Bought it yesterday and installed same night.. lol

Install was okay, im not a mechanic so it took a while. no mods needed. Fitment is 97% excellent. One bolt took a little re-adjusting to fit perfectly to the engine and the "mounting bolt" by the bolts for the cat had to be adjusted a bit, no biggie.

So after 3.5 hours of lazy install time, i got it on!

When i first started it, i was worried it was gonna be too loud. To my surprise though, it was quieter! the tone is smoother than before but also fuller and builds volume as its revved up. I think up top the sound is louder but at cruising speeds and idle it's quieter.

Since i do have an ASPEC CAI, i noticed that the car was slow off the line and suddenly picked up around 3-3.5k in 1st gear. It was REALLY noticeable and impossible to avoid or get used to. If i needed to get out of a jam quickly from a standstill i'd have to floor it from the start then let off to avoid the "launch @3k". But i could never get the acceleration to feel linear, it always had the stupid spike. after a while i avoided revving that high at all in 1st gear during daily driving just cuz i got sick of it. I prefer driving smoothly.

i didnt realize it at first but after a while i noticed i was shifting at 3000rpm dead in 1st! it goes up smooth as butter, it also doesnt tend to jerk as much like before before. I like shifting at 2800 or under so the car likes to bog and cough in that range. The headers boosted low end power and made the car drivable at lower rpms. The dyno graphs claim that the power curve is basically the same as before, but just more power.. i believe it! There is no spike or big change in the characteristic of the engine. It just sorta gave a little more power all around.

Revving is also faster! I've noticed that with a CAI throttle response died down and rev-matching took forever sometimes, i had to wait for the RPMs to build up. Not now! the response is probably equivalent with a short raim or stock air box so those with shorter intakes will have even better response!

My car before was dead in the low rpm, then started going in mid rpm, pulled nicely in mid-high rpm, and died right before redline. Now just take that idea and add a few horses. So it's still dead by the time i hit 6400ish but low end pulls alot more nicely now.

Overall im VERY happy with my purchase. In my opinion, i'd rather have this one as opposed to the weapon R because i like linearity over high but uneven power (WR dyno shows insane low-end torque spike), even if the gains may be less than a WR i just like the ease of drivability and the linear, flat power i got from it. Plus i paid $315 from a local FitFreak member so how can i complain! Hope this helps people who want to get headers. Again this is purely my opinion and i have nothing against WR products. good luck!

edit* forgot to mention i have a b-pipe and HFP muffler... the entire combo sounds really stealth and nice at lower rpms, like a deep conservative tone but rev up and it roars!

 

nice review jason!

 

Thanks for the review

 

HAHA its so long... oops i just wanted to make sure i got all my thoughts down on it

 

is there any droning? I had a miata with a pipe once and it was like a driving nightmare

 

no it gave my exhaust less drone if anything. With a quieter muffler like an HFP, megan, tanabe concept G or similar, it should sound really nice and not be too loud

 

I wanna test drive your car Jason.

 

Miatas with a pipe sounds awesome. My friend took his OEM muffler off and bolted on a pipe and it sounds like sexy time. Sounded like a Spec Miata on the street.

Good review Jason.

 

okay as long as i drive yours too

 

Wait until it gets retuned again and that's cool. The motor's really finicky right now.

 

Pic or ban : )

 

FINE i finally took a picture! look it's blue! lol