Hey guys,

So I have just ordered my stainless steel piping to get started on this project. Should be done within the next couple of weeks.

I will be making a set of custom headers for my car. Primarily, I will be cutting the cast portion of the headers and replicating the design with 1.75" stainless steel primaries. This should yield about 5 hp and drop some lbs. I will be using the stock flanges and piping from the o2 bung on.

I will be posting pictures later, but I was just wondering, is anybody else interested in this? (Just wondering)...

I could probably do this for about $200 for both headers if you supply me the headers so that I can use the stock flanges and o2 bung... ??

 

Let me see how yours come out when your done. Did you get your material from Burns?

I have been salivating over some supersprinters but awake from a nightmare over the price.

http://www.supersprintna.com/product...arch_model/192

 

what gains are realistic with those? 20?

 

Holy Cow !!!

$2,800 dollars for a little set of shorty headers?

What are they made of platinum ???

Slim

 

I know that's insane!

 

No matter how well designed a header is, isn't the actual increase in H.P. directly related to how "restrictive" the stock exhaust manifold is?
Does anybody here really know how bad, or how well the "stock" manifold flows?

 

it is 1 of the "big flaws" of the slk32 and i am pretty sure it applies on our cars as well...

if this thing can net around 20+ horsepower i am all for it when I start doing my engine work... sure it is not cheap, but what can you expect the company has reputation and any work on these engines is not cheap... I am sure you can custom fabricate a set that is equally as good for less, but that will be custom work and you will have to know what you are doing... they did all the work for us here... and besides there is very little demand for this product so i am happy they at least created one for us..

 

Sidez, are you saying that the Mercedes 3.2 engine is notorious for bad exhaust flow? I was not aware of that. But truthfully, I knew very little about these engines to start with.
It just seems that my engine likes to rev pretty quickly, and with the flat torque curve, and the relatively high "max" speed we enjoy, I thought these are usually signs of a "good breathing" engine.

 

what i know is the slk320 and the slk32 use the same exhaust manifolds... that does not sound so good to me... I am not sure if this applies to us but I would not be surprised if it does...

they had to cut costs somehow and this was just one of the ways... and they did not bother recreating a new exhaust manifold for such a low production car... as the slk32 also has no more than 3,000 produced... even fewer than the srt-6.

the problem with n/a engines is getting enough fuel running through and the problem with forced induction engine is getting the gasses out so I am sure that this point can be improved on especially if you were to do other modifications like increasing the psi... besides the stock exhaust has to pass emissions, but an ideal one does not...

 

Before you guys get crazy, I would have the manifolds flow tested first, and then flow test the exhaust part of the heads. This will tell you if you really need headers or not!
The AMG SLK32 has ported heads, so I'm willing to believe the heads are more restrictive than the exhaust manifolds. A bigger exhaust valve would be a cheap answer to porting, the 2 intake valves are already at 100% efficiency, but that 1 exhaust valve is not. Don't believe me check it out yourself, any SAE book will tell you this.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that headers are 'tuned' using header primary lengths, flow, curve, etc.

You can't just take 3 pipes, collect them into one in such a way that they will fit into the car, and hope for a huge gain. The flow characteristics must also be better than the stockers.

This is more so the case on a NA engine, I would think...but still important on a boosted application.

Basslover, check your PM's. Are you located in San Antonio?

SQ

 

Hi! Yes I am and I responded back to you hopefully I can make it out.

I will be pretty much simply copying the stock design and if I well believe there are already someone who makes headers for a e55 I think (or some number like that) that looks exactly what I am talking about... So it should work.

 

The Arizona company Floored Fabrication discovered that the oem manifolds actually shroud the exhaust ports. This is never a good thing for flow.

I also 100% agree with Sidez in that using the same design on the supercharged engine is the least bit ideal. It's not like we are pushing 4-6 lbs of boost here - we're cramming 14.5 lbs up to 18 or so.

Nobody needs headers. People want them to increase performance. Will they free up horsepower and torque? Of course they will. When was the last time you saw/read about a header swap that didn't end up increasing both horsepower and torque?

Yes these cars' engines are different but in the end they are air pumps just as every other engine out there so the same principals apply.

 

It was on a Lexus 3.0L inline6 IS300. I believe the company was Skunk racing, or was it Skunkworks racing? Anyways they built up a full set of headers for this car, and it didn't make any more hp then it did in stock trim. The restriction wasn't the manifolds it was the exhaust valve ports.

I've also seen a guy bolt on a larger throttle valve body on a 4 valve dirtbike. No horsepower was gain from this because again the restriction was the intake valve ports.

 

I might need your help with these if you could make some with one more pipe on each side and still match up to the stock down pipes.

 

Definitely interested... although I am not certain whether the headers for a non-supercharged Crossfire Limited would be the same as a SRT-6... For instance, does anyone know whether the Supersprint headers for the SLK32 would fit the Crossfire Limited?

 

Not that I don't believe you but do you have a reference to this build?

They should fit as they are the same basic engine. They are sooooo expensive though.

 

Here is a screen shot from superstreet online. These alphawerks headers produce 14 HP and 15 ft lbs. There must have been something else going on with that particular car.

 

they would fit... not bolt on though, but what would be the purpose of the install? a naturally aspirated engine does not gain much from this upgrade whats so ever as I stated before... the problem of naturally aspirated engine is pushing the fuel through the engine and the problem of forced induction engines is getting the exhaust gasses out and running cool enough to prevent heat soak...

since the slk32 uses same exhaust manifolds as the slk320 than would it really be surprising if the srt-6 used the same exhaust manifolds as the n/a crossfire?... and if it does... coupled with even larger psi... I can't see this mod not making large power...

Everyone cuts costs and here is just one place where it was done... but as for the n/a engines I don't think that the exhaust manifold is really a stalling point in performance... I mean sure you can make gains with headers either way, but I would be surprised if they were noticeable... only so much a 3.2 6 cyl can do without forced induction...

 

o come on they are not THAT expensive... with the other parts of a stage 2 it comes out to barely over 6,000 and the car should be running low 12s maybe someone can even put it into the 11s... now that is good performance.. for a supercharged 3.2... after my rims come Ill start doing some engine work and I am really looking to get this thing running...