Is it worth it?

They sell for fairly cheap on ebay (~300), and i will be installing them at my buddies shop. I have read how much of a pain in the ass it is to install, but i am VERY mechanically incline and i have a full shop that i am going to be using.

With that said, is it worth the difference? Its a 98 4runner with a 99+ maf and k&n intake setup. I eventually want to supercharge it, but i want to finish my drag car before i boost my runner.

I cant find any used good ones around my area, so a cheapy is the next best thing. And i know from what i have seen, high end headers dont make that much more power then the ebay cheapies.

Anyone here running one of these budget headers?

 

Unless you're running boost there's honestly no point. All you will accomplish is lose torque pretty much.

 

You probably wont notice much unless you open up the whole intake/exhaust..And then the gains would probably still be negligible..

Id say do the whole exhaust system in prep for the SC..

 

Are they the "race" headers I always see on Ebay? If so, those are shorty's, which would require some fabrication to connect up with the rest of your existing exhaust, which would compound an already painful installation.

 

i have these on my 2.7l 99 tacoma with a catback and a K&N intake. i can say that the low end power is about the same as stock but when you get up into higher rpm's you can tell the difference. The 2.7 is normally pretty lazy going up mountain passes, but with my setup i can hold a solid 75 up these passes which is pretty good.

The Pacesetter's are a PITA to install (mostly the manifold bolts...). they come with a flange/extension that bolts to one side of the header and the other side bolts to the cat. I ended up welding the side that bolts to the header because the flanges are so thin that they tend to leak and not hold. But other than that I like the setup a lot.

 

i didn't think that obx was a "cheapy" lol.. anyway i have one on my 2.7. been on there for a lil under a year, fit and quality were great. came with nice gaskets also.

 

Not sure if it would be worth it, I asked about getting headers on mine.. got the same response. I say S/C it first, save the money and get Doug's. that drivers side is going to be a Pain!

 

The headers i will be getting will be full length headers, and i am going to run w/o a cat and stock exhaust. I dont really want catback quite yet because most i see are kind of loud and i really dont want that.

I am figuring that the truck will sound very good with just the OBX full length headers, no cat, intake and stock catback. It should be a noticeable power gain as well. I also did some reading on customtacos and it seems like any header is a vast improvement over the stock cast manifolds. I am still on the fence right now though...

 

They are a vast improvement over the manifold but other things need to be opened up to get the full effect of the header. The K&N will help. Without opening things up (exhaust), they really do no good as others have said. It's like taking a big breath and half of a deep exhale, then constricting the rest (through the stock exhaust).

I ran my setup (K&N and pacesetter) with the stock exhaust for a long time. I was very happy with it. Opened up the back end with a high flow cat (in your case no cat) and a bit larger pipe diameter than stock ( I think stock is 1.25", I went to 1.5") with a Magnaflow muffler and I was surprised how much that helped. It just essentially lets your truck take a bigger breath and a deeper exhale for that breath. They do make cat backs that are not annoying. I have heard the JBA and they aren't that bad.

And with no cat you are straight piping your truck, and if you don't like loud this is not the route you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd34quxd3vA

I like the sound of a cat-back better IMHO.

 

^^^

That doesnt sound too bad, its got a deep rumble but not to loud. I just dont want to be annoyed while driving on the freeway, i mean sure i can always turn up the stereo but sometimes i just want to drive in silence LOL

I might be picking up a set of TRD headers, still trying to talk to the guy that has them. But if that falls through OBX here i come.....

 

Yeah the TRD's would be nice. The good thing about a cat-back and good muffler (a difference I guess would be the correct term) is when you heard the video, it sounds nice then in higher RPM's you get that "braaap!" Almost like a sled... With the cat-back (cat included) the higher RPM's give the truck more of a rumble. I think where you would notice the difference might be in the cab. It sounds in that video that it would resonate inside pretty bad.

With my truck it sounds nice when I open up but at cruising speeds (like you are saying about the highway) the in-cab sound isn't bad at all. A bit louder than stock but this is expected...

 

Yeah I am going with the TRD's. I am getting them at a VERY good price so i cant let that pass up.

I will be installing them sometime next week, i will also be removing the cat when i install the headers. I am going to hold off on the catback for now, i will get it eventually once i have some more spare cash...

 

Good luck on the install! Watch your knuckles and have a few beers ready.