I spent Saturday installing Cattman headers on my SC'ed 95. It took about 6.5 hours and was pretty tedious going. I think it would have been easier to remove the upper intake manifold so as to get at the upper rear header bolts, but maybe wouldn't have saved any time. Fitment was perfect, however.

First impressions:

Sound
I have to agree with everybody that says it sounds great. It completely removed the raspiness of my Warpspeed y, test pipe and Apexi WS setup. The sound is a bit louder, but much smoother and refined sounding, with just a hint of the howl you hear in the 350Z.

Power
In a word, Wow! There is definitely a noticeable improvement in power throughout the powerband. I am sorry to say I was unable to do a pre-install dyno. I intended to, but when I called the dyno people they were gone to SEMA for the week. As this was the only weekend I had available for the header install until Xmas, I had to go without.

But, I do have many datalogging runs that plot rpm vs time. I use the same stretch of road every time, and I have been consistently getting an average acceleration of about 920 rpm/sec in second gear, accelerating from 3800 rpm to 6900 rpm. After I installed the headers I did another datalogging run and got 1020 rpm/sec over the same rpm range, an 11% increase in average acceleration.

Calculating the change in speed over time gives the change in kinetic energy, dKE/dT, which is power. Using an estimated 3200 lb for car and driver yields a gain of 20 hp, averaged over the 3800-6900 rpm range. Peak power gain is even higher, but there is more uncertainty involved in that calculation since it involves taking the derivative of the rpm vs time curve, and the effect of measurement error becomes much more pronounced. Suffice it to say I think peak power gain is on the order of 40 hp, boosting to 11.5 psi.

Am I happy? Yes!

Was it worth the price? Of course not. Money should be invested, not spent on cars.

 

awesome.. enjoy

 

so you finally got your headers in, that's great. have fun with them.

 

Damnit. I was hoping noone would ever post this because I've stopped modding the car... did a stereo, even some HID's figuring I was done.

Thanks Now I know what I want for Christmas

 

And people cry about cattman being over priced....blasphemy I say!! they're so much better in every way than any other exhaust maker I've seen. Did ya notice the welds? I know you noticed the sound. You pay a bit more for cattman, but you get that much more for the price. Lets start a cattman revolution...make people toss out their budgets

 

^ I agree dude

 

wish they werent so expensive

 

i would rather pay the extra for quality work...i don't want some pos part that is good for a little bit and then have it disenagrate on me like my lame RT Cat.

go cattman!

Tony

 

well my budget is runnin strong and it has had no issues so im happy with that, eventuallly tho i might take the plunge on this

 

So we know the headers make good gains with FI cars...now what about us NA schmucks?

~THT

 

I just have the Y Pipe from cattman. Seems good enough for me. I figure I would gain only about 5 extra if i went with the whole header set. Took the extra money and got my self some handles. since i have the y..i doubt I'll replace it just to get the whole header set in though.

 

You would have gain a good 20 HP over the Y-pipe not 5.

AA

 

remember, he is boosted.

 

That's great Stephen!!! Congrads!

I was thinking about getting headers this christmas as well. I didn't want to pay to install it. Is the install as hard as everyone makes it out to be or easier? Plus would there be a hugh advantage for NA guys?

 

i want those headers too i want to order but i just waiting till someone tells us the difference they felt na compared to just a y pipe

 

The evidence I've seen points to much more modest gains for NA Maximas, maybe only about 5-8 hp more than an aftermarket y-pipe with oem headers.

The difficult part about the install is getting to the header nuts at the rear bank, and to the rear bank heat shield bolts. You have to take off the engine cradle, front and rear engine mounts and the rear mount bracket that bolts to the engine, and the shield over the steering rack. Getting at the rear bank heat shield bolts is probably easier if you remove the upper intake manifold. Once you get all that stuff off you can get at the header nuts.

To take off the front header you have to remove the fans and fan shroud, but that is far simpler.

 

Jeeeeez.....who needs CarTest2000 or whatever when you have StephenMax around.

Get to a dyno~! 310+whp I'm guessing.

 

I30MikeD is a pretty avid drag racer and he's noticed no drop in ET or additional MPH with the addition of his headers. Check out his post in the 1/4 mile section. 14.2@98mph without the headers on average and 14.2@98mph with the headers. Same track and same conditions. I'm not saying they don't gain additional power over the y-pipe, but it's more like 3-4 whp extra.

The header setup just isn't optimal. It's basically a shorty header design which means they don't make the best power. Longtube headers are the only way to go in terms of making big gains. When I say longtube, I'm talking about 24"+ primaries, not the 8-10" primaries of the Cattman headers. Unforunately fitting longtubes in a transverse engine bay is near impossible.

 

same track and same conditions, but a different engine, no weight removal, no race gas, and a slipping clutch. Not exactly ideal test parameters for new mods.

 

Agreed, but people act as if the headers are light years ahead of the y-pipe in terms of performance. How much evidence are we going to need that the Cattman headers aren't making the gains people are hoping for? Ceasar's car was the same way and you really didn't see much improvement either. I've seen the same thing on "Optimus'" posted timeslip too which was no improvement. Emax years ago bought these same headers and saw no improvement.

The only weight reduction Mike did prior was remove the passenger seat and rear cushion (maybe 40lbs). The only thing race gas does for my car is make it more consistent. I don't know about his car though. I've never noticed quicker ETs with it. Just more consistency. His clutch was holding, he just had to give it a rest between runs. On average, he seems to be about .05 seconds and .5 mph slower right now.

I'm sorry by being so pessimistic about the headers, but I just want performance focused people to know that there is no supporting evidence these things will make you faster at the track. They make you're car sound better, they look pretty, and you get to brag about having headers but is that really worth the $750+ plus install? Longtube headers on other 6 cylinder and V8 cars make an honest to God 30whp and drop ETs by .4 and gain 3+mph. The Cattman headers aren't making any showing like this.

 

Quick question Dave. My Max is a Cali spec. I believe my cattman Y only removed one of the pre cats. So would the gains be more for Cali spec max's than just 5 hp, since the header set would be removing all pre cats?

 

Cool, maybe we can get some clips of how it sounds

 

I appreciate you being pessimistic. I don't post near as much, but I am on here alot, and I actually agree with you alot. I don't consider myself pessimistic, I am realistic. People respect you, and trust what you say, so I just want to keep you in check when you make blanket statements sometimes. One event, with less than ideal conditions for new mod testing, does not mean a mod is useless.
I agree, the headers are not the be-all, end-all mod for the maxima. For the N/A guy looking for every hp he can find, its a decent mod. There is no way they make less power than stock. The stock manifolds look terrible. My car is faster whether it shows at the track or not. Like a lightened flywheel. When people install one, they can't believe how much faster their car is, but it doesn't show at the track. Does that mean that mod doesn't do anything? no. I think the headers are just a good supporting mod.
If I add cams and gain 20whp, how do we know that is all from cams? One guy might only get 12whp from cams, because of other supporting mods.

 

So with headers and a slipping clutch Mike got the same time and trap speed as without headers and a nonslipping clutch? Interesting...

 

Mike specifically said his clutch only slipped when he did back to back runs. It didn't slip on his 14.2s.

I forgot to add that he's now on DRs and cutting slightly better 60 foots.

 

lol @ you guys.

I can't really add anything more than what I posted in the other thread. There are enough varibales that I don't feel confident either way about the headers making power.'

Who knows, I could replace the clutch and run 14.0's or I could replace it and run 14.2's

But don' forget that I also added the cat-back as well

 

I guess the bottom line is that for NA VQ30 engines the oem headers work well enough, so you guys can save your money.

 

Thats exactly what Ive been assuming. Every time somone installs headers they claim a HUGE power difference over the aftermarket Y pipe. But Every time I ask to see dynos of before and after no one has them to back up the statement.
For the cost of headers and their uncertain power gains, I think I'll stay with my y pipe for now.
I would however like to hear how they sound.
Maybe we can meet up sometime Stephen.

 

I'll do a dyno sometime this month. I've got a dyno from last year to compare against, but that was done back when I had the stock muffler. I guess I could put it back on when I dyno, in order to make a more meaningful comparison. This is what I have for now:

 

holly ****, sounds like a tupperware party in here! Im gonna get the damn things. It gives more power so that would mean the headers are better than the y pipe.. $concern$ Why didnt you buy a chevy cavalier and save some more $ n/a doesnt sound as tempting.

 

Dynoed today.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....=1#post3382555

 

Wow! Very nice Stephen You ever take that thing to the track?

 

Awesome numbers!

 

Never have. Track is too far away for convenience. One day I will.

 

[QUOTE=I30tMikeD]lol @ you guys.

you do know that there is smiles you could of used instead of lol
just kidding just wanted in on this post

 

[QUOTE=laylow1988]
I'm old school

 

i have to agree with dave b at this point. i saw no gains either but looked for every possible reason for why I wasnt seeing any improvement in performance in the 1/4. Until I run the chariot in cold conditions I wont know for 100%. I have been holding to the idea that the headers were good for a .1 off my et with my maxima but havent come close to running a 14.0

They sure are pretty and sound great but as of today your just as well off going with a cattman y pipe than the headers. they are still one of my favorite mods but are low on the performance side.

just will have to wait on a cold cold day with a low bp. an this is for a hoped for .1

 

i bet they do wonders for boosted maxima's as seen from stephen's dyno i believe. I guess we'll see one way or the other.

 

Boosted seems to be a no brainer now ypipe vs. headers, but I can't believe SOMEBODY hasn't done before/after dynos besides Cattman?

IMHO, that's a lot of money/work vs. a ypipe to just buy without any positive data backing it up, let alone the 1/4mile guys negative data IMO.

 

Id still like to see a dyno of a max with a aftermarket y versus the headers.
Ive always felt the headers werent much of an improvement over the y pipe but so many people swear they are.