Header and Corksport Exhaust

[Minimazda]

After having it sit around for almost 2 months I finally got to put my header (which I got from Andres) on the car. First off the installation was interesting to say the least, the bolts were nearly impossibly to get off. We used everything we had, including a 3ft breaker bar, to try and break the bolts but they gave up a HUGE fight. We finally got them off but ended up having one severely stripped in the process and must be replaced. With the header finally on I must say I am impressed with the results. I havent had a chance to push the car completely to it's limits but I can feel the car accelerating much more quickly from 70 to 90mph.
I have the header going straight onto the Corksport exhaust with race pipe so I do not have any cats. The CEL is there for the moment due to that but we will be fixing it soon enough =)
As for the amount of noise it makes, it actually has not gotten to much louder. Sounds a bit deeper and does sound louder at low speed acceleration but when I'm just cruising along it is just as quiet as before.

Next up is getting the ECU reflash for the car =) I can't wait to see what this car is made of!

 

[BigBlueDart]

Sounds cool! I've been wondering if that setup would work well, with maybe a hi-flow cat in place of the race pipe.

 

[mykflo]

Congrats. I've been dying for a set of headers but TEXAS law will sniff test me car after its 3 years old and i'm afraid of failure as its my daily driver. I too have the Corksport racepipe and cat back exhaust. I also have the DYNOTRONICS reflash.. I love my 2 compared to stock. I only need the headers to call it a day but again, not sure how it would affect my inspection. Let me know if the CEL goes away. I wonder if I would pass TX inspection. Me Jelly.

 

[Minimazda]

It would all depend on how TX does the inspection...the CEL will go away once we do the little bit of trickery on the o2 sensor. Lucky for me FL does not do any sort of tests on cars and since it is no new I'm not concerned =). It does have a stronger smell of exhaust, to me it doesnt smell bad because I'm strange and enjoy the smell but if I stand outside my car while it's on I can smell it easily. There is NO smell inside the car thankfully though.
As for reflash I'm actually going to one that's a few hours away from me. I can't lose my car for even a day so I'm using them instead, plus I am very picky about where my car goes and watching every second of it.

 

[CorkSport]

You should post up a video of the exhaust setup, have a gopro?

-Derrick

 

[Andres3165]

It would all depend on how TX does the inspection...the CEL will go away once we do the little bit of trickery on the o2 sensor. .

Glad to hear that you finally did it. Did you plug both O2 sensors? I never got a CE light.

Andres

 

[Minimazda]

As far as I am aware they are both plugged in (I was passed out on the couch during this part)...we are going to clear the CEL and see if it does come on again. When we went to retighten all the bolts the next day a few of them were a bit looser than we thought so it could just be going off from possible leaks.

 

[mykflo]

It would all depend on how TX does the inspection...the CEL will go away once we do the little bit of trickery on the o2 sensor. Lucky for me FL does not do any sort of tests on cars and since it is no new I'm not concerned =). It does have a stronger smell of exhaust, to me it doesnt smell bad because I'm strange and enjoy the smell but if I stand outside my car while it's on I can smell it easily. There is NO smell inside the car thankfully though.
As for reflash I'm actually going to one that's a few hours away from me. I can't lose my car for even a day so I'm using them instead, plus I am very picky about where my car goes and watching every second of it.

Not to thread jack, apparently I should be good to go as long as i don't remove the cats. Is that possible with this header and the full corksport exhaust (race pipe plus cat back? Did you have to do anything different with the O2 bungs?

 

[Minimazda]

Well when you get the Corksport exhaust (catback) it stops right before the second cat but the racepipe will delete the second one. The header does not have a cat so you will lose the first one if you get this header. As for the bungs, nothing different was done to them.

 

[Andy Hollis]

Congrats. I've been dying for a set of headers but TEXAS law will sniff test me car after its 3 years old and i'm afraid of failure as its my daily driver.

No they won't.

OBDII cars get a plug-in emissions test, not the sniffer. So as long as you have Readiness shown and no codes, you are good to go. My car passed just fine with a header and tune. The key is to have both O2 sensors working on either side of the cat. Or play games with foolers.

And there needs to be a cat there to pass the visual, or at least something that looks like a cat.

 

[S_]

Not sure in Texas, but I know in some states that different counties have different emissions standards. Maybe they sniff test in his county?

 

[Andy Hollis]

Not sure in Texas, but I know in some states that different counties have different emissions standards. Maybe they sniff test in his county?

Nope.

Everybody gets a regular safety inspection (wiper blades, tire tread, lights, horn, etc.) and the big cities get emissions testing. The latter depends on the age of the car. Pre-OBD cars get sniffed, while OBD cars get the plug-in test. Buddy of mine who runs a shop is on the state board that governs the testing, so he is up on all the latest info.

 

[Minimazda]

This makes me more and more glad I live in a state that doesn't care about car maintenance lol. "Oh! You have duct tape holding your front end together and Zip ties holding up the exhaust?!" "No problem...move along" lol it's always a fun time seeing cars like that. But it lets me do generally whatever I please to my car and not have to worry about an inspection.

 

[BigBlueDart]

No inspections here in Alabama, either. We had them up in Utah, but they get some really bad inversions there in the winter that makes the smog hang pretty low. I think that's a good reason to have car inspections.

 

[Andy Hollis]

This makes me more and more glad I live in a state that doesn't care about car maintenance lol. "Oh! You have duct tape holding your front end together and Zip ties holding up the exhaust?!" "No problem...move along" lol it's always a fun time seeing cars like that. But it lets me do generally whatever I please to my car and not have to worry about an inspection.

That's the "personal freedom" angle.

The flip side of that is that people have wrecks because of bald tires in the rain, poor visibility due to worn out wipers, can't stop because their brakes are crap, get run into because their brake lights don't work, zip tied muffler breaks free and damages the car behind it, etc.

*You* could be the victim of that wreck, or at the very least your insurance rates are higher because less safe cars have more and worse accidents.

It's a small price to pay.

PS: Both my daughter and wife have been run into and suffered permanent injuries, in separate incidents. I was in the car during one of them.

 

[mykflo]

Thanks for all the info guys, its a lot clearer to me now and looking more promising. This will help me make up my mind to get the headers. Since i have the Corksport downpipe, i will end up with no headers. thats the only obstacle i see right now IF they try and look at it. Looking forward to your review MINIMAZDA!

 

[Minimazda]

I agree with you. I was more being sarcastic about the joy of seeing cars in such poor shape driving on the road. I can't even count the amount of times I deal with people who have no tail lights working and suddenly stop.
A few months back some counties in Fl were going to start doing car inspection check points but never went through with it...sadly. I'd be happier trying to figure out a way around the lack of cats than the constant battle of finding my way out of car accidents.

 

[BigBlueDart]

Yeah. When I moved out here I was baffled by the number of cars that always seemed to be on the side of the freeway.

 

[jasyatz]

I'm on the road 10-11 hours a day and I can't tell you how many burned out headlights, falling off wipers, bald tires, missing exterior mirrors and non functioning tail lights I see. NJ stopped safety equipment inspections in 2010 and it's like people just ave up on maintenance.

I actually saw the guy putting a pass sticker on a car, and then call over to his 2 coworkers to push this sh*tbox Caravan outside the State Inspection building with a flat tire.

It's a shame some people just dont give a damn about their own( and others) safety. How many of you give your car a walk around daily?

 

[Minimazda]

Wow. That really is sad. I didn't know NJ stopped doing the inspections.
I do a quick look at my car everyday before I go out. Mostly just to be sure I didn't acquire a flat tire somehow. My car is always getting touched for some sort of upgrade so I am pretty on top of how things are running but never now what the tires are gonna be like the next day lol

A few weeks back I was going to my club dyno day and I did a quick walk around to be sure my tires were good to go and the lug nuts were all on and tight....get down there and put the car on the dyno to find out my locking lug nut was gone....Luckily we got our hands on an extra lug nut but even that reminds me how even checking my car BEFORE I go out something can always happen along the way. I still wonder what happened to that lug nut.