This is the complete run-down on this EB Stores $70 header I got off of E-bay plus a comparison of the other brands.
This EB Stores design is a 4:2:1 and looks like it is a rip-off of HKS or Tsudo.
It is made of stainless steel and has a sturdy flange and piping.
The welds on the outside of the pipes and flange are actually quite good.
There are some welds made on the inside of the pipe to the flange that I do not like.
They look sloppy and they did not do much to smooth or even them out.
The flange is slightly warped.
One of the pipes are not centered as good as the other 3 onto the flange.
Furthermore, there is a glob of weld on this particular pipe to compensate for their misalignment.
On the inside of the pipes I have reached down into them and felt lots of burrs and connecting points of the pipe segment. These are not going to help with flow...
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All of the above aside.
Is it a crap header?
No, but it is a project.
But when you pay $70 for a header you better expect this.
If there is a header for the same price or less that is perfect, please let me know.
Honestly, the warpage and small hinderances of flow are not much and this header could be installed out of the box and work fine. Others have used liquid gasket along with the standard gasket on slightly warped flanges and haven't had leaks. I have had a few members PM me with this info, and it was appreciated.
For me, I want it to be fixed up as best I can before having it installed.
I currently have taken a high powered drill with stone attachments and ground down enough weld to even up all the ports.
I am going to get an extension to get into the pipe and do more grinding on the burrs and the excess pipe pieces sticking out on the inside.
When I am done, I will first use a steel buffing attachment, then a brass one.
When it is all done, I may have to have one spot welded on the outside where the misaligned pipe is.
It is doubtful, but if I grind away enough material, I may have a leak.
Having a blob of weld on the outside doesn't bother me, having an uneven flow in one of the pipes does.
I compared a stock manifold and the port differences are immense. I am talking the original manifold looks like the ports are almost 40% smaller. I doubt these small imperfections at the flange weld wise is really going to slow the flow down even slightly.
I will of course have the flange machined flat, which is the first step of this process where I will be putting more money into this header. I hear it takes less than a half hour and they charge $85 an hour. I can deal with $42.50 to get this perfect.
I am tempted to have this header armor coated. There is a local shop that does this, but I think it is like $150 to do this. I am sure that I will get this done, as I do not want the header to corrode and it will also put out less heat.
I am going to buy a header wrap for this, and the armor coat will prevent the wrap from corroding this header on the outside.
So basically, you pay $70 for the header, $35 for shipping, $42.50 to have some machining done, and $150 to coat it.
That is $297.50 total, but mine comes with the flex joint downpipe.
In comparison I looked for other headers on E-bay and found a 4:1 header non-coated by Pacesetter for $168. It was only $15 shipping (yes I got ripped of with high shipping cost paying double this)
There was also another 4:1 header but armor coated from Pacesetter and is $305 and they ship for free!
I hear Pacesetter requires cutting and then welding on a joint that they do include. So during the install, there will be a little more money involved. I do not believe they include the flex joint or downpipe, so that is more money.
I see the OBX headers out there too, and they want $195 plus $32 shipping. There is no flex joint included here either and it will cost around $50 at the install. It is $227 and the extra $50 during the install.
Tsudo's 4:2:1 costs $150 plus $45 shipping (record high price in shipping) so it is $195.
I chose the 4:2:1 because I want more lows and mids.
The premise is, if I need to speed on the freeway, I will probably be losing my license.
On the inner city, pulling out into traffic or needing to pass the slow car is legit.
I am not building a race car here, just something to give my wife's car an edge.
2003 Sunfire with 2 1/4 inch turbo muffler, 2 1/4 piping, 2 1/2 inch resonator, a 2 1/4 inch catalytic converter, 2 1/2 inch down-pipe, a 4:2:1 RK Sports 'clone' header, E-bay strut brace, ground wire kit and an AEM true cold air intake NOPI edition.
the only thing I will say, do NOT get the header wrap, once it's armor coated, I'm hoping ceramic, you won't be needing hte header wrap.
Thanks, that is good to know.
2003 Sunfire with 2 1/4 inch turbo muffler, 2 1/4 piping, 2 1/2 inch resonator, a 2 1/4 inch catalytic converter, 2 1/2 inch down-pipe, a 4:2:1 RK Sports 'clone' header, E-bay strut brace, ground wire kit and an AEM true cold air intake NOPI edition.
Nice info! i was wondering what the quality of the cheaper eco header out there would be like and now i know! Thanks
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94 Honda Del Sol
I finally am done with the porting on my EB Stores 4:2:1 header.
All ports are even and match to the gasket.
What is good, is that it did not grind down enough to create a leak in which I would have to have weld added to the outside.
The area where the 4 turns into 2 pipes, I dremilled out all the burrs and the ridge where the second flange now has no step to it.
All I need is to have the flange machined flat, then drop it off to get armor coated.
2003 Sunfire with 2 1/4 inch turbo muffler, 2 1/4 piping, 2 1/2 inch resonator, a 2 1/4 inch catalytic converter, 2 1/2 inch down-pipe, a 4:2:1 RK Sports 'clone' header, E-bay strut brace, ground wire kit and an AEM true cold air intake NOPI edition.
