Che header

[Anonymous]

Well guy's it's s**t or bust time, I've just ordered the SP de-cat pipe which should be ready by Xmas plus the new manifold should be finished by then as well.

Then back to WRC for a new dyno, which will either leave a big smile on my face or a big hole in my wallet  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

Thanks
Rob

[Chris]

Right guys - I've just PM'd Che asking if he still has these and how much they are going to cost.
I also asked about the possibility of a group buy.

I'll keep you posted.

  s:D s:D

woohoo and indeed woopy do!!   s:D s:D  
Cheers for that - now i've just gotta not spend the money over xmas...   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[dreambackup]

just to keep you on the edge of your seats waiting for the next Che shipping...

mine is in, the sound is great but more important is the torque gain. from stock straight to Che is a great improvement, that you are really able to feel.

my precats are like new but at least I won't have to worry about them anymore...

[Anonymous]

UPDATE

What I wrote:
Hi che,
Simon P from MR2ROC.CO.UK.
Our club recently ran a dyno shoot out event at Silverstone racetrack, England. A number of our members had your replacement spyder header/manifold fitted.
On the day these cars showed some excellent power gains. Compared to stock the che header was making around an extra 9-10bhp!
Needless to say the club was very impressed.
I now have a number of members who are interested in buying your header for their own cars.
Are you still making these? If so how much would they cost shipped to the UK. finally numbers allowing (I currently have 5 confirmed) would a group buy be negotiable?

kind regards
Simon Prowse
MR2ROC , UK.

Che's Reply
Hi Simon,

Excellent News, but currently these Headers are back order. My Next shipment should be in January 2007, FYI I will have the exhaust & Down Pipe available in next 2-3 weeks. These should be a excellent add on to to the Header, I will keep you post with update.

For the U.K. Member GB I can do $265.00 Shipped per Header.

Please e-mail me if you have any questions, Thank you !


So it looks like this will be after Christmas.

If anyone is still interested can you register your interest over in the group buy section where I'm starting a new thread.

[Ernie Ball]

Got my header yesterday and now have a few questions for the resident gurus.

1) I notice that on the flange where the pipes attach to the head, the openings are wider than the pipes themselves.  In other words, there's a little 1-2mm edge of pipe visible around the whole circumference.  I know one guy on spyderchat dremeled this down with a carbide bit.  Do you think that that's really worth the trouble?

2) Related question: it's been pointed out that the second pipe has an apparently unnecessary weld about 4cm from the flange.  There's definitely an edge inside the pipe that I can feel with my finger.  Is this worth grinding down too, in your opinion?

3) How much of a concern is the fact that the 1st (or is it the 4th) pipe is much longer than the others?  My understanding of performance headers is that you, ideally, want all 4 pipes to be the same length.  Che has posted in a few places that they are the same length, but this simply isn't the case.  Nor is it on the TRD header of which this is a copy.

Thanks for any info.

[markiii]

rather depends on what you bought it for?

but since your already decatted I assume it was purchased for performance?

so

1. probably not from the manifold alone perspective, if your chipping and mapping accordingly yes

2. yes

3.  Ideally they shoul be equal length but in practice I doubt you'd notice much difference.  That said Rob did with his zero manifold

[Ernie Ball]

Mark,

Another question: remember when we (OK, credit where credit is due: Stu is the one who donned the full body condom) gutted my precats and, in the process rounded off a manifold bolt that wouldn't budge?  Obviously I'm going to have to get that off in order to put the che header on.  Given my fairly obvious mechanical limitations, is there something else I should try or should I just hand the whole thing over to an exhaust shop and let them deal with it?

[markiii]

I reckon a 4 inch angle grinder would solve it

shame we didn't have one at teh time

[Anonymous]

Got my header yesterday and now have a few questions for the resident gurus.

1) I notice that on the flange where the pipes attach to the head, the openings are wider than the pipes themselves.  In other words, there's a little 1-2mm edge of pipe visible around the whole circumference.  I know one guy on spyderchat dremeled this down with a carbide bit.  Do you think that that's really worth the trouble?

2) Related question: it's been pointed out that the second pipe has an apparently unnecessary weld about 4cm from the flange.  There's definitely an edge inside the pipe that I can feel with my finger.  Is this worth grinding down too, in your opinion?

3) How much of a concern is the fact that the 1st (or is it the 4th) pipe is much longer than the others?  My understanding of performance headers is that you, ideally, want all 4 pipes to be the same length.  Che has posted in a few places that they are the same length, but this simply isn't the case.  Nor is it on the TRD header of which this is a copy.

Thanks for any info.

Mark is correct in what he's saying, if you want performance then the Che is not going to give you a great deal.

I've had the benefit of fitting the Che and to be honest it did what I wanted at the time, removed the pre-cats and gave a slight performance increase, but this was combined with a performance exhaust and a K&N panel filter.

To answer your points above:

1. Can't do a great deal as you need to increase the diameter of the whole pipe, the Zero manifold is fitted with 42mm pipe instead of the 38mm which Che uses. This allows the gases to flow a lot better.

2. The smoother inside the better, the collectors on the Zero are knife edge sharpe (this is where to two pipes come together) to help the flow of the gases - any restrictions will cause problems.

3. All the pipes should be equal, this stops un-equal flow which means when you fit a Chip or a Power FC you can get a better tuned engine.

I think Roger proved that the combination of the size of pipe and tube lengths that the Che as will work against you when you also fit a de-cat pipe, he lost 4 BHP against the previous test which had a standard cast manifold (Pre-cats removed) fitted using the same de-cat pipe from SP.  

People have experienced different results over time, it's all about having ago, I think its a case of more luck than judgement  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Rob

[Anonymous]

As above and in answer to Shaun's post on the GB thread - mine also has the weld line on the 2nd pipe - only really noticable since it's been fitted.

You could smooth the inside a little if you like.

Myself I'm very happy as it is despite it's imperfections

- for £135 I've got a 6bhp gain (I've not found another product othering more bhp per pound)
Undoubtedly the Che manifold is not manufactured to the same tolerences of a custom hand crafted unit but then again it's a 1/4 of the price.

It does it's job - it gets rid of the precats, vastly improved my engine note and gave me a useful boost in power.

My power modding is now over - spending lots of money chasing those elusive NA horses is not for me - I'm happy to spend a few hundred for a reasonable gain - anything else and my next step Turbo,

[Anonymous]

As above and in answer to Shaun's post on the GB thread - mine also has the weld line on the 2nd pipe - only really noticable since it's been fitted.

Does this mean you are running without the top heat sheild? -If so any problems?  I'd worry about the 02 sesnors leads getting toasted  s:?: :?: s:?:  

You could smooth the inside a little if you like.

Myself I'm very happy as it is despite it's imperfections

- for £135 I've got a 6bhp gain (I've not found another product othering more bhp per pound)
Undoubtedly the Che manifold is not manufactured to the same tolerences of a custom hand crafted unit but then again it's a 1/4 of the price.

It does it's job - it gets rid of the precats, vastly improved my engine note and gave me a useful boost in power.

I agree, great VFM.  Just thought this weld was unneccessary - maybe its cost cutting i.e. they're using some 40mm offcuts to save on material

[Anonymous]

Yeah - I don't really know why the weld is there? Why not just use a longer pipe? ??!

My heatshield was orignally off as I am going to respray it prior to refitting. This hasn't had time to happen. The 02 sensors and their leads and all surrounding ancillaries are absolutely fine. I figured there are a lot of turbos out there that are throwing off a lot more heat than my NA and they don't melt (well not all - markiii might have something to say on that  s:P s:P  )

Refitting a heat shield is still probably a good idea - when mine was on the rolling road at full wang the che header was glowing orange!  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

[Anonymous]

I think you will find that the reason for the weld is purely to do with the lengths of pipe supplied to the manufacturer, normally they come in 6 metre random lengths and with the price of stainless being so high these days, the old term "waste not want not" plays an important part when putting these manifolds together.

Rob

[Anonymous]

6 metre random lengths

 s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

This sounds as much Chinese as the header is   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[Anonymous]

6 metre random lengths

 s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

This sounds as much Chinese as the header is   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Sorry work head on  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:    s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  , basically standard pipe comes in lenghts of approximately 6 metre + , I think with the volume that Che has ordered they will use every available bit of pipe to make up any short pieces, typical of a fabrication shop. Nothing to worry about really.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Rob