Buying Headers off eBay......

[Arashi666]

OK so im about to buy some headers off of eBay, as much as I hate it, its alot cheaper than retail sites........

now my dilema is this:
Should I buy the brand name kit for $150 total shipped
or
the cheaper off-brand kit for $90 shipped

both are T304 Stainless steel kits, and both are marked for the proper Accord EX application (most dont list it and there is a difference between the EX models and all the other ones)

heres the difference:
DX/LX/SE:
O O O O

EX:
O OO O

at this point im leaning towards the name brand kit though

oh yeah and the Name brand kit is Megan Racing....... not as big as say DC sports (my other MUCH more expensive choice), but i havent heard anything bad about them at all, only good

[hsilman]

it all depends on your car.

I would personally talk to the enthusiast community surrounding your car, and see what they have to say, and if there are any dyno numbers for any of the headers.

eBay is really hit or miss. A lot of the time the off-brand stuff is really basically OEM replacement, and Megan Racing is a decent name, but nothing spectacular.

[wanderingmind]

Headers for $150 shipped :shock: :shock: Sounds WAY too good to be true.


DEFINATELY join a Honda forum and ask around.

[SmaartAasSaabr]

With a header you have two criteria to consider. Quality is one... of course you don't want it to crack, break apart, etc. The other one is flow. Fluid dynamics are fun.

[TSi+WRX]

Agreed x2 with the other guys here - you'll need to join a Forum dedicated to your-generation Accords, in order to get some specific data.

Megan is not bad at all. They started off pretty small about 3 years ago, infiltrating first the "eBay Retailers" market, and working their way up from there in terms of distribution/sales. Now, they're actually prototyping products (including actual dyno and road testing) in the States for new USDM vehicle applications (the current-generation turbocharged Subaru Legacies is a prime example of this), and have had excellent success.

In both of the communities I've belonged to/still belong to (DSM/Subaru, respectively), Megan's products are generally regarded as being of good-to-excellent quality for the price. There are a few who would turn their noses at Megan's products, but most are decided "parts snobs," or dyno-queens who go with more intensively tested pieces that are known to put out that extra few horses/ft.-lbs., or are true track/circuit/strip racers who require special considerations.

The generic eBay is often OK - there are a lot of people, especially in the DSM world, who use "generic" eBay FMICs or intercooler cores or piping without noticeable issues, and make for great performance. However, at the same time, there are definitely those cautionary "horror stories," too. As such, it then becomes IMPERATIVE that you get the word of your specific-vehicle enthusiast group, before you buy.

But honestly, as good brother Saabr pointed out, quality isn't the only thing to consider. You can be pretty sure that the Megan product will last (barring some rather unforeseen, but not necessarily uncommon circumstances), and should the eBay product be true "304 stainless," that it'll do the same. However, flow considerations are harder to come by, and unless some independent hobbyist source can show you either dyno or road/strip improvement, in an objective sense, it's going to be anyone's guess as to what the headers might really do in terms of altering your vehicle performance.

I don't know much about Hondas, so I'll take myself as an example.

Within the Subaru community, there's been quite a bit of end-user/independent testing done on many aftermarket headers, including the porting and polishing, and in some cases, thermal-coating of the stock exhaust manifolds and cross-pipe. And while the validity of these tests is sometimes in-question, it can still be said that such testing exists, and that they do offer the end-user some good feedback.

With my Legacy, for example, instead of spending big-bucks for the top-of-the-line headers, I simply went with a PP&C service from a known and reputable shop - and added an aftermarket cross-pipe (connects the manifolds), also coated by the same shop. While this combo effectively gave me excellent performance at my level of upgrades, should I go with a bigger turbo, I would have been better off paying for the more expensive component due to the greater gains possible.

Additionally, after fitting the PP&C'ed components and cross-pipe, the behavior of my vehicle changed significantly. I was professionally tuned prior to the installation of these components, and while it was OK for me to run these components with the pre-dated tune, it was far from optimized in terms of not only power, but also in the delivery of that power, and my driveability suffered slightly, but noticeably, until my new tune adjusted for it.

[holein1]

Header @ that price is gonna be total crap, might as well spend extra on a good set! I have actually seen cars loose HP after cheap header/headers were installed.

[TSi+WRX]

Headers @ that price are gonna be total crap, might as well spend extra on a good set! I have actually seen cars loose HP after cheap header/headers were installed.

^ I'm not in agreement with this @ 100%. Some, yes, but not all-in. Hear me out, bruddah, if you please........

Yes, it's true, more often than not, you get what you pay for, but in the case of the vehicle and parts in-question, it could very well be that economy-of-scale is what's making these parts "so cheap."

Price some parts for an Audi, some for a Subaru, some for a Honda, and some for a DSM - and yes, all the "performance" variants - and it becomes quite clear, quite readily, that economy-of-scale does have a big impact on parts pricing.

Since Megan, which is a reputable company who is known to actually test its products in real-world situations as well as on the dyno, is offering this product for all of $150, I don't think that it is unreasonable for "generics" - which may likely be carbon-copies of the "brand names," albeit with sloppier welds or maybe less refined finishing, to be had for the proposed $90.

One can't say that just because something is cheap, that it doesn't work - my PP&C work, even combined with the Injen SES cross-pipe (which was also aftermarket coated) was less than 2/3 the price of even the lowest-priced headers I have available to me on-market, but it gave most of the benefits - if not all - at my current power level. Tuned on the dyno, I saw, in conjunction with a cat-back system that's slightly more restrictive than most of the other aftermarkets (due to my concerns for noise and emissions control), I saw a significant left-shift on my plots, as well as received no less than 40 ft.lbs. of torque above what I had before. Yes, that's peak, but my area-under-the-curve improvement was more than just significant, and it was throughout the entire rev-range, too.

And yes, as with you, I've also seen the bad pairings - stuff that just didn't work.

But they're also not restricted to low-priced items, by any means.

This is why I think that the OP should pursue advice on a Forum dedicated to his particular vehicle's model-year and model, so that he can get accurate information, first-hand.

[Arashi666]

Megan Racing kits usually retail at about the 150-175 price bracket (before tax/shipping) a good deal considering some say its as good as DC sitting in the 250-350 bracket

either way it will be a probable gain over my restrictve stock setup, but who knows, flow is an important factor in all this too, but again most aftermarket 4-2-1 kits are gonna do it better than stock manifolds

oh and here arent many accord forums that are catered to my needs too well (I HAte joining and going through all that registration over just ONE question) and then all the general Honda forums are littered with all the Civic and Integra racer bastards....... all little a$$holes only interested in their gayness


in an attempt to save some cash, I decided i'd order the cheap one, I did it hours ago, so too late to talk crap now.......... its also in my 'experimental' nature, i'll put it on a few GT2 runs to see what hapens...... as for dynos, well yeah I have a base run after intake/exhaust but ive done plenty to it since then, so it wont be a good gauge of the headers alone

heres a pic of the kit, id post the auction, but thats a big no-no isnt it?????


looks real if it makes any difference

[Kremithefrog]

Like others said, ask on a forum for your car.
But at that price, they're both probably about the same (if not exactly the same). Some of megan racing stuff is OK but it ain't the greatest.
I know some guys that spend $1500 on a header. I'm not saying you have to get a custom header like them, but just saying quality comes at a price. I spent $700 on my headers.
I'd think a good header for your car would be atleast $200 if not $300.
Also, I've heard on some cars, DC headers aren't that great despite their price.
You've got a popular car, you should be able to find dyno graphs for just about every header option you have and reviews on them as well.

[holein1]

Headers @ that price are gonna be total crap, might as well spend extra on a good set! I have actually seen cars loose HP after cheap header/headers were installed.

^ I'm not in agreement with this @ 100%. Some, yes, but not all-in. Hear me out, bruddah, if you please........

Yes, it's true, more often than not, you get what you pay for, but in the case of the vehicle and parts in-question, it could very well be that economy-of-scale is what's making these parts "so cheap."

Price some parts for an Audi, some for a Subaru, some for a Honda, and some for a DSM - and yes, all the "performance" variants - and it becomes quite clear, quite readily, that economy-of-scale does have a big impact on parts pricing.

Since Megan, which is a reputable company who is known to actually test its products in real-world situations as well as on the dyno, is offering this product for all of $150, I don't think that it is unreasonable for "generics" - which may likely be carbon-copies of the "brand names," albeit with sloppier welds or maybe less refined finishing, to be had for the proposed $90.

One can't say that just because something is cheap, that it doesn't work - my PP&C work, even combined with the Injen SES cross-pipe (which was also aftermarket coated) was less than 2/3 the price of even the lowest-priced headers I have available to me on-market, but it gave most of the benefits - if not all - at my current power level. Tuned on the dyno, I saw, in conjunction with a cat-back system that's slightly more restrictive than most of the other aftermarkets (due to my concerns for noise and emissions control), I saw a significant left-shift on my plots, as well as received no less than 40 ft.lbs. of torque above what I had before. Yes, that's peak, but my area-under-the-curve improvement was more than just significant, and it was throughout the entire rev-range, too.

And yes, as with you, I've also seen the bad pairings - stuff that just didn't work.

But they're also not restricted to low-priced items, by any means.

This is why I think that the OP should pursue advice on a Forum dedicated to his particular vehicle's model-year and model, so that he can get accurate information, first-hand.

Well I sell the stuff (use to sell megan racing) until customers started returning them cause of the poor quality, fit & finish! They rust badly within weeks and give at best 1-2 HP if that!

You get what you pay for, $150 for a header and it's gonna be crapola!

DC is ok (the ceramic one rust quickly), edelbrock, greddy, comptech ect are excellent quality!