(upbeat music) - These headers cost 400 bucks, they should take about
half a day to install and they're gonna look super
sick in the engine bay. But none of that really
matters if they don't even make - [Deep Supernatural
Voice] More power baby! - So today we're gonna find
out if aftermarket headers are even worth it. I'm Zach and this is "Money Pit". (lightning striking)
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a good 'ole time piece. (gentle music)
(care engine humming) (curious music) We made it, let's see how
much this puppy makes. So with a naturally aspirated engine, one of the quickest and easiest ways to make some extra power, of course, after you've done
an intake and an exhaust, which we've already done on the Miata. One of the next easiest and cheapest ways to make some power is a set of headers. So today we drove down to my old buddies at EF1 Motorsports in Long Beach to strap the Miata to the
Dyno and see what it makes. (drill buzzing) - [Eddie] What are you thinking? - Honestly 115 I think is my guess. 120 would make me really happy. As long as we're in
the three number range. (upbeat music) (engine revving) Triple digits. 102.8 we'll round that up to 103. It's triple digits. We're also gonna wanna pay
attention to our torque curve, 'cause it might change a little
bit with our new headers. We might lose a little torque
down low with the new headers and we might gain some in the middle. So we're gonna pay attention to that too. All right so this is the last poll, we're gonna rev it to 7,000,
we were only doing 68 hundred. We're gonna see if those
extra 10 or 15 horsepower are living in those last 200 RPMs. (engine revving) It didn't live there. But we tried. 104.4, you know what, it's triple digits. It's not the 115 I was
hoping for but I'll take it. Honestly, I'll take it. Maybe we can make 115 with the new header, that would be sweet. I think if we make five
horsepower with the header that makes it worth it. But if we make 10
horsepower with the header that makes it pretty sweet. If I just make one
horsepower with the header (Zach farting)
Not worth it. So with that it's time to drive
my 104 horsepower turd home, strap a header to it and
see how much more power if any we can make in about half a day. Then we'll come back here
and do this all over again. Shall we pull? - [Eddie] Yes. (upbeat music) - Woo okay! Big numbers, we got our
baseline, 104 horsepower. So that makes our target 109 horsepower. But before we tearing into this thing trying to make them buff horses, let's take a listen and see
how things sound right now so we can prepare for new headers. (engine revving) All right now that we got it nice and hot let's go touch it. (drill grinding) (upbeat music) Ah! Heat shield out the way. There's a factory manifold. Not too shabby. Now let's get it out. (chill music) (drill whirring) (wrench cranking) (drill whirring)
(chill music) So this thing's been
coming apart pretty easy. Which is awesome. But if you're fighting your hardware, it can be really helpful
to let 'em soak over night. And like DB blaster or some
sort of penetrating oil and then if that's not enough
you gotta bust out the torch. Okay, that's the last one. (metal clanking)
(cat meowing) Now the real test, let's see if we can get this thing out in one big piece. If we can that's great. That means we can probably
definitely get the new one in. (metal clinking) Oh shit! Oh shit! (metal clinking) (chill music) (Zach laughing) No problem. New one's gonna go in like buttah! You know what? Not bad Mazda, not bad. Done good for 25 years it's time to go. (chill music) My hose! So while we're in here I
figured we might as well replace all of our exhaust studs. To do that it's pretty easy, you can use two nuts to
jam against each other so you can remove the stud and then you can install your
new stud just the same way. Jam two nuts on there and then you can tighten in your studs. Time to see if we can slam this puppy in. (metal clanking) - [Eddie] You think it's gonna go in? - Yeah. If I can get that stock one out there's no reason this shouldn't fit. Yo. I love it when a plan comes together. (upbeat music)
That looks cool too. So a high quality header like this one from Roadster Sport is made
out of quality materials, the welds are gorgeous, they don't look like they're gonna crack, and the flanges are really
thick and perfectly flat. So that's where you'll
find the differences really in quality. But how are these things
supposed to bring us up to that 109 horsepower
number that we're targeting? Or hopefully higher. It is just like how an
exhaust gives you power. Headers are supposed to
flow a little better. And they help scavenge the exhaust out of the combustion chamber. We talked about that in our exhaust video. Go check that out if you wanna
know more about scavenging. Basically it's like sucking the exhaust out of the combustion
chamber which is helpful. So in theory, that's how these make power. It doesn't matter if it's a four cylinder, a six cylinder, an eight cylinder, as long as it's naturally aspirated, headers can be a good
way to make some power. So if you're shopping
for headers for yourself, you might come across a
couple different styles. What we've got here from Roadster Sport, this is called a "Four into One". It's pretty simple all four
primaries collect into one and then keep going. Or you might see a
"four into two into one" or what's called a tri-y
'cause there are three Y's in the header. (bell dinging) A four into one is
generally gonna be the best for scavenging and flow at high RPM. So these are the best for
making peak horsepower. But you can lose a little bit of low end and mid range torque which can
make it feel a little worse. But a tri-y is generally
pretty good all around where you can gain mid range torque but you might sacrifice
some top end power. And so since a four into one style header is the best for making peak horse power, that's what we went with
'cause we're chasing that 109 number. - [Eddie] And you think it's
going to make that five power? - Dude it's making five for sure. Six, maybe. Seven, who knows dude. You don't know. I'm gonna put these nuts on. We'll tighten them down
and then that's about it. Pretty easy install. A-okay with that. (upbeat music) (metal clanking)
Golden hour, bro. (upbeat music) (deep exhale) Okay that's everything. Let's put it on the ground, see how it sounds. Moment of truth. (upbeat music) (door slamming) (upbeat music) (keys clicking)
I disconnected the battery. (laughs) Are you ready? (engine revving)
(upbeat music) Sounds pretty similar. Added a little quick rev now let's see what she sounds
like under load on the road. That's what really counts, you know. (engine revving) (engine revving) It sounds great. It only took about a half a day to install and it looks sick. So, now it's time to see if there's
any proof in this pudding. So we gotta go back to the
Dyno and see if we're making that 109 horsepower. (upbeat synthesizer music) All right so me and all
my hair made it back down to EF1 Tuning inside of EF1
Motorsports with the Miata with the new header on to see
if this thing is worth it. Remember, we came down here
before we installed the header and we made 104 horsepower. And I was saying that if we
make five extra horsepower with the header then it's worth it. And if we make 10 then it's very worth it. But if make less than that five I'm not sure if it's so worth it. - [Eddie] What do you
think you're gonna land on? (drill grinding) - Honestly I kind of feel
like 109's gonna be it. What do you think? - [Eddie] I'm going to say 111. - 111? Nice, optimistic. Cool. All right, well, there's
only one thing left to do. (upbeat music) (engine revving) (upbeat music) (metal grinding)
(upbeat music) Okay so we've only gained
around a horsepower in terms of peak power. But we have gained a little
bit of mid range power. Where we had a bit of a
dip in our power graph. Now it stays a lot flatter so, you get a little more airy under the curve which is really important. So, peak power, not quite there yet. Let's give it another run. Maybe we'll hit that 109. But I'm starting to doubt it. (engine revving) Woo hoo hoo! All right, two horsepower. We're talking 106 now! It ain't no five but eh, you
know, what are you gonna do? That's why we gotta turbo this thing. You can see the headers
basically changing color in front of your eyes. They're a lot bluer now. That looks sick. - Yeah I'm kinda worried we're gonna max out the Dyno on this one. - All right, last run,
last chance for 109. (engine revving) (celestial music) Oh! Closer! 107 and a half. We've made about four horsepower. Which I, I mean that's on the cusp of
what we were talking about. It's in the ballpark and if we say that how good they look
is worth one horsepower, then baby we're right on track. Right? Kind of. These are the mental hoops
you're gonna have to jump through if you really wanna get into cars. Okay? You gotta justify this stuff somehow. Yeah, we didn't hit our
magical five horsepower but we did add a lot of mid
range and upper range torque. We added some cool looks, it sounds awesome, it wasn't very expensive, and it was easy to install. So, okay, we didn't hit five horsepower but I'm still gonna say it was worth it. Sorry. Droppin' bombs, baby. Still worth it, didn't hit the
horsepower, doesn't matter. - [Eddie] Light him up! - Light him up, light
me up in the comments. (laughs) No you guys agree, it's worth it. It doesn't matter. It's not about four or five horsepower. It's about the fun you have installing it, driving it, and coming down to
your buddy's shop to Dyno it. So, we had fun. It looks cool, sounds great, worth it. On that bombshell that's
gonna do it for us this week. Thank you guys so much for watching. Follow me on Instagram @ZachJobe follow Donut @DonutMedia and
we'll see you guys next week.
