Best Currently Available Headers?
- Thread starter SpeedAddict502
- Start date
Comptech, Top Speed and DC Sports are all good options and share the same profile. NA2 is always a good choice too. Pride V1 is also excellent. Pride V2 has fitment issues. I would talk to Adnan at AS Motorsport or Christian at ATR Parts. They should be able to get you what you need.
The NA2s have a very refined sound and provide a good power to noise ratio. A good set of aftermarket long tubes will provide the most gains but nothing that will blow your pants off. Aftermarket headers will sound the loudest. I use RF Yamamoto headers myself.
The RFY are some of the finest headers on the market- you'll like them.
+1 on RFY! I saw those in person at AS Motorsport office and they look like top quality!
You won’t be disappointed!
There seems to be nothing for us NA2 owners though. Unless I change my whole exhaust setup which would be prohibitively expensive...
Comptech will fit NA2 no problem, at least to 1999.
CT Engineering Headers - Stainless Steel (95-99 NSX)
<ul> <li>Mandrel Bent T-304 Stainless Steel Tubing </li><li>CNC Stainless Machined Flanges </li><li>All TIG welded for durability and appearance </li><li>18 hp. gain at the wheels </li><li>50 State Street Legal </li><li>CARB legal for street use in California </li><li>Application: 95-99 Acura...
drivingambitionmotorsports.com
'98, different headers, sorry.. Looks like I'll have to get custom ones fabricated somehow.
The Comptech 95-99 I linked will fit your 98. Call Shad and he can get you a set- no custom work needed!
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- 13 May 2022
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i had no idea they were still available!
Didnt know these were actually available, thought everything Comptech was discontinued a few years ago.
Also I'm looking at a real merge collector solution - currently using the old SoS set (newer one had a merge collector) with no ceramic coating, which was a mistake (also got a pinhole leak which I'm trying to get repaired...). RFY and such have a proper merge design but none of them will make headers for NA2 not even a one-off (I asked !).
Shad bought the CT assets so Driving Ambition is the new vendor for all CT products. As you know, I am a fan of their headers due to the absolute perfect fitment.
@RYU
Can you please advise. You mention here that the LoveFab headers are for big motor build. So you mean that the design is not good for a regular 3.2?
Was this set designed for 3.5+ L stroker WITH things like ITB or SC to make more power?
Will the design help/hinder daily use and occasional track time?
What is your application? What's your motor spec and what header do you want to use?
For near stock or mildly modified C motors I don't believe you will gain much with the big boy headers. It's diminishing returns the bigger you go. They just get noisy too.
There's very little data shared on this and I'm still waiting for a big boy set myself so I cannot confirm. All signs point to exhaust as being the restriction on my stroker at the moment
There's very little data shared on this and I'm still waiting for a big boy set myself so I cannot confirm. All signs point to exhaust as being the restriction on my stroker at the moment
This is a good opportunity to review the header design for the C30 and C32. The transverse layout of the engine means that it is nearly impossible to design an "ideal" manifold shape, since the rear head exhaust flow must be bent 180 degrees to exit the engine.
We can be guided by how Honda tried to solve this problem with unlimited resources and access to the original engine design. Below are the headers of the LeMans GT2 NSX. This is the most powerful NA C30A ever used. It puts out 400 hp at 10,000 rpm and can run 24+ continuous hours without failure. It uses a "VTEC Killer" camshaft with massive valve lift for effectively permanent VTEC.
Look at the complex routing- front and rear banks are carefully merged and split again. Honda tried super hard to keep exhaust flow hot and high speed. Thus, this is the "ideal" power setup for the NSX. But it would be terrible for street use. Big headers like this are optimized for maximum power at racing RPM. On the GT2- that's 7,000-10,000 RPM. They actually LOSE torque below that level. The Lovefabs are the same way, though not even close to the GT2 in terms of performance.
Which brings us back to the street NSXs of us mere mortals. Again, Honda solved our problem for us. On a street car, drivers are really looking for more torque, since few people drive around at 7,000-10,000 rpm. Thus, the "street" header needs to be a balance of torque and horsepower that can be reasonably fitted to the car without modification. Accepting the inherent performance penalties of sticking to the OEM pipe routing, the header designers are left with a few levers to pull: Primary length, collector design and collector size. Each of these will affect power slightly and each manufacturer makes choices based on their design goal.
One simple rule is that shorter primaries will add torque above the torque peak of the engine and longer primaries will add torque below the peak. The above picture shows how each company made that decision. Honda and Spoon wanted more torque at racing RPM (the NSX torque peak is about 5,200 rpm), while CT, Mugen and most of the JDM speed shops favored more torque below the peak, where you "feel" it most on the street. Fujitsubo, Pride, Taitec and SOS all split the difference.
Exhaust design is a black art, but one way to look at this is that all NSX header designs produce about the same amount of horsepower, so instead choose based on where you want the extra torque. That's what I did (I use a Pride V2, which is a copy of the Taitec GT-011). Your NA2 NSX already uses short-primary headers, so right now you're getting more torque above 5,200 RPM.
Using a "big header" design like the Lovefab will probably feel worse to you unless you use your NSX for road racing.
OK so im confused at this point... Seems that for the BEST Throttle response and Torque its better to leave the Stock NA2 headers alone?
