Likely going to buy a set of X51 headers but noticed these on "that" aution site.

I'm still almost certain that I'll go for the X51 but was just curious if anyone knew anything about these. They've been selling for only low $200's. The primary pipes look a bit long to me and the quality is probably lacking....I'm just curious though....

1999-2007 Porsche 996 and 997 including the GT3

Headers : 1 3/4" piping diamater Mandrel bend headers, merge collector, lightweight.
Direct Bolt-on , no mods necessary , made for your 996.
Complete Headers .(SS is Stainless Steel in sus304 meterial)
Headers Gaskets included.
extra 30+ HP increases (obviously False)
Extreme high tech Tig welds
original picture presented
1 year warranty

Seller says they are manufactured by AUTOBAC.....I thought AUTOBAC was some big wharehouse in Cali which caters to the boy-racer crowd. ????

 

If the price sounds too good to be true it probably is. These are on eBay, right? No dynos or supporting documentation to substantiate their claim.

Suncoast is selling headers for $799 (also on eBay) and from the research I did I decided to go that way. Seems to be a more proven source.

I am very happy with my purchase but remember it is only one part of the puzzle.

 

Look at the headers from Suncoast. Great quality and fitment, I was impressed.

 

Great minds think alike!

 

Just curious...what do you think you are going to get with new headers?...mad power? If they are longer than stock....this will lose power.

 

I don't remember saying I was expecting any kind of "mad power". Your condecending tone indicates your assumption that I know less than I actually do about these things. Once completed, my project will include more than just headers and even so, I still dont expect large gains. In addition, not sure if you've seen the stock 997 headers but the design sucks, the merge collector is crap and the primary pipes are the same size as the ones on the old 3.4 996.

On a side note, I see you've had UMW work on your car. Kevin has done some extensive software maps on my last 2 cars. I have had multiple in-depth discussions with him relating to gains in naturally aspirated cars and have a good understanding of such. Hence, maybe your tone was not warranted?

Obviously I don't have the ability to obtain gains like you do with your Turbo, however, I enjoy tweeking my car and have a rather decent understanding of the changes I make. Asking a question on RL does not mean someone is ignorant.

 

hey Andrew, i dont think he is selling them with no reserve anymore. also, I think he was bidding his auctions up and letting them go for around 200.
i bid on 3 of them, won a set and then he sent me a 2nd offer for the other 2...
anyway the merge collector is not the smoothest inside but it looks much better than the stock headers, and from the pictures it looks exactly like the suncoast headers. i have seen pics of the suncoast merge collector and it looks pretty similar.
the 996 guys have been talking about these headers for a while, just search ebay headers and you can find some experiences, and dynos. one guy's dyno showed that he lost power even though he felt like it made an improvement. i think the 996 stock headers werent as bad as the 997s though.

at least it comes with all the parts needed to install and is a 3rd of the cost of the x51 headers.
i havent had a chance to install them yet, but will let you guys know. i will likely not dyno the car though since i really dont care if i gain power or not.

 

What the hell is "mad power" ???

 

hey Andrew, sorry i just checked ebay and noticed he still is starting at 99 cent with no reserve. i honestly dont think you can go wrong at that price, if you dont like them just sell them for around the same price since that is what they are going for anyway. its not like buying 1400 headers from a big tuner then getting lucky if you sell them for half price after using them.
4thporsche "mad power" could mean 2 things, you either get so much power that you go crazy or you get little or even lose power and go mad...
if you were serious about the question, just means "alot of power" or this... http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...term=mad+power

by the way, i went back into my closet to check out these headers and am still very impressed with the quality , the inside of the collector didnt look as smooth as the z-tek ( those are the cleanest i have seen in pics) but when i touched inside it was pretty smooth.

 

Power that comes from madness. I get mad power from a good waxing...helps with aerodynamics.

 

I went with the X51 headers recently for about $550 at Sunset Porsche (Oregon- 1 800 346-0182--Jeff) and noticed that they are a form fit function direct replacement for the stock 3.8 headers which I just don't like the 'looks' of (poor, irrational statement). I may be giving up some midrange torque because of the larger diameter of the tubes but I can't perceive it at all when driving. I wound up with a net weight gain of about 1 pound due to the larger sizes of the pipes. In order to property exploit the larger X51 headers you really need to open up some other things like the intake diamter as well as the heads, but I don't want to get into too much on this. I'm pleased for now with the X51 headers.

 

Just to make sure I understand this..........spending $550.00 on X51 headers will not give me any discernable power gain but possibly a midrange torque loss and I will gain 1lb worth of weight. But the car will look better when you put it on a lift and look up the tail..?

 

There are some additional benefits in power production but won't go into all that here.

 

i think everybody here knows that most of us just like to mod our cars, sometimes it make absolutely no sense but we do it.
if the part is incredibly cheap (like $500 for x51 headers compared to $1000+ aftermarket ones) it makes it that much easier...

 

The 997 non-S has a much improve header over the 997S header. Actually, switching the 997 non-S headers with X51 headers is a waste of time and money. HOWEVER, I would swap the 997S stock headers for the X51 headers in a heart beat.