Thread: ve or ebay header?

i have the stock VE exhaust manifold that came with my ve engine when i bought it last year. i have been running the DE manifold since i did the swap and i'm now ready to switch it up.
my exhaust has a leak at the flex pipe so i am wanting to fix that and replace the pipe with 2.5 id all the way to the back.

i am wanting to know if the cheap ebay headers will be better than the stock ve manifold or shall i just use the ve manifold and call it good?

My current setup makes the VE look pretty ugly!!!

I'd get an eBay header and make sure to do the work to match up the exhaust ports. Mostly to make my life easier. Make sure to get good gaskets because the ones that come with eBay headers totally suck. OEM for head and cat, there's an aftermarket copper gasket for the secondary.

I vote ebay header for sure and agree with what Benito said. If you use the stock ve manifold you will need to have a custom secondary made anyway. Although I am not a fan of ebay knock off products, they do make power for very little money. They are also the reason that Hotshot is not in business anymore. You will be surprised how much different the car will feel with that header compared to a de manifold. Talk about choking up a great motor. Throw in some sr16 cams in there and for a about $350 worth of upgrades you are looking at 20-30whp depending on what else you have going on with the setup you are running now. More info on the specs of your current setup please.
Drew

SR20ve header.

Peace

AFAIK the Hotshot was somewhere in between a VE and a 20V VE, so I'd think a hotshot knock off would be better or at least as good as a VE header which you also have to do the secondary, as others said.

the ebay knock off will make more power than the sr20ve header plus you won't have to fabricate a secondary. For $150-160 you can't go wrong.

Stock upper with custom 2ndary good for 190ish whp on a VE with N1 cams.

well i went ahead and bought the ebay header and got it in the mail today. i see that there is no plug on the lower egr connection and thats not cool as a bolt in that size is hard to find. boo

i plan on getting some black wrap to wrap the header with so that it wont look so shiny under the hood (really dont like that chrome in the engine bay type look) and i ordered some 2.5 piping from summit (mandrel bends) and i am going to weld it all together.

here are some pics of the header i got

I wouldn't wrap that header as it's not made of the best material and it could crack if you do so given the higher temperatures. And actually the shine will go away once you start using it (not completely but most of it).

cheapo ebay header....I wrapped mine....keep the heat in.hotter air moves faster.if your worried about looks and staying shiney, you shouodlnt be putting a header on. its going to rust. either way. its like 150 bux anyways