[ghibli99]

Alright, the Response Headers are finally in, and I updated the OP a bit with a few installation notes and impressions of the workmanship.

Here are some additional thoughts...

This is only an initial impression since they haven't been on the car for very long, but since I've had the intake, B-pipe, and 50s v2 on my car for almost 6 months now, it was easier for me to see and hear any differences with the addition of the headers.

The first thing I noticed was how *smoothly* the car starts up and purrs at idle. For some reason, my car seemed a touch rough on a cold startup with the previous setup (as mentioned in an earlier post), and I'd get a few pops and gurgles from time to time downshifting or sitting at a stop light. No such thing anymore. The entire system really feels like all the parts were designed to play with each other nicely, and it shows. Very impressed with how buttery smooth it all feels.

As for performance, I only have the almighty butt-dyno to go by, but I'm confident that I'm seeing mild gains throughout the rpm band, and especially from about 4000rpm to redline. Prior to this, it felt like power delivery increased in a linear way around 3500rpm, and now with the headers, there's an extra punch from 4000rpm on up. It feels good, and especially if you're keeping rpms between 4000-6000, the L15A motor, which was already decently responsive in that range, opens up even more. Before, it really felt like the car was running out of breath... not so anymore, which is great.

In terms of sound, there is a touch more sound coming from under the hood at idle, and when VTEC engages, it reminds me of what my B16A2 sounded like in my Si years ago. Not exactly, of course, but being able to hear more of the high-pitched mechanicals brought a nice grin to my face. Overall sound output from the entire I/H/E system remains pretty much unchanged to my ears. I didn't have to adjust the volume levels on my head unit, and I didn't notice a significant change in outside ambient levels driving with the windows down.

In the end, I'm glad I put these in, and I think they really smoothed out the entire basic T1R I/H/E setup. I think the only piece I'm not entirely happy with after all this time is the 50s v2 muffler, and it's only because of the few faults I found in it early on. I know a lot of folks are very happy with it, though, so it basically just comes down to personal preference. I'm going to try out the system with a GReddy Ti-C to see how it mates up to these, so if you're interested in this axleback before it hits the classifieds, let me know and I'll give you a great price. A post about the GReddy will follow.

Thanks again for being patient while I got around to getting these installed, and as always, if you have any questions, please post them up. Take care!

-Mike