Is porting the standard headers gonna be any good or is it more benefical to just buy decent after market headers.? currently considering the first option to save a bit of cash.

 

Depends on what your mods for which is better ?? In the long run and with mapping aftermarket is always better

 

Aftermarket manifolds (I'm not a Yank!) will cost more, and the cheap ones are very prone to problems (cracking or leaks), using ported standard items is more robust.

People get very good results with ported manifolds, see the article on Harveys website comparing ported to aftermarket, they are also a much smaller volume than fabricated so don't increase the lag noticeably over the standard part, however for ultimate big turbo big power tubular is the way to go.

Remember also the bewildering array of aftermaket parts from shorties (rare) through semi shorties to equal length ones, each of those in turn increases lag but also peak power potential, we all want more power but at some point many want to stop as the power increase is offset by loosing driveability.

Simon