Soul Performance Headers Review
12-07-2017, 03:19 PM
#1
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Soul Performance Headers Review
Soul Race Headers for 991.1S.
As many of you know, Soul had a spectacular sale last month. I actually have a very (can't stress very enough and its not my full time profession) small shop and have thought about carrying these products at the price point. Soul was absolutely fantastic to work with, communicated well and shipped promptly. Could not have asked for better service.
The shipping was fast and packing was done well and they included a free microfiber cloth which is a nice touch.
Upon inspection of the actual headers the matte finish is nice and the welds are reasonable - not a stack of dimes pretty but above average. There were some inherent marks on the piping that you can see in the pictures. Nothing major and should have no impact on the product's performance. There was some interesting welding on the tips of the O2 sensors that will hold but are not pretty at all(see pictures). One concern I had with these was the fact that the welds are overlapping and not butt welds. What this means is that there is some internal friction and interruption of air flow as the individual cylinder pipes enter the collector(See picture). Making this a smooth internal wall throughout would be a huge design improvement. My last observation worth noting for this product is the clearance once installed on the car - these actually sit lower than what I would like. Side note: These headers were actually going on a customer's car but with his car being lowered we put them on mine for this reason so we could test. I need Cats on my personal car so it's only a temporary home at this point. See in the pictures where the headers come down about an inch and a half lower than anything else, just behind the wheels.
Material: It's T304 stainless 16 gauge where I measured. Quality material and it'll last forever.
Sound: So the sound magnifies what is already there. Was hoping to put these on factory OEM PSE pipes but mine has a iPE catback. Combined, it is very GT3ish but doesn't climb as high and is louder - a lot louder with valves open but even with the catless headers, not much louder than before with the valves closed and very OEM like. Folks - if you want a higher pitched and very loud setup - this is the loudest and best sounding I've heard. Below ~4500 rpms its not so loud but when you hear that cam open up it's breathtaking to hear and experience.
Performance: Not what I was hoping for... I posted a thread of the before dyno and while the car remained strapped on the dyno, we installed the headers. There was a little smoothing out down low and slight gains by ~5HP/TQ in some low and mid range but where this product struggled was up top as the airflow increased and the welding method haunts the internal design. The lack of a smooth path for the air to flow is what keeps this product from making the gains we were expecting.
Fitment - could not have asked for an easier installation. The product bolted right in without any fuss. The only mild difficulty was getting the O2 bungs on with everything in the was and not using a lift. Easy beginner level DIY that could be done easily at home on ramps.
Overall: Look - this product is half the cost of anything else out there that it competes with. We all know that making big power on the #1 cars is a fools errand anyway. There is a little gain in the midrange but it drops off a very small amount up top. This would be a solid choice for the sound aspect but if you really want to squeeze out every HP possible then you have to spend 2x the money and get something else. I wish the clearance was a little better but it's not a big deal for most cars given they sit so close to where the wheels are. Given the price point, it is a very good value. This product is unfortunately average at best but the company is above average in every interaction. If you want to add a little more growl to your car, this is an excellent way to do it. With the O2 bungs there is no CEL and given everything is behind you - there is no smell during normal driving.
As many of you know, Soul had a spectacular sale last month. I actually have a very (can't stress very enough and its not my full time profession) small shop and have thought about carrying these products at the price point. Soul was absolutely fantastic to work with, communicated well and shipped promptly. Could not have asked for better service.
The shipping was fast and packing was done well and they included a free microfiber cloth which is a nice touch.
Upon inspection of the actual headers the matte finish is nice and the welds are reasonable - not a stack of dimes pretty but above average. There were some inherent marks on the piping that you can see in the pictures. Nothing major and should have no impact on the product's performance. There was some interesting welding on the tips of the O2 sensors that will hold but are not pretty at all(see pictures). One concern I had with these was the fact that the welds are overlapping and not butt welds. What this means is that there is some internal friction and interruption of air flow as the individual cylinder pipes enter the collector(See picture). Making this a smooth internal wall throughout would be a huge design improvement. My last observation worth noting for this product is the clearance once installed on the car - these actually sit lower than what I would like. Side note: These headers were actually going on a customer's car but with his car being lowered we put them on mine for this reason so we could test. I need Cats on my personal car so it's only a temporary home at this point. See in the pictures where the headers come down about an inch and a half lower than anything else, just behind the wheels.
Material: It's T304 stainless 16 gauge where I measured. Quality material and it'll last forever.
Sound: So the sound magnifies what is already there. Was hoping to put these on factory OEM PSE pipes but mine has a iPE catback. Combined, it is very GT3ish but doesn't climb as high and is louder - a lot louder with valves open but even with the catless headers, not much louder than before with the valves closed and very OEM like. Folks - if you want a higher pitched and very loud setup - this is the loudest and best sounding I've heard. Below ~4500 rpms its not so loud but when you hear that cam open up it's breathtaking to hear and experience.
Performance: Not what I was hoping for... I posted a thread of the before dyno and while the car remained strapped on the dyno, we installed the headers. There was a little smoothing out down low and slight gains by ~5HP/TQ in some low and mid range but where this product struggled was up top as the airflow increased and the welding method haunts the internal design. The lack of a smooth path for the air to flow is what keeps this product from making the gains we were expecting.
Fitment - could not have asked for an easier installation. The product bolted right in without any fuss. The only mild difficulty was getting the O2 bungs on with everything in the was and not using a lift. Easy beginner level DIY that could be done easily at home on ramps.
Overall: Look - this product is half the cost of anything else out there that it competes with. We all know that making big power on the #1 cars is a fools errand anyway. There is a little gain in the midrange but it drops off a very small amount up top. This would be a solid choice for the sound aspect but if you really want to squeeze out every HP possible then you have to spend 2x the money and get something else. I wish the clearance was a little better but it's not a big deal for most cars given they sit so close to where the wheels are. Given the price point, it is a very good value. This product is unfortunately average at best but the company is above average in every interaction. If you want to add a little more growl to your car, this is an excellent way to do it. With the O2 bungs there is no CEL and given everything is behind you - there is no smell during normal driving.
12-07-2017, 08:15 PM
#5
Nice review, comprehensive and to the point. To really see gains with these headers you're going to need to tune to take advantage of the available new flow. BTW, did you dyno right after fitment of the headers?
The merge collector, as you noted, looks to be a standard off the shelf product. The merge angles look less than ideal and even the runners enter at a different angle than the collector body.
The header also does not appear to have equal length runners. The combination of these two factors probably really impacts your top end performance. The marks your I believe you're referring to are just where the mandrel bender grasps the pipe when bending. They've obviously not been sanded down smooth after bending.
Again, as you've commented, my opinion of their products is the same. I do not have personal experience with their customer service, but the design of their products is seemingly done to a price points opposed to the optimal design. I won't go into detail as its not related to the thread topic, but one could argue theres a tradeoff for the price difference from its competitors. Either way, its definitely nice to have options available to us!
The merge collector, as you noted, looks to be a standard off the shelf product. The merge angles look less than ideal and even the runners enter at a different angle than the collector body.
The header also does not appear to have equal length runners. The combination of these two factors probably really impacts your top end performance. The marks your I believe you're referring to are just where the mandrel bender grasps the pipe when bending. They've obviously not been sanded down smooth after bending.
Again, as you've commented, my opinion of their products is the same. I do not have personal experience with their customer service, but the design of their products is seemingly done to a price points opposed to the optimal design. I won't go into detail as its not related to the thread topic, but one could argue theres a tradeoff for the price difference from its competitors. Either way, its definitely nice to have options available to us!
Last edited by ///M3THOD; 12-07-2017 at 08:35 PM.
12-07-2017, 08:52 PM
#6
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Nice review, comprehensive and to the point. To really see gains with these headers you're going to need to tune to take advantage of the available new flow. BTW, did you dyno right after fitment of the headers?
The merge collector, as you noted, looks to be a standard off the shelf product. The merge angles look less than ideal and even the runners enter at a different angle than the collector body.
The header also does not appear to have equal length runners. The combination of these two factors probably really impacts your top end performance. The marks your I believe you're referring to are just where the mandrel bender grasps the pipe when bending. They've obviously not been sanded down smooth after bending.
Again, as you've commented, my opinion of their products is the same. I do not have personal experience with their customer service, but the design of their products is seemingly done to a price points opposed to the optimal design. I won't go into detail as its not related to the thread topic, but one could argue theres a tradeoff for the price difference from its competitors. Either way, its definitely nice to have options available to us!
The merge collector, as you noted, looks to be a standard off the shelf product. The merge angles look less than ideal and even the runners enter at a different angle than the collector body.
The header also does not appear to have equal length runners. The combination of these two factors probably really impacts your top end performance. The marks your I believe you're referring to are just where the mandrel bender grasps the pipe when bending. They've obviously not been sanded down smooth after bending.
Again, as you've commented, my opinion of their products is the same. I do not have personal experience with their customer service, but the design of their products is seemingly done to a price points opposed to the optimal design. I won't go into detail as its not related to the thread topic, but one could argue theres a tradeoff for the price difference from its competitors. Either way, its definitely nice to have options available to us!
12-07-2017, 09:13 PM
#7
You may want to dyno the car after the ecu adapts in a hundred miles or so (if you're even concerned about it). I would expect you will see more gains. The car didn't have the chance to adapt before the runs which are probably resulting in lower than actual gains.
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12-08-2017, 07:21 PM
#8
I don't really mind them building w some cost optimization in mind. Correct me if I'm missing any obvious competitors but the closest priced product is Fabspeed, who have literally the worse reputation in the business, and they're almost 2x the price for the same if not worse quality. If you want to go further up from there you're looking at prices around 3x or higher (Kline, Akra maybe?) but possibly better materials (Inconel etc). When I was doing my research I saw quite a few shops making equal length long tube headers for the GT3 platform but not for the 991.1 Carrera.
12-08-2017, 11:10 PM
#9
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Agreed, ECUs usually do need adapt to hardware mods, but a tune would be even better.
I don't really mind them building w some cost optimization in mind. Correct me if I'm missing any obvious competitors but the closest priced product is Fabspeed, who have literally the worse reputation in the business, and they're almost 2x the price for the same if not worse quality. If you want to go further up from there you're looking at prices around 3x or higher (Kline, Akra maybe?) but possibly better materials (Inconel etc). When I was doing my research I saw quite a few shops making equal length long tube headers for the GT3 platform but not for the 991.1 Carrera.
I don't really mind them building w some cost optimization in mind. Correct me if I'm missing any obvious competitors but the closest priced product is Fabspeed, who have literally the worse reputation in the business, and they're almost 2x the price for the same if not worse quality. If you want to go further up from there you're looking at prices around 3x or higher (Kline, Akra maybe?) but possibly better materials (Inconel etc). When I was doing my research I saw quite a few shops making equal length long tube headers for the GT3 platform but not for the 991.1 Carrera.
12-09-2017, 08:06 AM
#11
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Agreed, ECUs usually do need adapt to hardware mods, but a tune would be even better.
I don't really mind them building w some cost optimization in mind. Correct me if I'm missing any obvious competitors but the closest priced product is Fabspeed, who have literally the worse reputation in the business, and they're almost 2x the price for the same if not worse quality. If you want to go further up from there you're looking at prices around 3x or higher (Kline, Akra maybe?) but possibly better materials (Inconel etc). When I was doing my research I saw quite a few shops making equal length long tube headers for the GT3 platform but not for the 991.1 Carrera.
I don't really mind them building w some cost optimization in mind. Correct me if I'm missing any obvious competitors but the closest priced product is Fabspeed, who have literally the worse reputation in the business, and they're almost 2x the price for the same if not worse quality. If you want to go further up from there you're looking at prices around 3x or higher (Kline, Akra maybe?) but possibly better materials (Inconel etc). When I was doing my research I saw quite a few shops making equal length long tube headers for the GT3 platform but not for the 991.1 Carrera.
12-10-2017, 02:42 AM
#12
When I heard your first dyno (pre headers) I honestly didn't think a car could make a better sound. Then the video (with headers) proved that wrong. Sounds like a full fledged race car, yet refined. I had to keep re-listening as the cam opening is that intoxicating. I'll probably stick with just my X Pipe as I don't want to mess with emissions or the cat forward piping, but I'd say it's worth it for the sound alone.
12-10-2017, 08:51 PM
#13
Good write up, concise to the point and honest. As a general observation a lot of the Porsche after-market exhausts and headers look great on the outside. However, as you rightly pointed out - thats not what matters. The shape, size and internal joints are critical to performance - something as simple as a poorly formed weld can cause turbulent gas flow and thus can act as an effective choke point leading to a reduction in performance.
Notice the shape of Porsche headers and how they taper away from the ports - that looks like a very smooth design.
Notice the shape of Porsche headers and how they taper away from the ports - that looks like a very smooth design.
Last edited by randr; 12-10-2017 at 11:04 PM.
12-11-2017, 01:35 PM
#14
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When I heard your first dyno (pre headers) I honestly didn't think a car could make a better sound. Then the video (with headers) proved that wrong. Sounds like a full fledged race car, yet refined. I had to keep re-listening as the cam opening is that intoxicating. I'll probably stick with just my X Pipe as I don't want to mess with emissions or the cat forward piping, but I'd say it's worth it for the sound alone.
