After taking forever to make a decision, searching and reading this forum for answers to my many questions, I purchased a Megan Header for my 1994 Prelude VTEC. I am running my stock catalytic converter and used genuine Honda nuts and gasket when attaching the header to the engine. Now, after driving for a bit, going down to the store and getting something to eat, then driving home, I popped the hood open. My god is it hot under the hood. I don't remember it being this hot before. I did add heat wrap to the header thinking this was a good idea. But still... if the wrap is doing its job, I don't know what it would be like without it. My car is pretty much stock, only an optima battery, K&N drop-in filter, and this header is all that is aftermarket. My question to all on this forum is... how hot does this setup run without heat wrap? Can you touch your hood? Is it overwhelming? For those of you who are running your 4th generation Prelude with a Megan (or DC) Header WITHOUT wrap.... have you noticed your hood discoloring? How about parts under the hood? Faster deterioration of parts? And how about those A/C lines? Are they going to be okay without a heat shield protecting them?

Any information is greatly appreciated. Below you will find the end result of today’s activities.







I must say that the soot you see above the header is from my previous stock manifold which was cracked.


Modified by HondaTheory at 7:48 AM 4/26/2006

 

I ran a wrapped DC for 7 years with no problems, and plenty of people have run them without wrap. What is the black stuff on the head around the flange, exhaust leak? If that's ok then I think your setup should be fine.

 

Yea i think its pretty common that the engine bays on ludes get hot. I've got an h22 with dc ceramic header and my hood is almost untouchable in the summer after 20 mins of driving. It is very convenient when you need to warm up some food. Kinda like a big hot plate. But really you dont have anything to worry about as long as your gauges are reading normal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by flyrod &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I ran a wrapped DC for 7 years with no problems, and plenty of people have run them without wrap. What is the black stuff on the head around the flange, exhaust leak? If that's ok then I think your setup should be fine.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

My stock exhaust manifold was cracked. So the black stuff you see above the flange is from the stock set-up. All is well right now. No leaks from the top end that I can hear/see/smell.

The temperature has been bugging me. But if people on here have not seen any problems with heat, then I will not worry as much.

7 years without any problems sounds good to me

 

I have had this header for about a year now...and I can say I did have a lot of heat as well BUT it wasn't an issue.everything is still fine and dandy!
Any 1 have good proven gains with this header?
But 1 ?...adding a header,doesn't that creat more heat regardlass of the brand?.the stock manifold "looks like a header BUT is covered by a heat sheild"therefor its getting blocked?..am I right?

 

I haven't seen an H22/H23 that doesn't produce a lot of heat. My hood gets hot enough to steam away any rain or snow when I'm driving. Can really see it at a stoplight, lol - steam rolling off the hood and people looking at me and my car like something's wrong.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicSiDriver02 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yea i think its pretty common that the engine bays on ludes get hot. I've got an h22 with dc ceramic header and my hood is almost untouchable in the summer after 20 mins of driving. It is very convenient when you need to warm up some food. Kinda like a big hot plate. But really you dont have anything to worry about as long as your gauges are reading normal. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes. My temp gauge looks good, and so far I haven't seen a Check Engine Light. I'm worried about the rapid deterioration of engine components and my hood warping/discoloring in a concentrated spot.
I would have to agree with all of you, this engine does not run cool.

 

Sorry to thread-jack, I've just spotted a black sooty/oily mess like in the picture above my header, would this perhaps be related to a high-pitched whistling noise I hear at about 3000 rpm? I'm going to try and remove the heat-shield later on and see if I can see any obvious cracks in my stock manifold.

Perhaps it's time for an upgrade

I just noticed some little fuckstain keyed my car at the weekend as well - if only they'd done it on the other side, where the paint is starting to bubble. Sad lude

 

i have the same header on for about 6 months now and have never noticed a hot engine. i do have a carbon fiber hood but i have never seen discoloration/damage on the hood or inside components. i also have a new stock cat but i did have a cat-back exhaust installed to widen the piping a little bit since my old one rusted and fell off.
so i may recommend some slightly larger piping to get the air out of the header a little quicker to let the engine breath.

 

Go to a machine shop and get a heatshield made or get your old one adapted to that new header it should help you out some.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fzr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sorry to thread-jack, I've just spotted a black sooty/oily mess like in the picture above my header, would this perhaps be related to a high-pitched whistling noise I hear at about 3000 rpm? I'm going to try and remove the heat-shield later on and see if I can see any obvious cracks in my stock manifold.

Perhaps it's time for an upgrade

I just noticed some little fuckstain keyed my car at the weekend as well - if only they'd done it on the other side, where the paint is starting to bubble. Sad lude </TD></TR></TABLE>

The crack in my stock exhaust manifold along a weld spot was fairly small (you can't really see it with the naked eye),that is what cuased the oily sooty mess. I am going to clean that up today.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTECRaZeR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Go to a machine shop and get a heatshield made or get your old one adapted to that new header it should help you out some.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is not a bad idea. At first I had been looking into a "heat blanket" Thermo Shield, but now that you have said this, I think this would be best.

 

Dont mean to thread jake but i was looking to get header for my car and was wondering other then heat issues if you would recomend megan racing. to the cause emissions problems. do they fit good. thanks

 

To prevent the temp of the hood from getting out of control, line the bottom of it with this&gt;&gt;&gt;http://performanceunlimited.co....html

It worked out really good for me, cooled down my hood significantly. I also put it on the black rubber/foam A/C line that runs right by the header, just in case

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 97Preludeguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To prevent the temp of the hood from getting out of control, line the bottom of it with this&gt;&gt;&gt;http://performanceunlimited.co....html

It worked out really good for me, cooled down my hood significantly. I also put it on the black rubber/foam A/C line that runs right by the header, just in case </TD></TR></TABLE>

This stuff looks good, thank you.

 

I purchased a Megan Header for my 98 lude about 4 months ago and i havent noticed a difference in heat from my old DC headers. (my headers arent wrapped) nor have i had any quicker deterioration of parts.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 97Preludeguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To prevent the temp of the hood from getting out of control, line the bottom of it with this&gt;&gt;&gt;http://performanceunlimited.co....html

It worked out really good for me, cooled down my hood significantly. I also put it on the black rubber/foam A/C line that runs right by the header, just in case </TD></TR></TABLE>

good find

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PenguinHerderBB6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I purchased a Megan Header for my 98 lude about 4 months ago and i havent noticed a difference in heat from my old DC headers. (my headers arent wrapped) nor have i had any quicker deterioration of parts.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for you responce.
Is there more clearance between the header and other compoents under the hood of a 5th generation? Meaning, room to breathe.

 

I thought I would post a follow-up on this Megan header installation which I have been driving on for 2 months to date. All has been great with the install up until about 2 weeks ago when my car bottomed-out in a DIP. The Header was dented which caused it to strip the threads from the header itself and the "B" pipe. Unfortunately I could not get to work on it for 2 weeks, in turn the gasket that goes between these two pecies burned (literally) and had to be replaced. I drove out to Megan Racing headquarters in La Puente, CA to pick up the part. I must say they have a large shop. They were able to give me a replacenet gasket under warranty for no charge. After taking care of the exhaust leak and dented header, I am back on the road & good to go! Overall I am pleased to say that this was a good choice as an alternative to replacing the stock manifold which was cracked.

 

if you're really concerned about heat you can put get tabs welded onto the new header to possibly adapt the old heat shield to it. or maybe you can just make a new heat shield. won't cost much

 

I really like how you secured the wrap with pipe clamps instead of those little tie wrap things. I plan on doing this to my DC header soon because of rust issues. I have like less than 100 miles on my DC sports header and its covered in rust already

 

Yeah those are hose clamps he used, great idea. Nice looking engine bay too , Ive had greaddy 3 to 5 months now and it's been great. No problems so far. My hood never gets wet in the header area, the water just steams right off and that part of the hood is dry. LOL

 

thats the only thing you can use is the hose clamps...you cant really use the zip ties because they would melt off, specially in the summer time

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lewdin’ Incognito &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My hood gets hot enough to steam away any rain or snow when I'm driving. </TD></TR></TABLE>


same here

 

I am looking at the megan header just for a simple aftermarket replacement till i can afford rmf, smsp, etc...but i was lookin at this header and noticed that it has no flex pipe...Why? and is that ok?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...QrdZ1