CL-Future

I ended up getting some used Comptech headers and calling it a day. They're being jet hotted now and I should have them on by next weekend. I'm sick of the constant hissing sound and power loss when I hit the gas, tooooooooo annoying. The pedal response was great after I wrapped them with exhaust tape but after it came off the leak was too much for me to bear. Every batch may be different so yours may turn out better than mine and for $150 it's not a bad gamble but it's your decision in the end

4ank

I am leaning in your direction. I don't have time to constantly worry about the quality of the xs brand. In the end, I am planning on keeping the headers on the car for a while, so may as well go quality and not quantity. Just need to find a set of comptechs for a good price on the BM (which is not easy these days).

Thanks.

a_martin001

call me noob...but would it be possible to use the stock flex pipe?

LIPPSTUH

iTrader: (2)

no martin. its longer n smaller

resonance is the wonk sounds... anyway to minize them??

ML03CLS

Few months now and I'm still holding onto mine..

The hissing is still there, but not getting any worse so I'll live with it for the power gain. I may try and push for a replacement collector pipe (LOL, I know..). I still believe this is a batch occurrence due to bad quality control.

Like everyone said, you get what you pay for. If I had to do it over I would still take the chance for the price.

MADMAN187

Is the hissing noticable even with an aftermarket exhaust?

CL-Future

For me it was/is. I have Magnaflow mufflers and an Icebox and it's still very noticeable. Sounds like it's coming directly from under the car.

n00dleboy

Do you hear it only when you accelerate or on idle... windows closed /open ?

CL-Future

Only when I accelerate from 2k to about 4k windows closed and open.

CLS6SpeedNupe

Since I burt up my clutch hours after intalling my header last month, i got the clutch replaced yesterday which made today the official first day that I drove the car hard enough to see the difference the headers made. All i have to say is im very satisfied. car pulls hard in 6th gear with just stepping on the gas. I had to keep looking down to make sure i was in 6th and not a lower gear. I went from 70 to 130 this morning on the highway so quick and easy.

sinfulj32

i dont know about you guys but i lost low end torque with the xs. under vtec, the stock headers gave me more torque. but with xs after vtec crosses over, thats another story.

bigbadboss101

I guess on the top end the XS gives 5-10 hp, and in the low end a bit lower torque, may be 5 ft/lbs? Overall, is that a good trade off? Now if we add intake, does that mean again more on the top end, and losses at low rpm? The one that helps low end is the pulley?

CLS6SpeedNupe

I dont think your car likes you man. First it wont let you pull nothing bettern than a 2.4 60ft time and now its losing torque???

My car feels 2 times stronger and quick from 0000000000 to redline. However I did intall a UR crank pulley at the same time as the header so maybe together they are just making good music. If you dont have the pulley get it ASAP and then see how it feels. If it dont make a difference then ur car dont like you cause mines is a monster right now

sinfulj32

^ haha.well i did have a leak in the header before. so i think it had alot to do with it. but yeah i'd say the pulley is next for me.

LIPPSTUH

iTrader: (2)

resonanace is driving me insane....

CL-Future

I bit the bullet and bought some used Comptech's and couldn't be happier. I put them on this morning with the help of my cousin who smashed me at the track in his DSM. I was afraid of the install because it seemed like a major job but it took less than 2 hours. The hardest part was getting the A pipe aligned with the headers and cat. My arms are burning from holding it up for so long. It really is just unbolting and bolting the new stuff back up. I took the rear header out from the bottom for anyone wondering.
Anyway it was well worth it. So much smoother and no jerkiness. Also before putting them on I noticed the bore of the comptech headers were larger than the XS. I have pics but they're not the best. Everything was smooth and bolted up whereas the one of the XS headers had a piece of metal sticking out the bottom of the header which didn't make for a solid connection. Best of all.......NO MORE HISSING SOUND. I can't say enough how annoying it was and I saved $200+ on doing the job myself and have piece of mind that the job was done right.
Not trying to rag on XS cuz I had them, but I'm glad I don't anymore. For anyone on a budget go for em but if you can get the real deal, you wont regret it.

Tweek

Is this the link to the XS headers? http://xs-power.com/honda/honda027.html


I think I may just pick up a set to hold me over till I get Comptechs. Who knows they are only 100 bucks..

rp_guy

i lost low end torque (simply cause it's harder to shift at low rpm's now.. anything below 1500rpm tends to lug while before i could do it w/ no lugging)



if you look at comptech's dyno charts, you will see that even they have low end torque loss, which really, doesn't affect me as i gain 30whp in the high end (the graph ends at 2000rpm, any lower and i think you are losing a lot more due to backpressure). i assumed that the XS would have similar gains/losses compared to the comptechs.

a_martin001

just installed mine. they fit really nice and tight and i have no resonace or "hissing". checked for leaks this mornin by covering up the exhaust pipes. no leaks! very satisfied.

Blasted69

I choose Other and I will explain.

I have resonance at about 25-2800

BUT.....

I only get it for like the first 10 min or so of driving, once I have been driving for a little while it completely goes away and i have none.

All in all I am VERY happy with these headers.

NightRider

Some would agree that the flexpipe is the cause of the hissing, there are inexpensive ways to fix that. The only part I don't like besides this is the sound of change in a can when the engine is cold.

CLS6SpeedNupe

yea same here but i only really get that in the morning for some reason.

Tweek

is this the correct page? http://xs-power.com/honda/honda027.html

2K1CLtypeS

I've used header wrap to wrap the flex tube and secured it with 3.5 inch ss hose clamps. This reduced the resonance to an acceptable level. Some hiss can be heard but it doesn't bother me. I am more than satisfied with the headers. Top end is unreal and gas mileage improved. My low end didn't suffer so that's a plus.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

A note............ CT also has a slight low end loss. It's a common effect with headers. You loose that TQ at a lower RPM but actually you gain it back & more at higher RPM's.

J32A26MT

just got my XS headers yesterday and went to work buying extra parts to get it ready. one of the crush gaskets had creses in it and i read in the past that the 3 crush gaskets were junk....well everyone had said get some from comptech before they go out of business (which they are not doing, they were just bought out and reopened from my understanding from an insider), but i used to work at honda and my buddy let me dig through a box af crush gaskets and bingo! found some! part # 18393-SH3-S00. I got 3 of them, they seem to be the only thing honda makes that will fit in there, and they are a lot thicker and stronger. One was tight going in...but it was because of the pipe that the gasket has to go around. It was thicker on one side than the other; the inconsistencies in XS power's products are already apparent. I am re-using the factory head-header gaskets seeing as my car has less than 30k. i bought some DEI heat wrap today and the stainless clamps for them (they also have a silicone spray for the wrap that will make it waterproof or something thats only like 10$ and you can spray the header with it too. Got some stainless bolts and nuts, but couldn't find what i needed in metric, so i got 7/16. 3/8 would be fine, but lowes/home depot suck when it comes to nut/bolt selection so i had to get those. they seem fine but one wont go through...so time to break out the dremel! I'm going to go wrap the flexpipe right now and will update as i install mine!

black label

I got those DEI stainless steel clamps too..... THEY SUCKED. I was never able to get them tight on the headers and ended up using mechanics wire to secure the wrap.

ScottyNorq

The hell with those stupid clamps. they do suck. I ended up only wrapping my a pipe/flex pipe and i did a shitty job. Header install took all weekend with a small floor jack but no leaks i even took the car to a muffler shop to check for leaks. i do have some resonance though but the sigificant difference in power in 2nd and 3rd gear is worth it. I bought 8.8 strangth nuts and bolts at Napa Auto.

J32A26MT

yea those clamps are junk...i got them as tight as i could and then bent them so they wouldnt slide out. they're on pretty tight now. I'd rather have used hose clamps from an intake though. I got her ready to go, just gonna get a couple other mods and do them all at the same time...prolly next week.

M.J.H.

After finally awaiting months and months of anticipation I finally got around to buying a set of XS headers from www.ssautochrome.com and getting my buddy from Acura to install them. The only thing that I didn't use from them was their gaskets/bolts. I had him buy all new OEM gaskets and bolts from Acura. So anyway the install he said went smooth as ever no issues whatsoever, the headers bolted up perfectly. He went ahead and reset my ECU as well, by the way.

Sound
The sound is one of the first things that I noticed after driving away with them installed. Right around 2.5-2.7K RPM's or so the sound almost switches from the exhaust to the headers, if that makes sense. Basically before 2.5K RPM's all you hear is the deep throaty sound of the exhaust and after 2.5K RPM"s you hear this "swooshy" air sound from underneath the car. Let me say that this swooshy sound or whatever you want to call it sounds GREAT! Other than the obvious engine sound from the headers, there are no other sounds whatsoever. Previously during VTEC the AEM CAI sound was louder than the exhaust sound, and now the header sound pretty much takes over during VTEC.

Power
In terms of straight power gains like I said basically the difference in power very noticeable. Low end especially I feel like gained a good bit, but all throughout the power band I feel like it is noticeable. The car especially up top I feel like pulls ridiculously hard. Part of me wishes that I would have gone ahead and done UR pulley's along with the headers, but my mechanic suggests I just wait for the SC install to do the crank pulley.

Fitment/Problems
My mechanic like I said said he had zero fitment issues, zero issues with noise, zero problems with the install, etc. The only thing he said was that the gaskets/bolts that came with the XS headers he would never install on any car because they were nowhere near the quality of the OEM ones. Just for future reference to anyone thinking about ordering the XS headers.

I actually got the XS headers and the timing belt, water pump, power steering pump, all fluids changed, plugs/wires, etc. And the car feels a lot stronger all around, now.

srehmat02

I was under the impression that you couldn't have the UR pulleys with the S/C?

AcUrAge703

good review man...i like how that sounds...i've been lurking around these XS threads and just havent been fully convinced but the more and more i see people satisfied gives me the reassurance that this product is worth the try and especialloy at 97 bucks...:wow:

dont forget to give us a 3 month update...everything always seem ok at the beginning...trust me i know..im a TECH....murphy's law...

M.J.H.

I will definitely do a 3-month update, no questions asked. So far I'm more than happy with the headers, everything about them.

But in regards to the SC, you can do a crank pulley, but that's it - from what I understand. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

M.J.H.

Just an update - took the girlfriend out for a spin with the headers in.

And basically she went on and on and on about how it sounds so much better than it did before, which I noticed but it's amazing how much someone else notices things you don't, when it's about your own car. She said it felt much much much faster, too. She kept saying how much more noticeably she was "pulled to the seat," so that made me felt like money well spent. So it was nice getting a secondary opinion on them, from someone who isn't as car obsessed as us.

2K1CLtypeS

When I installed my headers, top end pulled much harder and felt great! But when I installed the UR Ultra S, the low end really fattened up, and in fact, improved the engine's entire powerband. The headers and the pulley really complimented each other I also ordered a CAI along with a K&N filter. Hopefully that'll give the top end a little more kick!

gc86

Second set i've installed and they don't line up perfectly from flange to flange. Anyone else? im paranoid that its causing leaks and performance loss. I think I need to re-tighten all my bolts too....

sinfulj32

nice

M.J.H.

Yeah no question about that one, my CAI with K&N really improved my top end quite a bit. And yeah I'm definitely going to order the UR Ultra S pulley, hopefully that will make a noticeable difference, too.

Blasted69

on my front header the bottom flange is over to the right a little bit more then the top one. It is ok tho, I checked for leaks and everything seems fine. It is fairly easy to tell when there is a leak.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

I'm moving this into the main header thread....