DC headers as bad as everyone says?
 

So whats the deal?

Alot of ppl on here seem to bash the DC brand headers and say they are crap. Yet after all the research I've done seems to show that the DC headers yield the best bang for buck against many other brands and types. Sportcompact car magazine did a huge header shootout where the DC headers showed excellent power gains compared to many others. I don't really see whats wrong with them. They make them with 2.5" collector which is ideal for street/track use and decent power gains. Plus through reading about their manufacturing processes, I can tell you they don't just slap them together with chewing gum and paper clips.

So if there is something I've missed, please let me know. Because I see nothing wrong with getting a stainless or ceramic coated 4-1 DC itr or jspec header with 2.5" collector and 2.5" highflow cat with full 2.5" cat back system and getting good gains from it and saving a few coin.



One other thing, some of the companies headers that were suggested on here are actually built wrong, or at least the picture of the header is wrong. On a b-series motor, for a 4-2-1 header design, cylinders 1 and 4 must be joined first as well as 2 and 3, then those two collected to one for proper tuning and scavenging. Some companies that join 1 and 2 first as well as 3 and 4, then join, those will mess up the scavenging characteristics of a proper 4-2-1 header, and they kind of sound like a subaru and actually lose power. Anybody know what what I'm talking about?

they crack and rust and fall apart...not ideal for a header...but when they are brand new they are decent

^^ Nice link. Lots of info.

But they only talk about the old style DC headers with the smaller collectors for CARB compliance.

You can get any DC or megan racing header now with a 2.5" collector (just go to the website).

Also their construction can't be that bad with the manufacturing technology we have today. Maybe the older ones were made poorly but I don't believe the newer ones are all that bad.

i used a jdm type r 4-1 stainless DC header on a 2.0l b series engine that made 220whp and 160 wtq and it was NA....i didnt have $900 for a hytech header...it did a good job. every mild steel header is going to rust and eventually fall apart, its mild steel.

How long have you had your's on for and what condition is it in now? That particular header has a 2.5" collector correct?

the problem with the DC headers is they dont seem to like the heat cycling especially in canadian winters...they always seemed to crack at the welds in the spring after countless hot/cold cycles all winter...people that used them primarily for a summer use car didnt have that problem

what would you guys suggest as a good brand for decent gains that can withstand canadian weather then?

SSAC :thumb:

^^What is SSAC? Is that a brand or an abbreviation?

i have both a stainless steel dc and a ceramic dc header on two of my cars. the stainless steel one hands down is top notch quality and it turned a nice goldish colour and i have absolutely nothing but good things to say about it even fit and finish. however the ceramic one when i bought brand new it did its job but after a couple of months it went down from there. it looks horrible like a old exhaust manifold thats been painted with cheap silver paint and it sounds like its leaking. so i took it off and replaced it with another stainless dc one.

Yes it's an abbreviation.

SS Autochrome. I'm just kidding though, try and stay away from this product.

So the ceramic DC headers are not so good. OK.

It just doesn't seem right that everyone bashes all headers that brand when so many ppl do use them and they do work well. You just have to know which ones are good and which ones to stay away from.

I have a Dc header on my civic and love it. I have seen a few of the ceramic ones look like ass after a while, but the stainless ones always look in great shape.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...8/DSCN3821.jpg

^^Looks nice!

That looks like the 4-2-1 one piece unit. That have a 2.5" collector or is it the stock size 2.25" that bolts up to the stock cat?

I'm going to be heat wrapping my header so I don't care too much about looks. As long as it doesn't rot away and crack.

I think it's the 2.5 collector, cus I have an aftermarket cat. I lucked out with this one because I ordered the ceramic one, but they sent this by mistake. I'm going to be wrapping mine as well. The reason I wanted the the ceramic one is because they don't dissapate heat to the engine bay.

If you are going to do it do it right.

what is your goal?

more hp? i guarantee DC header wont give you anything, except the sound.

Dont waste your money man. unless your goal is to mod the car, and get rid of all the stock parts lol

DC headers actually do give you decent gains. If I could find the article I would show you guys. Sport compact car magazine did a huge header shoot out and the DC headers gave some of the best numbers.

But again, if you get header with a 2.25" stock size collector, you're not going to gain much. But if you go with a header with a 2.5" collector and run the rest of your exhaust 2.5" all the way back, then yes you are going to gain a decent amount. If you run a header but with stock size exhaust the rest of the way, how can you expect to gain anything.

I'm planing on running s2s2 cams, spring & retainers, shaved head, itb's (oh noooooz, I said itb's!!! LOL) and a full 2.5" exhaust front to back.

A heat wrapped header will dissipate less heat to the engine bay than any unwrapped ceramic header. If you really want to keep heat out of the engine bay you should heat wrap the header no matter what kind it is.

You seem like you want to have a nice built there. Save a little more money get a good header so that your header isn't your bottle neck. I would hate to see you get this DC header then see it restricting you from having higher numbers. Than you would have to go out and get another header. the DC header wont give you full potential from stage 2 cams, not even stage 1 IMO.

just think about it before, its always like this: you get what you pay for. When it comes to tunning an N/A car every little bit counts! and the header is VERY important. Dont go cheap on the header if you cant afford a good one just dont do it, unless you are doing a very mild built like I/H/E and thats it. Ones you start getting into cams you need a good header to help you get the most out of your N/A engine.