Thanks for the insight. I was shooting for EL-LT but was just too late to the punch. I have talked to other F owners with EL and drone was considerably less than with UEL. I have borla w/Bazooka deletes so its going to be loud regardless, just want to tone down the drone if possible lol.

I dont think we'll see any true failures until these cars start hitting some real high mileage (or supercharging, probably why Rafi has mentioned to compression test before going forced induction). The oem design is technically UEL no? It sure looks unequal and very restrictive LOL. I would think UEL headers alone outperform the factory design so i wouldnt worry too much about it.

The 2UR is way better engineered than the Subie boxer motor IMHO.

I appreciate that! Theres so few EL header ISF's that the handful ive spoken to have had the same consensus. I am running borla/Bazooka muffler deletes so i am expecting it to be loud. But i don't think itll be as loud as UEL with the same set up. I'm honestly looking forward to the exhaust tone, ive seen so many videos but i know it does not do the sound justice.

 

I had UEL paired to the borla exhaust for 4 years. The drone wasn't that loud and it was tolerable. Now I've had EL for 3 years paired to the same borla exhaust. The drone didn't increase but it went up in pitch to the point of becoming somewhat annoying, specially on the highway. This is the reason I'm thinking of switching to a valved exhaust.

 

I listened to some clips and my car clearly has unequal length. Bummer. Oh well, unless there is any real data beyond speculation that UEL is a concern for ringland failure, I’ll run what I already own. There are a lot of PPE headers on these cars and very few have suffered ring land failure, and I think they all (that I’ve seen) either had a supercharger or were running NO2.

 

True that the 2ur motor is probably much better than the boxer and may not have ringland failure, just speculation for now without more data. @ Jwconeil You're right that so far the most common reported failures come from the supercharged units/pumping big power.

 

Subaru former owner and regular tuner. Subaru ring land failure is attributed to weakish cast pistons that have extremely low tolerance for knock. Sprinkle in a boosted motor that reflashing (with the boost and ignition tables easily modified) can be tried by anyone with a $80 cable and you have a long list of popped motors.

 

Yeah its been the cars with forced induction that have had issues with ringland failure. I really dont see FBO NA F cars having this issue

Honestly other than just sound, I really dont think the extra 1k for EL headers is going to provide anymore protection vs UEL headers. Having aftermarket headers period on our cars is a huge benefit over the oem design. I know i sound like a hypocrite (being that I just purchased EL headers) but I wanted a particular sound and (theoretically) more efficiency regarding heat management. Ill report back once I have mine installed (gonna be awhile, 6 weeks from PPE).

Yeah i love the way highly modified/tuned subie sounds, but I sure dont envy all the problems that come with owning one.