RE: 10V header cost = astronomical

["Jörgen Karlsson" <jurg@axs-memory.se>]

Hi Graydon
You seem to having done some scetching too, and you are right, except for
one thing, prefabricated bends are a LOT more expensive here in Sweden. At
least three times the price :(

I also forgot to mention that the headers will not be connected to the stock
wastegate and turbo. This would have been a bit more expensive. They also
said that the tightness in the engine compartment is half the price. This
means that their material cost must be close to zero...

After reading this I think you can agree with me that it is not a
unreasonable price.

The things I discussed with the shop:
K24 bottleneck above 260 HP.
Internal wastgate/internal wastegate.
Mitsubishi turbocharger/Garret fan/KKK relic.
Headers is a waste of money for a K24.
Equal length runners.
I5 fire order, a pain in the ass when building headers :)
Collector or not.
Moped sized studs.
Boost level.
Intercooler.
Power goal.
Burnt Exhaust valves on high boost, without headers, 20v.
Weak cylinder head bolts. (Replaced with BMW bolts!)
Power gain from headers, they say that they do not use the headers to make
power but for decreased lag.

We chose:
Internal Wastegate, Mitsubishi turbo, Equal Length (Without overdoing it.),
Will not connect runners in Fire Order (probably only no 3 as I see it, will
theoretically increase the lag), Not to use a Collector, (Will decrees lag.)
main reason not to use an external wastegate, and we chose to use flex pipe
(or let someone else build it they said), and of course they will not be
polished.

The way they build them.

They are bending the full length of each runner in one piece, including the
longest ones. The longest ones (straightest) get a flex pipe welded in to
allow the runners to expand without doing any damage to the moped sized
studs. The curled runners no 2 to 4 (the turbo relocated further back.), all
expand in more or less the same direction.

This was what that price included.

Their recommendation on when to get headers of this calibre:
After you have decided to run more than 1.5 bar,installed an intercooler,
grenaded the 200000 mile engine:), have let them rebuild it for 1.9 bar+ and
got a port job.

I will not be buying headers against that recommendation but as a former
plumber I will probablly start building a set of headers myself but from
ordinary seemless steel tubing. Since you have been putting that much time
in to the header plans I would like to take advantage of your knowledge.


Jörgen Karlsson
Gothenburg, Sweden, Europe.
jurg@axs-memory.se
http://come.to/jurg
http://quattro.tsx.org