Oh forgot about this little shard of genius from you....

No, fool, they are every bit as efficient, the inside of the header is not ceramic coated so they are just as effecient (or inefficient if you prefer) as regular headers. They do dissipate less heat though, although this has nothing to do with the efficiency of the header.

 

First I didnt say that uncoated headers are worthless, I said they are a waste, as in a waste of money if they are not coated to begin with. Also you CAN have them coated inside and out along with coating the Ypipe, which is what I will be doing. Uncoated headers will emit more heat then coated ones thus heating up the engine bay tempretures which will increase the tempreture of the air that goes into the intake. Whether these are significant increases or not the point can not be argued that a car sucking in HOT air will not make as much power as a car sucking in COLD air. Denser air promotes better air/fuel mixture which will make for better power. Well gee if thats all you want them to do is look good then buy uncoated and go to Lowes and get a can of spray paint (any color you like) that can withstand tempretures of 2000 degress or more and paint your headers and save yourself the money of getting them coated. Who knows maybe I just gave you an idea that you hadnt thought of before. Also people that need a dyno machine to help them through every decision they make make me sick. F#ck a dyno, they dont take into effect every condition that is encountered outside the shop they are in.

 

First I didnt say that uncoated headers are worthless, I said they are a waste, as in a waste of money if they are not coated to begin with. Also you CAN have them coated inside and out along with coating the Ypipe, which is what I will be doing. Uncoated headers will emit more heat then coated ones thus heating up the engine bay tempretures which will increase the tempreture of the air that goes into the intake. Whether these are significant increases or not the point can not be argued that a car sucking in HOT air will not make as much power as a car sucking in COLD air. Denser air promotes better air/fuel mixture which will make for better power. Well gee if thats all you want them to do is look good then buy uncoated and go to Lowes and get a can of spray paint (any color you like) that can withstand tempretures of 2000 degress or more and paint your headers and save yourself the money of getting them coated. Who knows maybe I just gave you an idea that you hadnt thought of before. Also people that need a dyno machine to help them through every decision they make make me sick. F#ck a dyno, they dont take into effect every condition that is encountered outside the shop they are in.

 

First I didnt say that uncoated headers are worthless, I said they are a waste, as in a waste of money if they are not coated to begin with. Also you CAN have them coated inside and out along with coating the Ypipe, which is what I will be doing. Uncoated headers will emit more heat then coated ones thus heating up the engine bay tempretures which will increase the tempreture of the air that goes into the intake. Whether these are significant increases or not the point can not be argued that a car sucking in HOT air will not make as much power as a car sucking in COLD air. Denser air promotes better air/fuel mixture which will make for better power. Well gee if thats all you want them to do is look good then buy uncoated and go to Lowes and get a can of spray paint (any color you like) that can withstand tempretures of 2000 degress or more and paint your headers and save yourself the money of getting them coated. Who knows maybe I just gave you an idea that you hadnt thought of before. Also people that need a dyno machine to help them through every decision they make make me sick. F#ck a dyno, they dont take into effect every condition that is encountered outside the shop they are in.

 

Yeah, conditions like cool air moving through the engine compartment drawing heat off of the headers and away from the air box . Don't get me wrong in any of this. I definately see the point of ceramic coating, it has its benefits, but those benefits simply do not make uncoated headers obsolete and "a waste". When I buy headers, i'll pay the extra little bit to have them coated, but I'm not gonna pretend that the coating is gonna give me some magic boost in power. The guy asked what he could do with $500, I said headers and since coated headers are more expensive, suggested uncoated ones. Now...since it took him from christmas till now to save up $500 I'd say he's on a tight budget and could then be perfectly justified in buying uncoated headers which, while giving off more heat and looking all crusty, will provide him with a pretty decent boost in power. Again I've never heard of header heat damaging anything under the hood (unless something was resting right on it) but you could get some insulating wrap and cover whatever you want protected for a lot cheaper than ceramic coating. Maybe this is an idea YOU haven't heard of. Btw...what do you hope to accomplish by coating the inside of the header? Keep them cooler? Flow better? Not trying to be a smart *** I just really don't know what that would accomplish.

 

The fact that the inside of the header wasnt coated was part of your arguement not mine. Its essentially insulation for the inside as well, doubly enhancing the fact they are coated on the outside. While rare headers have been known to generate enough heat to fry wires and starters mainly and that will certainly be more likely if he gets uncoated ones. The fact it took him a month to save $500 isnt that bad in my opinion. Id either wait a while longer and get coated ones or I would get gears. Unless he plans on putting the headers on himself any shop is certainly going to charge him more then 150 to put them on so he wont be able to afford them anyway. Go with gears or rocker arms, you definitly get as much bang for the buck as you get with headers. And the torque convertor is definitly a good idea, I keep forgetting were talking about an automatic. Think about it if coating headers results in a 2-3% decrease in tempreture there is going to be performance gains from that no matter how you look at it. If there was no benifite then nobody would be getting ceramic coated headers.

 

I would get a torque converter if i were you. They are expensive, but you can get them custom made by someone local for your specific car and plans for alot cheaper and should work better.

 

wish i could save $500 every month.... at that pace... my car would be insaine,....lol

 

I know a shop that will install my headers AND my off road pipe for $425, plus they said they would install my plugs for that as well. I'll leave out the name for now until I get mine done incase any EPA is listening!

 

Let us not over look what should be done fist, safety safety safety! I will go out on a limb here , but you prob cant hookup,right? How about some help w/ the traction first. I know it isnt as fun as gears or a conv, but you will still need to hookup!FWIW

 

Get a converter. This will be the best mod you can do for a A4. I would look at a 3500 stall at the minimum.

 

WOW snake...

DO NOT GET ROLLER ROCKERS!!!!! That is something you dont neee right now .
No LT header's are a waste of money . No matter if they are coated or not you are going to see some gains . You may have a 1 hp loss from uncoated after the car has been running for a while. ANd what in the world is the stock bottom end thing supposed to mean ? Are you kidding ?
Roller rockers wont do much good without headers anway .
And IMO the first thing you should get is gears . It accents a stock setup fairly well and dont cost much . You should see a good gain from it .
Then do headers .
You should consider some free mods . I did a FRA mod on my car before I converted it to OEM ram air and it made a HUGE difference once the car was in motion . It is not a waste of time and nets good power . At least 15HP , no joke!
W/e you decide to do , good luck .

 

500 bucks isnt gunna get you alot. Is this 500 for the part or part and labor? Most of us dont have enough tools or time or space to do a cam install or headers etc. So that gets a stuck with the labor and you sound like a kid so i doubt your gunna have a wide array of tools at your disposal and these motors are very sophisticated and not your regular SBC. You have to tune the ecm etc, parts are expensive and complicated to install.

I am no mechanic and have no endevor to be one. I do concider my self "knowledgeable" about my car but no expert.

If your just starting out, just get a lid and catback. 2 best mods for the buck. All these jokers who say LT's want you to get a cheap *** pair of painted headers that are going to get your engine bay so hot you are going to lose hp. Then you have to get a Y pipe another 2-4 depending if you want it off road or emissions legal.

Gears are redicilous at this point. What you want him to blow the rear end? With gears comes a spedo calibration, and the risk that you will blow your rear faster.

Roller Rockers are good and they are good for 15-20 hp but most roller rockers require hardened pushrods and new valve springs. Thats more money that your prob dont have plus its a mod that works with a cam if you dont know what size cam your going to get if you choose to then dont open up the motor until that time since you will just end up changeing the springs over twice.

MAF- Is good for 2-5hp at BEST plus it may require a tune depending on what you want plus it costs 300 dollars and is not very economical


This is what I would do:
SLP Lid-a lid is a lid good for 8-10 hp
catback, for the money LM good for another 5-10
that brings you to 540 or so. The good part is that the lid you can do yourself along with the catback since all you do is clamp it on. Thats a good 20hp or so and those mods are staples for a good running car. Also, you can do other mods such as Headers, etc and it wont impact your catback at all.
Then save up for a good cam, LS6 intake or LSX, then roller rockers, MAF and a tune and you should push some serious HP


Also NO WAY WILL TEH FRA NET 15HP maybe fly which translates to 3-5 at the wheels. All the FRA mods net about 15hp all together like ported MAF, FRA, EGR mod etc.

Free mods are good but alone they dont net much.

Also you cant feel any Ram Air mod until you reach speeds of atleast 70 plus. So if your driven around town you arent gunna feel it

 

I kinda agree with you .
Lid/catback are a great combo as long as you get a really good flowing catback , youll see GREAT results from the 2 .
But I can tell your no mechanic . 3:73's are not gonna" BLOW " his rear end . Some auto's make it into the 10's and I have over 14 4th gen f-body guys in the loacal club deep into the 12's and high 11's beating their cars every weekend pulling 1.6-1.9 sixties in their auto's and have yet to have a problem with the stock 10 bolt...sticks are another story .
You wont be dissapointed with gears unless you are on the highway alot . If you are you wont get near as good gas milage with an auto .
As far as headers go ...Um....LT's are Great ! I dont care if they are painted or not . If he has the money for coated ones...great..fantastic! They are the way to go if you have the money . But uncoated headers will do pretty much the same job for ths most part . Most of my friends have done Uncoated and everytime had pretty much the same results as me and mine are coated .
And the FRA nets a good amount of HP . I have exp. this first hand . I helped more then one friend do this and the ported Mass air flow housing and seen more then 2 tenths on one occaasion at the track . It is more then 3-5 HP at the wheels . At is at elast 10 in most cases .Specially if you combine the lid/FRA/ported MAF. You see more of this with a stick then auto .
BTW , the Y-pipe comes with the headers .
I got my coated headers and Y-pipe shipped to my door for 300$
ANd you dont have to be a GREAT mechanic to put the cam in . You just need basic mechanical skills and be redy to spend some time researching and working on the car .
But Dollar for dollar you may be right about the lid/catback .
texas speed made 14HP to the wheels with their TSP catback and It sounds DAMN good too !

 

I apoligize for not responding quicker! And to the last 2 people that responded, I already have a SLP Lid and a Cut-out that i run open all the time better than cat-back right?? Im still debating either headers although im totally confused after that big debate! Gears or a torque converter and D/R's! Can someone give me a good estimate of gains with each of these! Im looking more at Torque converter and stickies!!! Thanks