Im looking to buy an exhaust manifold for my 97 sti 3. Ive seen some on fleebay ( which im obviously going to avoid ) and notice that some are equal length and others are unequal length.

Just wondering what difference ( if any ) this makes and your thoughts on which to go for.

Thanks as always, Matt.......

 

Here are two that i've seen on fleebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUBARU-IMPREZA...item255d64532b


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Subaru-Impreza...item1c16ddc6c7

 

What's the spec of the car ??

 

V9 spec C bottom end, motec M48 pro, VF 28 ( 25psi ), hks front mount, uprated coil packs, walbro, miltec exhaust with de-cats, hi flow induction kit with cold air feed,
etc etc etc.

 

550 cc injectors too and i meant milltek not miltec, lol

 

General rule of thumb is that equal length Headers will produce better Torque and BHP. The whole unequal thing is inefficent in it's design (But does help to produce the Scooby Burble)

I've got Perrin equal length Headers and was told by my tuner that they were as good if not better than the usual GT Spec design (Flame suit at the ready) I'd persoanlly steer well clear of the Fleabay rubbish and look out for a decent set that are not prone to cracking or splitting.

 

i have the second set listed on here and cant fault em heat wrapped in thermotec . only thing i would say is i used 2 gaskets from headers to uppipe joint and hold pipe over with screwdriver to get the perfect fit , mine sounds lovely with these and have been on 4months with no problems at all

 

Thanks chaps. Not really sure what to do now. Might try one of the cheap ones and see how i get on. Would be good if somebody on here had a decent second hand one for sale though

 

Yes they give you a good 6 month warranty a good set will be a fair bit longer than that.

Tony

 

Generally you get what you pay for.
There are a lot of cheap header sets around and a lot of people who wish they had bought better headers in the first place.
Main problems are splitting at the welds.
How thick is the material? A recent set I saw were very light and made from very thin tube.
It is more important to buy a quality product than whether it is equal length or unequal. The difference is not signifigant in my experience.
On a VF28 you may find that tubular headers are a step backwards compared with ported headers and matched uppipe.