement. Although this may not seem much compared to gains on turbocharged applications or large displacement engines, it is rather transformational to the powercurve on our cars. Where you see the most gains in the powercruve is going to shift a bit depending on the headers. Our street headers with cats will net more low end/mid range performance and has a smoother powercurve for stop and go acceleration conditions like what you would find on the street. Our competition headers will net the most overall gain across the powercurve, and are tailored to maximizing the mid range/high end of the powercurve as seen under enthusiastic driving and track use. They pull like a freight train from 3k to redline haha. The competition headers will need a tune to turn of the check engine light associated with running catless (O2 spacers are only so reliable), but you should tune that car anyway so that shouldn't necessarily be a drawback.
My cell is 484 883 6197 and I would love to have a more in depth chat about the different avenues you can pursue with your car and also what it will mean for the Sound of your car. We can also chat a bit about some other low hanging fruit for track performance as you'll be hitting COTA, I know these cars very well and it would be great to connect with you
I also want to make this as clear as possible to everyone...We Have a Lifetime Warranty Our Products and This Includes Track Use! We even warranty the HJS cat cores in our street headers for track use for 3 years, given you don't use race or leaded fuel that destroys the cats. These are Porsches, they are meant to be on the track. We expect you to beat on our exhaust systems, and we have a strict no excuses/no BS customer service policy. Even for circumstances outside of warranty we will make sure the conclusion is fair for all parties and you are happy. You and your car deserve the best service and support, we will give you the best.
Here is some information on our relevant 981 headers for you to view. We do have 987.1 and 987.2 fitment as well.
Thanks for all of the technical stuff! I admit I dont understand it all but believe you. Adding headers is my next step. Gotta find a way to put it on the birthday list!
03-06-2019, 05:25 PM
Would you recommend headers for the 981?
