After trying to sell it for two months, I finally gave up and installed my Spoon header. Basically, I just wanted to do something new to my car (I'm sure you guys can relate). I'm pretty pleased with the results, too. For fun, I snapped some pics of the process:

The first order of the day was to remove the DC header which was on the car. It had been on for about 10k miles, so I knew rusted bolts weren't going to be a problem (whew!). All in all it was a fairly smooth operation.

The first thing to do was to disconnect the 02 sensor. Press the tab on the upper part of the plug, and pull up. This should seperate the two pieces. Then pull down on the lower part, and that will remove the plug from the bracket it attaches to. Here you can see the upper part already disconnected, with the lower part still on the bracket:



Next, the header bracket needs to be unbolted from the car. I didn't know this and so I unbolted the bracket from the header, seen here:



Then I realized that I had to take the bracket off completely in order to drop the header. Additionally, the Spoon header does not have a matching bracket on it like the DC does, so for weight savings I removed the bracket altogether Here you can see the two bolts holding the bracket on. The position of the bolts relative to my position under the car made it awfully hard to get a good grip on the rusted-*** bolts, but a breaker bar saved the day.



Then I undid the nuts which held the collector to the cat. Didn't take a pic...this is pretty easy to grasp. Now it was time to unbolt the header from the head. For cars with air conditioning, it helps to remove the bolt which resides in the hole in the pic. This allows the a/c plumbing to be moved, which is crucial when removing/installing a header. This is really self-explanatory, but you have to remove the dipstick to attack one of the bolts.



Here most of the bolts are removed:



Once the header is completely unbolted, lay some towels under the car so the header doesn't get damaged when it's lowered. It's a little tricky to get it off the car; I found that if the collector swings toward the driver's side of the car, then you can angle the left side of the header (if you're standing in front of the car) down and out. Now unscrew the 02 sensor from the header. I used a vise grips for this.



To install the header, just reverse the procedure. I ended up sliding the header onto the two bolts which stick out of the head and rested it there while I hooked up the 02 sensor and connected the collector to the cat.



After that, just bolt the header to the head and rebolt the a/c line. The finished product:





Some notes:

—It makes life much easier to soak all the bolts with WD40 for a few minutes before beginning.

—Apply anti-seize to the bolts when you're ready to reassemble everything. This will make the next header install that much smoother.

—It helps to have an extra set of hands when removing the old header and when putting the new one into place.

—Wipe the header down with a clean cloth after installing, but before starting the car. This will remove any dirt, grease, or oil (whether from hands or otherwise) and will help the header turn a more uniform golden color. After one drive (albeit a spirited one), the header had already taken on a lovely golden tint.

Finally, I did a comparison of ground clearance between the DC Sports JDM ITR and the Spoon header. The tape measurer was set to the same height for these pics. I think it's pretty obvious which one is the Spoon header I was expecting much worse clearance from the Spoon, but if anything it has a little better clearance. This is on a B16.





For the half-assed review:

It was misting lightly when I went out for a drive, so I took it pretty easy. The first thing I noticed was the tone of the exhaust note, which was changed greatly. The car has a deeper tone in the mid-range, and the tone almost sounds like it is vibrating—almost like there are two distinct notes. It's very cool, just really hard to describe As far as power goes, it felt like there was greater torque from 3000 rpm-4500 rpm. It also felt like the top-end (7000 rpm-8000 rpm) was improved. But I stress that this is only the butt dyno talking. I cannot confirm or deny any gains as of yet. I am planning on getting the car dynoed in a few days to see what kind of difference the header made. Overall I'm not expecting much (if any) change. The real power will come with tuning.

EDIT: I will be selling my DC Sports header. It is dented, but I made 147 whp with it on my car (I/H/E B16), so obviously it doesn't affect power much (if any). Feel free to PM me with offers

 

looks really nice! way better then the DC header

 

sexy! whats that golden piece worth?

 

New headers look real nice. I have those DC headers, was there a noticalbe increase with the spoon headers?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by viCeVerSa &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sexy! whats that golden piece worth?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not sure what you mean. The spark plug cover? Too much I don't specifically remember what it cost, you can find them at http://www.ipsracing.com

TakumiFujiwara: If I could direct your attention to the half-assed review at the bottom of the first post, you should find what you are looking for.

 

careful not to dent that thing!

 

damn thats a nice looking header..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpoonEK2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">careful not to dent that thing!</TD></TR></TABLE>

No kidding *fingers crossed*

 

nice, thanks for the review !

 

Spoon header!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by delsolguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">But I stress that this is only the butt dyno talking. I cannot confirm or deny any gains as of yet. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Hehe Im the same way when I do mods. My **** is out of calibration.

 

From the pictures, it appears that you don't have the springs installed on the header &gt; cat. bolts. Was this intentional? I would be concerned about the lack of flexibilty resulting from having the two pieces bolted together without any spring to absorb engine movement.

 

Any pics of it uninstalled?

 

sweet header

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by delsolguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I'm not sure what you mean. The spark plug cover? Too much I don't specifically remember what it cost, you can find them at http://www.ipsracing.com

TakumiFujiwara: If I could direct your attention to the half-assed review at the bottom of the first post, you should find what you are looking for.


i think he was talking about your header, because you commented about how it turned a lovely tint of gold or something along those lines. i think its a nice header tho
</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Padawan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">From the pictures, it appears that you don't have the springs installed on the header &gt; cat. bolts. Was this intentional? I would be concerned about the lack of flexibilty resulting from having the two pieces bolted together without any spring to absorb engine movement. </TD></TR></TABLE>

It was not intentional, just a result of not having the springs there originally. When I had the DC header/cat/exhaust installed, the person doing it did not use springs, so I didn't really give it much thought when I installed the Spoon header. I'm not too concerned; the DC was on for a year with no problems, and the way the donut gasket sits in the flange of the cat allows for some movement.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jin_ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any pics of it uninstalled?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No...it's a long story but stupidly I did not take pics of it without the tape on. I was going to take a comparison pic of the two headers on the ground, but I got all excited when I realized the ground clearance wouldn't be so bad on the Spoon, so I just went and installed it Here's a pic:



<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JUN EK9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i think he was talking about your header, because you commented about how it turned a lovely tint of gold or something along those lines. i think its a nice header tho</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh I see. Well, in that case, I picked the header up from Leo @ http://www.jdmspecperf.com for $800.

Thanks for the comments guys

 

looks just like my del!.. sweet ,, is that a stock b16a3 or did you drop a diff. one in thier???..

 

It's a stock B16A2 (I have a '97).

 

Nice

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by delsolguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

After one drive (albeit a spirited one)

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats the only way to drive

 

Dam all Motor is money, thats like almost 1/2 a turbo kit

 

you selling the dc piece?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Quad-Damge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Dam all Motor is money, thats like almost 1/2 a turbo kit </TD></TR></TABLE>
but it's worth it

 

so the dc is the jdm one? waht cat did you used?

 

Yes, the DC header was the JDM ITR one. I used an SMS Products' modified Carsound cat, with a 2.5" JDM flange on the inlet and a regular 2.5" flange on the outlet.

The DC header is also for sale. I will make a classified post for it after I get back from vacation on Tuesday. I'll be around tonight if anyone wants to PM me, but after that I won't be available until next week.

And all-motor parts may cost as much as a turbo kit, but the expense is spread out over a longer period of time