Exhaust Headers

Well, I finally got my "better quality and fit" Brospeed headers today. They are a nice quality header in design and materials, but they f..ked up when they sent me the headers. The rear EGR port that's on the header is a male port, and not female. WTF is up with that ? I was soooo mad. So me, Eddie and Ralph at CB performance went on a mission in search of adapters. Went to a couple of different hardwared stores w/o any luck. The threads on the male port was metric which didn't make things easy.

So it was decided after much discussion to plug the EGR port on the EGR tube and cap the male port on the header. Don't laugh, but Ed used duct tape to cover the end of the EGR and then put a hose clamp over the tape to keep it secure. For the header, it was a little harder. Ralph used a 3/8 tap and made his own hole in the center of the male port on the header. He then took a 3/8" bolt and screwed it in and tightened it down. Hey, it's ghetto, but it works for now. I'm going to call Brospeed on Monday and see what's up.

The headers make a huuuugggee difference in throttle response. They would work even better if my cat wasn't all messed up. We found out that the cat was almost completely plugged after pulling off the flex pipe. I couldn't believe it. So I'm off to my g/f's friends' muffler shop on Monday to have a test pipe made (hope he'll do it) and a Random Technology High Flow cat put on. I want to see how the car runs with a good cat, and no cat at all. I should see a huge difference in power with the way the stock cat is all plugged up. 8Feb99

Hotshot Gen III Headers

I've ran 15.1s in my car before the HS Headers, and then after the headers 15.1s again. I've got ALOT more torque now, and i can't seem to get all that power stuck to the ground. My speed is a bit higher though. I'll try and find the Time slips. I'm running Yoko A540s ... and they SUCK ! Hey with a 350 wear rating, I'll never wear these tires out, so ... guess i'm stuck with them for a while.

Here's the Run-down of the dyno runs....

ACTUAL HP/TORQUE

Best run Before:

HP: 143.7 Torque: 138.2

Best run After:

HP: 151.0 Torque: 150.1

The Headers are the Hotshot Gen IIIs with JetHot coating.

Comparision of the Hotshot and Brospeed headers: 17Aug98

Picked up my car from Bosal with a 10 page report - all the pictures and the dyno testing report will be posted on my webpage soon, see http://www.mtco.com/~westcj/Brian/bosal.htm. Quick summary: +10 HP, +7 lb-ft!

They tested my car in

1. As received condition (Hennessey exhaust, my K&N, homemade airbox/scoop assembly, etc.)
2. they removed the Hennessey and installed their Brospeed Full catback system
3. installed my Brospeed headers (with my Hennessey reinstalled). Lastly,
4. they removed my homemade airbox and ran with just open K & N filter.

I was watching the K & N data in real time. No surprise - I lost 3 HP with it open!!! You NEED to enclose your K&Ns!!!

All conditions were at least 4 runs with a cool down period in between runs. Quoted data is the average of said runs.

General Power sweeps were performed on a Clayton electric chassis dynamometer which actually MEASURES wheel torque via a calibrated torque meter. This is much more accurate than the INFERRED calculation method that DynoJets employ. Clayton dynos = $160,000 vs. DynoJet = 20,000. All data were corrected to SAE J1349 specs. Radiator fans were run continuously.

Hennessey vs. Brospeed Mufflers First off, the Hennessey rules in power. Their system showed a net loss of only 0.2 to 2.2% ( 1 to 2 lb-ft) from my Hennessey muffler although they were considerably quieter. They did not test a stock muffler. Their Brospeed system has a 3-pass muffler design (about 2/3 the size of the stock can) with twin tips vs. the straight through design for the Hennessey. I had them measure the exhaust sound level near the Hennessey tip at 6000 RPM WOT = a whopping 105+ decibels! It would also be louder at lower RPMs where there is a more bassy note.

Their system is a true cat back system - you get a new mandrel bend pipe all the way back to the muffler. Everything is all stainless steel.

Brospeed headers vs. As delivered Gains in HP are +1.5% (+1 HP) at 2500 RPM to +9.7% (+9.6 HP) at 7050 RPM

Torque gains are +1.8 lb-ft at 2500 RPM to +7 lb-ft at 7050 RPM

The car is louder now with the header installed. A louder burble at idle and a slightly higher frequency sound throughout the rest of the WOT powerband as compared with the sound before the install.

The car pulls stronger now especially in the 6000+ range where before it would quickly die. This is obvious given the 10 HP gain at that speed.

Fit and finish was perfect. The technician who out them on had no problems installing them. Even the EGR fitting lined-up! Their catback system was also very high quality. BTW, all parts are manufactured in South Africa.

So I highly recommend their headers and exhaust systems - very professional and they proved it on my car. Remind you that they make exhaust systems for OEM applications too. They know what they are doing. Next week they are repeating the tests on a friend of mine's 1996 PGT. They need to prototype the current headers to work with the 96+.

Bosal/Brospeed 1 (800) 631-7271 Strano Performance Parts at 1 (888) 6STRANO

(thanks to BY)