I bought these headers from a group buy on v6performance. There is a pretty good review here Stone Racing Headers Review . also, I think you can still get in on the group buy until tomorrow afternoon. The price was 257.50 shipped. I think one other member here Wilp99 has them on a 3.0. They look like they are well-made. (You can see pics, etc. at the link above)

Anyway, I haven't done any extensive driving with them yet I just wanted to give y'all a heads up on the group buy for the 3.0's because these do not need to be bent. They were a bitch to install though. It is definitely a tight fit and it was very frustrating installing them. Basically I got everything bolted up except where the main pipe meets the cat. There was about an inch gap there so I ended up taking off one of the hangers at the very end of my exhaust to free up some space. I did have a little resonance on my initial test drive and I'm thinking this was the cause. Also the tips of my exhaust are about 3/4" closer to my bumper.

I'll give an update after I drive to work on the freeway a couple days this week. So far, I would recommend them. For the price and the fact that they don't have to be modified, they are worth it.

 

sweet....what other mods do you have on your 3.0? I live about 40min from you in Corona. We should meet up some time....

 

How long did they take to install? Is it something I can do myself?

Also, what are you going to do when you have to smog? Put the stock headers back, smog, and then put these ones back on every two years?

Just curious because I really want to buy these (as it ends tomorrow), but I am hesitant that these minor problems making these ones fit may result in much larger problems later?

 

nice review... i was thinkin' bout getting some headers myself, thanks for the heads up

 

ive had these installed for 2 weeks now and im still impressed. im glad to see u got them bolted up. the resonance (from what ive heard) is normal, as well as the turbo like sound arond 3k rpm. (sounds kind of tite) but anyone who is hesitant on these, i would recommend these.

 

I've driven a little bit more this afternoon. I think the vibration I'm feeling is due to not being able to attach the hanger on the A pipe and detaching one of the hangers for my exhaust. Next weekend I'll jack the car back up and retighten everything.

The install took me about 10 hours by myself using jack stands. It was rough. Actually, it wasn't totally by myself because I couldn't get two of the nuts off at the cat when removing the stock A pipe. Luckily I took my car to Big O Tires a couple blocks from me and a guy lifted my car and got the bolts loose. I gave him ten bucks. Its just hard to get any torque when you're laying on your back under the car. When your car is lifted you can put you're shoulder into it and get about any bolt loose. One thing that definitely helped is I picked up 10" ratchet extension for getting the header flange bolts from underneath. Another trick I learned is to use the jack to lift the A pipe into place (or close to it) so I could get the bolts in. Overall, if you can get a shop to do it for $100 or so it would be worth it.

As for Smog, the timing worked out for me so that my smog was due in March so I got it done on Friday. My headers came at noon on Saturday. So I don't have to worry about it for two years. Anyway, I don't think the guy even opened the hood or scanned the OBD. If any of you are in the SD area, PM me and I'll give you the location.

 

10 hours holy shit... it only took me like 2 hours with loostening ALL the exhaust bolts so it could reach the header at the cat. then again i already had the extensions, and i had a breaker bar. but its nice to know that thres finally headers out there that dont have to be bent to fit. did u loosten all the header bolts to get it to fit? also did u have the right header in the back from before when u had the fitment problem.

 

yea 10 hours seems like a lot. Usually takes us 2 hours at most for headers with tight bolts.

 

I guess the main problem I had was getting the flanges to line up on the headers>downpipes. Putting the actual headers on the engine was easy. I left them loose. Then I put the A pipe in underneath and the front header wasn't too far off, but the rear flanges were like an inch or more off. I was thinking I would have to get a pipe bent or something. Then I decided to use the jack to jack the A pipe close enough to where I could get the a couple bolts in. Then I just torqued it into place one bolt at a time. But yeah its really a pretty simple process, but it was my first time messing with it and I had to make a couple trips to the store.

Also when I took my stock A pipe off I measured the distance between the two downpipes and the new one was like an inch wider so maybe that had something to do with it.

 

Any pics? im interested. also any dynos from anyone that has these, i want to see a real dyno before i buy these. what their site claims and what the headers actually do may be different, so i just want to see some proof thats all.

 

If you click on the link in my first post, the guy who reviewed them on v6performance.net did a dyno comparing the OBX headers with these and, as expected the results were pretty much the same. This was on an Accord V6. I think all of the headers that are available are Comptech knock-offs so the dyno #'s won't be that different from brand to brand. I think the main things to look for are fitment and craftmanship. These are the only headers I've ever bought so I don't have anything to compare them to, but they look well-constructed. Also, the guy who did the review I mentioned above compared these to OBX and said he liked these better. Take it for what its worth...

 

i wanted a dyno compared to stock, but that ones ok i guess. also i heard that comptech had quite a better gain over the obx's so i think ill get the comptechs instead even though it will take awhile to save up. i want to do it right the frist time

 

Did you do the same mods to get it to fight rite?

 

 

no i just left everything loose until i got it all togather then tightened up. i heard they are all hand made so no two will be exactly the same. but now theres two people on this board who didnt have to have them bent.

 

I see, what exactly did you loosten, the whole b pipe section?

 

the entire exhaust. just enough to make the cat meet the a pipe. (bout 1 inch.) then i tightened it all back up.

 

wilp where'd you get yours from?? some of the shit under my car's currently dismantled and im thinkin' bout buying headers while my car's partially disassembled.. i quickly browsed around but couldnt find a website or anything, other than the GB on v6p.net... but i was wondering how/where you got your stones from, and for how much??

thanks in advance

 

I had my stone headers installed a couple of years ago. You are better off having them bent. It took me two hours for the install and I didnt have to worry about my whole exhasut moving or disconecting hangers.

 

i need headers again

 

from what i understand these are some all new and improved stones. supposed to fit better, i guess. the exhaust thing was a pain in th ass but there was honestly no where to bend it to get it to fit perfect. it wasent torqued at the usual place (the one where the rear header doesent match up. ) i think most people had the two headers were facing the wrong way since they angle totally different. but look the same. front and rear. on the new ones the one in the rear was bent to fit around the tranny for the 6 speed.

 

That's why I didn't get the OBX. I felt uneasy taking something to a shop to have bent and then come home and hope they bent it right. If I were to do that I think the best thing would be to take it to a shop for installation and tell them if they need to make a bend for optimal fitment, then go ahead. That way the person doing the installation is the person doing the bending. Anyway, it obviously worked for you and and several others so its all good.

"... where'd you get yours from?? "

go to ebay and search for the vendor www.ssautochrome.com and its the 98-02 accord v6 application. You can obviously visit the site but they're cheaper on ebay. As far as I know this is the only vendor for these headers.

 

This was my thought, at least you can tell which one is which now, being that the rear one has the bend in it.

 

right on thanks for the input, i'll check it out.

 

Whatever you do, dont buy SSAutoChrome turbo manifolds.

Headers are fine.