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That is the design of the headers. There is a clearance tube on the driver’s side for the steering shaft to clear. There is no other way to get the headers in there as they are much larger than the stock design. Our dynos were with this same clearance in the tubes so the power gains are still good.
Best Regards,
Paul Prentis
PPE Engineering LLC
They should really brace people for this on headers that cost so much. I replied back to confirm and to sort out the ceramic coating.
Considering these headers cost 3x more than any other headers I've ever bought, I really would have liked some warning about what to expect.
Here is a picture of a GS430/SCS430 header we are currently digitizing into Solidworks. You can see on the driver side header there is the indented area that we put for clearance. It is supposed to be there else the steering knuckle will rub on it.
(also, when installing if your steering shaft has a small heat shield around the knuckle, it will need to be removed. Some models have it and some don’t)
Ok, so I guess that's just the way it is. I would love it if someone here has a pic of theirs or remembers getting them and can confirm, but PPE is pretty reputable so I guess that's just the way it is.
It just looks way worse inside than outside, but I suppose they know what they're doing.
Now I'm sorting out the ceramic coating issue with the Vendor (Legit Japan).
After a brief discussion with LegitJapan they did the right thing and are going to have them coated for me at no cost. To their credit, it was apparently a technical mistake that they were priced about $250 below what they normally sell them for. I imagine they may have taken a loss, but they decided to follow through on my order as it was placed. I really can't recommend them enough after this interaction, a very reputable company.
Ok, headers arrived after they ceramic coated them.
They look great except for a blemish on one of them. A little disappointing for headers this expensive to show up with a scratch right out of the box, but PPE assured me it's only aesthetic, so it is what it is.
Now I'm just waiting for the Tanabe mufflers, supposedly shipping mid January now.
I REALLY have my heart set on these tanabe mufflers. I really like the tone (sounds more like an exotic than a muscle car) and I love that they're not loud (they rate them below 93db).
However, Tanabe USA has been horrible to get a hold of. I've been emailing since 11/15. My original order was pushed from 11/15 to Jan 15. The vendor I purchased through (autohance.com) seems to be able to get a hold of them, but I get no answer when I call or email. I even posted on their social media pages today to see if I can get someone's attention (I sent a facebook message earlier this week that hasn't been read).
I'm starting to wonder if I should be making a backup plan incase these mufflers just keep getting pushed back. I've already been waiting since I placed the order on Oct 14.
Does anyone have any recommendations for mufflers that have a nice exotic sound and aren't loud? The Tanabes are $500 for the set, so anything at this price point or below would be fair game.
People really seem to like the sound, which is likely unique since it's a very unusual design. I emailed the manufacturer to see if they could tell me what route the exhaust flow takes through this thing and what diameter each of the connecting pipes are.
There's 1 really bad quality sound clip of it, so that doesn't really help.
I spoke in as much detail as I could with topspeed about the first one.
The inlets and center pipe are 60mm, the outside pipes are 42mm. They explain it has half the exhaust going to the pipe in the middle (where it merges) and the other half goes to the connecting pipes on the outside, bypassing the 2nd 'resonator' and going directly to the tips. The outside pipes just hit the rear pipe like an "H" pipe, where its just 90 degrees, no bend. Also, they use "high fiberglass/steel mesh packing" as the dampening material. They also said the internal bends in the resonators are mandrel bent.
I did a little quick math about the pipe diameters, the total area of the 60mm + 2 x 42mm pipes is slightly more than the original 2 x 60mm inlets, so no loss there.
Does anyone really know exhaust design? I would love an educated opinion on this design, I've never seen another one like it. The 90 degree connecting pipe kind of bothers me, but I understand exhaust isn't always as simple as it looks, I imagine there's some similar theory to H pipes at work or something above my head, lol.
I went with vibrant 1105 mufflers and vibrant 1207 tips. The tips are beautiful, I’ll take pics when they’re mounted.
We attempted to install the headers today and the driver side header is defective and doesn’t line up/sit flush.
I emailed PPE and they called my mechanic within about 15 min and agreed to get a new one out ASAP. Hopefully next week as they have to build it and ceramic coat it.
also, be aware that there’s a piece of casting on the engine block that has to be cut, I was not aware of this.
The headers had the ceramic coating issue and then this, summit racing took 3 tries to get me the correct size X-pipe I ordered, Tanabe waited 3 months to tell me their mufflers won't be shipping until march, and CarID messed up my shipment of the vibrant mufflers and forgot 1 of them. Not to mention that no one will ship a highflow cat to California unless it's marked up 400% with a "carb cert." And believe me, I tried pretty hard to get someone to ship them, lol.
I will be so happy when this stuff is all on the car.
Side note for anyone doing this in the future: I needed to get new O2 sensors since the old ones had fused themselves the the old manifolds, so you may want to anticipate that.
A lot of money and frustrations but above all, your determination to get to the bottom of this.
I wonder with all the performance mods & $, have you ever thought of swapping the engine with an 2JZ and call it a day?
A lot of money and frustrations but above all, your determination to get to the bottom of this.
I wonder with all the performance mods & $, have you ever thought of swapping the engine with an 2JZ and call it a day?
LOL I definitely don't have the money for an engine swap since I don't have the means to do it myself where I currently live. Plus I would still need an exhaust on that engine plus intercooler/custom piping/etc... no idea how/if you would mate the existing electronics to that ECU, so maybe you would even need a standalone unit, plus tune. I don't think anyone even makes a kit to bolt everything up.
On a Miata you can swap an LS in for about 10-12k, and thats with turn-key kits that take all the guesswork out. I can't imagine what it would take on this car to swap another drivetrain in.
Also, As glorious as the 2JZ is, I really like the 3UZ, it's such a smooth v8 with insane reliability. The 1UZ was literally certified by the FAA for aircrafts. This isn't going to be a track car, I just want to get the most out of what I have, I plan on keeping this car for quite a long time.
I had started another thread a while back about high-flow cats, I just updated it with some math. Incase anyone is following along with the build, the math behind keeping the OEM cats is here: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...l#post10693039
As a side note, PPE has been really top-notch in this process despite the issues (**** happens, right?). Paul, the owner, responds to emails very quickly and he has really gone above and beyond to build, coat, and ship a new driver side header to me as fast as humanly possible since the car was already in pieces at a shop and putting it back together would have been a huge cost/loss.
When I was shopping for headers, there were only 2 choices. PPE & OBX, the OBX being half the price of the PPE headers. Most of the threads I read said that if you cheap out and something goes wrong, the labor cost will make you wish you bought the PPE ones to start. I think this was really good advise, I was just imagining what I would need to do right now if these were the OBX headers and my car was in pieces when we discovered a problem, especially since I would have had to ceramic coat them myself and then discover they don't fit after paying for that.
Ok, it's all done. You can't really see the headers, but they're on. If you ever need exhaust work in San Diego, Jesse's mufflers & brakes (in Lemon Grove) is absolutely top notch. Jesse himself did all the work on the car and for a very reasonable price. He even sprayed it when he was done with high temp paint to make it look nicer and avoid surface rust, no extra charge, didn't even have to ask him to do it.
1st off... WOW, what a big difference in terms of power. I put it in PWR and "Manual" mode and it plants you in your seat. I have an ear to ear grin on my face today.
2nd, sound. I spent an unhealthy amount of time (as documented in this thread) trying to pick the perfect components and design. I think I nailed it. It sounds like a slightly more aggressive version of stock (and about the same volume, maybe a smidge louder) at idle and when you cruise on the highway, but when you put the pedal down, at about 3k rpm it sounds like a beautiful exotic and gets meaner and louder as you go up the rpms. Even though videos never do it justice, when I get a minute I'll record video.
I wish there was a way to know for sure if I'm leaving anything on the table by keeping the stock cats. The math indicates that I'm not, but we can't be sure without a cat flow test or dyno numbers. For the time being, I'll leave it as is.
This project was a labor of love and a total pain in the *** dealing with vendors, but in the end, I couldn't be happier. I can't wait to drive it around some.
Also, PPE said on the 06+ the headers wouldn't line up with the oem exhaust like the 02-05s, but we had no problem at all. I actually got to drive it to the exhaust shop with the stock exhaust after my regular shop put the headers on. It was a noticeable difference, but once you open up the rest of the exhaust, it's a much bigger difference.
11-20-19 | 04:01 PM
