I'm looking for a header and curious what to buy.  If you have hard fast scientific data on why one is better that would be great!  Otherwise, opinions are welcome as well.  ?

 

I've got two on my current list and know that there are others, looking for equal length coated...

• Arizona Z Car
• MSA 

 

Make sure that it has a thick flange that matches the intake manifold flange thickness.  That seems to a major oversight among many manufacturers.  A thin flange that requires special clamping yokes.

From what I've read if you haven't done any porting work on the head, headers will have  little effect on power.  The power bottlenecks are elsewhere.  They will increase the noise level though, so the perception of power will be greater.  No offense intended.  Some people go back to exhaust manifolds from headers just because of the extra noise.  Not kidding.  Something to consider.

 

MSA ceramic header, ports matched to the head. All day long.

The heat reduction is unbelievable. And it sounds great. Lug it and it's quiet. Turn more rpms it will get louder for sure but it's a fantastic sound. I have the 2.5" full exhaust from MSA also on both of my Zs. Best bang for the bucks IMO.

I will say my 2.8 needed a $20 resonator installed but my 2.4 sounds wonderful without the resonator.

I have not read info on the Arizona product but the Pacesetter, like Zed Head says, does not have the correct flange thickness.

 

 

+1 on @siteunseen comments about the MSA header and Premium Exhaust package. Excellent fitment on the header, no issues when the intake manifolds are bolted up.

Believe it or not, the company that manufactured the Datsun Competition Header is still around and the owner Marty Schneider is a friend. I can vouch for the quality too. I have the Datsun Comp headers on my Z and his 914 headers on my 914. Marty told me he can still build them.

MSDS in the LA area...

Way back in 2011, long-time contributor, LeonV, led an informative thread on the topic of headers vs manifold and on exhaust systems (pipe diameters, dual vs single-pipe).  The discussion is backed up with dyno test results (note: the quoted Hp numbers are 'road horsepower', so net of all driveline losses -- which typically run at about 10%).  The test vehicle was a 260Z that had been retrofitted with a 2.4/E88 engine fitted with triple 40mm Webers and a Datsun Competition header (which I assume is the same as the Nissan Motorsports header just mentioned by Conedodger).  

Exhaust system theory hasn't changed over the years, so the info in this old thread is still relevant.  Included is a video of the dyno test.  The car sounds great... although it's informative to listen to the resonance periods as the engine is powered up to max revs. 

 

23 minutes ago, Namerow said:

Way back in 2011, long-time contributor, LeonV, led an informative thread on the topic of headers vs manifold and on exhaust systems

He never really said though, did he?  He is still active on Hybridz.org, he might have followed up over there.

John Coffey used to comment often that before headers, the exhaust system itself should be improved.  Piping headers in to a restrictive exhaust system was a bad idea, obviously, and a stock Z's exhaust is fairly restrictive, apparently.

Here is LeonV's most direct comment about headers.

 

I've read the primaries on some were too large killing low end torque. 

Here's one I remember.

https://www.zdriver.com/forums/240z-280zxt-s30-s130-tech-tips-275/headers-explained-part-1-a-17672/

5 hours ago, Namerow said:

Way back in 2011, long-time contributor, LeonV, led an informative thread on the topic of headers vs manifold and on exhaust systems (pipe diameters, dual vs single-pipe).  The discussion is backed up with dyno test results (note: the quoted Hp numbers are 'road horsepower', so net of all driveline losses -- which typically run at about 10%).  The test vehicle was a 260Z that had been retrofitted with a 2.4/E88 engine fitted with triple 40mm Webers and a Datsun Competition header (which I assume is the same as the Nissan Motorsports header just mentioned by Conedodger).  

Exhaust system theory hasn't changed over the years, so the info in this old thread is still relevant.  Included is a video of the dyno test.  The car sounds great... although it's informative to listen to the resonance periods as the engine is powered up to max revs. 

 

Quite the blast from the past! I've just copy/pasted the Comp header test results into the link above from the original HybridZ thread. The stock cam of the L24 did not pair well with the long-primary Comp header--it's really the length that matters for tuning, width is sized to minimize pumping losses vs weight/package/cost. Not to mention that the header was run with dual pipes with no merge collector. It wasn't the most scientific experiment because I didn't isolate just the header but it gives folks an idea of what these changes caused and why. That car was sold before more engine work was done.

My current 260Z runs an L28 with the MSA 6-1 header. The header came with the car along with an MSA 2.5" premium exhaust. I had it modified for an additional resonator and "the quietest muffler you have" which ended up being a Walker Quiet-Flow. I wanted to hear all the induction noises, uninterrupted by a loud exhaust. I've since converted some Z friends who wanted to quiet their car down, to the same muffler.

Here's a dyno run on poorly-tuned carbs.

 

Edited August 22, 20204 yr by LeonV

FWIW here is my old L26 oil burning engine with a stock cam, MSA 6/3/2 into 2.5” and a turbo muffler + 280zx dizzy and ZTherapy SUs...

 

 

The E88 head was beautifully ported by PO.

 

Same set up on my hot L28 was great also but droned like hell. Swapping in a z story straight through muffler totally opened it up between 5.5-6.5krpm!

 

 

On 8/22/2020 at 8:22 AM, conedodger said:

Believe it or not, the company that manufactured the Datsun Competition Header is still around and the owner Marty Schneider is a friend. I can vouch for the quality too. I have the Datsun Comp headers on my Z and his 914 headers on my 914. Marty told me he can still build them.

MSDS in the LA area...

https://www.msdsinc.com/exhaust.html

Is this Martys company? The price does look attractive.

Yes. Martin Schneider... The MS in MSDS.