Harvey Ported & Wrapped Headers? Opinions Please
 

Hi guys,

I've just bought some ported and wrapped headers from Harvey, and I'm wondering what others who have bought them or had them on their cars thought?

Please be fair, constructive and not abusive, I don't want this thread to be removed because of any inappropriate comments.

Well, you've bought them now... shouldn't you have asked this beforehand?

Or have you got them and they are not what you hoped?

He's relatively local to me and a lot of people over on TTS rate him very highly. Not dealt with him personally.

[QUOTE=Mikkel;8188431]

have you got them and they are not what you hoped?
QUOTE]

Pretty much somes it up.

I've not had them fitted yet, and they may impress the nuts of me. But once I've fitted them I doubt I'll be able to return them.

As you say alot of people do talk very highly, and I did look into the headers but only on Harveys Website. Before I commit as it were, I thought I best ask about.

One of the Forester guys has just fitted a set to his TTB (so JDM WRX Wagon engine) says it feels better at the top end, revving out better, and slightly earlier spool and a little less lag.

Simon

I dont have them, but Im confident that youll be more than happy with them and Harvey Smith is a top bloke.

^^what he said :)

Like many things, on their own you may feel a small gain in spool-up and a bit more top-end. Used as part of a more comprehensive conversion, they will work well as part of the "team" Getting noticable improvements in performance is an expensive business. Certainly worth getting if you plan further mods. in the near future.

JohnD

I have them fitted. I also made other upgrades at the same time so cannot be specific about what difference the headers made but am convinced they helped. Harvey is also a great guy to deal with and offers excellent service.

I agree I got loads of advise from Harvey all very insightful.

I've got a fair good set up at the moment reaching 330bhp, and I got the headers to combat a late spool problem as I was experiencing.

Thing is, nowI've got the headers I'm just not convinced they can do what it says on the tin.

The porting is nothing special, and so on. It seems to me I've paid £400 for a bit of DEi heat wrap and a half done porting job.

As I said I've not had them fitted and so I may well be very impressed, but I'm not seeing a £400 product in front of me.

Id suggest speaking to Harvey Smith about your concerns.

I have dropped Harvey a line, but he is rather unwell at the moment, and I don't want to drop any problem on his lap.

I've had a chat with his partner and she has been very understanding, and offered me a full refund. But before I accept it, I wanted to make sure I was just being a wally.

I'm going to Special Scoobies tomorrow to get them checked out and see what they think.

Let us know what happens then mate. These kind of threads are invaluable in helping people make informed decisions before buying. We aren't all expert tuners after all eh :)

Id give Harvey the benefit of the doubt until you can either speak to him, or others with a similar spec and the same ported manifolds.

Simon

I dont see how you could dismiss the headers performance without actually trying them and seeing them work?. Form over function or function over form. I suspect it would be the later.

I'm not dismissing them, but I've bought enough performance parts over the years for Escort RS Cosworth to Supras, from BMW's to Evos, and the quailty just doesn't tell me these are worth £400.

As i said I may fit them and be very very impressed, and I'm not bad mouthing Harvey for a second as he has been very helpful.

But I don't beleive these headers are worth this amount of money. I'm going to get them fitted tomorrow and see what occurrs. I may be very wrong.

All I want to say is that you suggest in your replies, that you researched what you were going to get for your money from Harvey's website, but are now concerned they are not what was advertised on there?
If you do have concerns then I would put forward your argument for the porting not being up to the standard you expected. Harvey is meticulous in his quality of workmanship and his advice and reputation is second to none. I am sure he wouldn't hesitate to put things right if you were not happy :thumb:

Having been on Scoobynet for quite a number of years and met Harvey on several occasions my opinion is that he is as honest as the day is long......and is prepared to defend that in a court of Law :D

I'm just not sure what you have bought ?? I had an exchange set of OEM newage headers ported and wrapped a few years ago (high quality) for a quarter of the price you have paid !!

It sounds to me that you have bought something brand new and not OEM modified as your post suggests.

any links to what you have ??

Cheers :D

Shaun

I have just had my headers ported and an up pipe just like Harvey's custom made, so much the same. Very impressed spool improved reduce lag, holds boost better top end. Had a set of tubular on 6 weeks before these and removed them to get my own ported. Best thing I ever i did, totally wrong on my TD04.

Ported headers and good uppipe is the way forward mate. Have had standard, tubular and now ported in the last 6 weeks so am being really honest with you.

Just fit them mate you will be impressed - depending on your spec though, The uppipe does up the price a lot though mate - did you get that as well?

Would have gone straight to Harvey if I had know what I know now. Harvey seems a great guy, and really tried to help me when the tubulkar headers were on. I would have took him up on his generous offer but was too far away for me to go and could not get time off work, so had to get it sorted myself.

Harvey is good man - just enjoy them mate - or sell them before you put them on the car.

I was under the impression that a oner exchange was more like it, with wrapping on top...

Simon....what's a "oner" ? :D

Shaun

i am a mechanic by trade and i have just ported my equal length headers,well i say ported i have matched the head to manifold inlets and the uppipe to turbo inlet,also have heat wraped them,seem to have given a noticable diffrence on the road,not knocking anyones work but £400 does sound abit pricey,cant see how a standard header that goes straight from 2 into 1 out of the head on either side can flow as well as a set of headers that have there own pipe/pipes

Millwrx

As I have posted I think the £400 seems to be for a set of brand new headers and not a set of ported OEM jobbies :)

I ran a set of harvey OEM ported newage headers at 325 BHP LOL

Shaun

Why not wait till you have spoken to Harvey before fitting? Is it the only oppotunity you will have? if so fair enough, but why take the risk of fitting, then being told you cant give them back for a refund.
I have ported headers on mine and noticed a diff straight away.(not done by Harvey) so im sure you will notice something if you have the matched up pipe with it to.
Ive never bought anything from Harvey but he still took the time to write 4 long emails to me, giving me advice and at no stage tried to sell me goods. Thats great service in my books

Speak to him mate. I'm sure this will be resolved without any issues.

Good luck mate and let us know how you get on if they go on:thumb:

ahh right,i see,:)

I'm under the impresion that the Harvey headers make use of the orginal Impreza header design. Just improve on it with better port matching and flowing - like it was supposed to do from the design, but lost when mass-produced.

That is to say, there was a reason why the original Impreza headers were designed in their particular shape (excluding the obvious packaging reasons). So the principal of improving it is to make it as close to blueprint specification. By that I mean remove all the manufacturing defects and machining irregularities that is often found in mass-manufactured castings.

Its a good rpoven design. If not, otherwise one would have to ask why not? Subaru could have used equal length headers on the older cars, as its entirely possible to do so (at no real cost difference IMO), but chose not to. A small exhaust shop or specialist tuner may say differently and give plenty of their own answers, but their expertise is alot more limited to that of a multimillion pound company.

IMO this is something that should of been discussed with Harvey given him the chance to answer any of your questions or concerns before being discussed openly on this board.
Ive had a few dealings with Harvey the first being answering many questions i had when i bought my first WRX 3 years ago and most recently the purchase of one of his Hybrid Intercoolers.
I do know that he swears by his ported header as do others. I remember seeing a comparison test with a set of tubular headers where there was only a couple of BHP between them.

At the end of the day these headers are only ported, not ported and POLISHED so the finish will never resemble the look of a set of stainless tubular headers.

The original part is of cack quality, matching to port and sizing is very poor, hence the benefit of porting, last time I looked Harvey offered either used headers on an exchange basis or new OEM ones ported, £400 sounds like the latter, the OPs choice.

Removing too much material is as bad as not removing enough, so the porting has to be in the right areas, Harvey has more experience than most and has in the ast been happy to do himself out of potential business by passing on his experience to DIYers.

Simon

What I bought was a set of OEM headers ported and wrapped with the Harvey up pipe.

Alot depends on the spec of your car as to whether they'll work. I have a set in my garage which i used and they were great with the vf35 i was running. When i increased the turbo size they became restrictive and i changed to aftermarket ones.

I was begining to wonder where the £400 came from!
I thought exchange or your own headers, ported, was around £150 + wrap. Now you're stuck with the original items! :(
I assume the up-pipe is wrapped as well?

JohnD