Actually, what I would like to know, is whether you are really getting good gains from purchasing headers, or is it the up-pipe portion that really helps with the performance gains?

 

the headers will give you alot of gain. my friends car use to be neck and neck with me, both Sti's. Then he got the manifold and pulled away by like almost 2 cars with the manifold.

 

heres a dyno graph back from my STI, only part changed was added wrapped GT-spec headers. +2.3whp and 21.5wtq just with the headers. as you can see from the circle thats the only amount of lag thats present, you dont even notice it unless you see it on the chart. Though when I put headers on my 02 wagon the lag was very noticable and took them back off. Is yours an STI?

 

No, mine is only an '05 WRX sedan. So, putting headers on a wrx, one would need to get tuning for it to run properly, right?

 

yep, and most likely you'll only notice mid/high end gains though.

 

thanks for the info.

What type of gains could be received with headers, in addition to an up-pipe and cat-back exhaust?

 

the wrx has a cat on the up pipe, so if you get an aftermarket up pipe gains will be good.

 

I already have an up/down/cat-back = Up-pipe w/Turbo-back. I am just trying to find out what/if headers would give me any gains, or if the gains were actually only really felt due to changing out the stock up to an aftermarket up-pipe.

 

The 2 biggest gains you can get are Upipe, and Engine Management.

Adding a short DP/full DP will be the next step.

I personally am looking for better low end torque, my top end is fine.
This is why I will not upgrade to a bigger turbo, unless it spools up faster.
Currently I am looking at a VF23 to see what results people are getting with that but have not found any solid information yet.

 

what he said.

save your money on headers if you already have an up-pipe, the lag is way more noticeable on a 2 liter than on the 2.5, and the top end on the 2 liter is so much nicer than it is on my 2.5 I never really feel a need to rev any higher, keep all the low end and spool you can!

 

cool! Thanks for all the insight!

 

Exactly what Krinkov and Mcdrama said. Low end is your friend. I don't want the crappy lag and fuel mileage that bigger turbos give you (unless I can find one that spools better and gives me alot better low end). Check out and see what Ed did with his almost stock WRX. This is who I am going to have tune my car.

https://www.i-club.com/forums/bay-area-15/finally-got-around-tuning-my-wagon-interesting-results-115774/

 

Very interesting!

 

I love the top end I gained from my headers on my 03 WRX. I don't even notice the "extended lag", when I got my car tuned, since I got my turbo ported and polished, my lag was down and the headers added a little bit of lag. I can barely notice the difference and the top end is righteously powerful.

Cheers,
Austin

 

Most racing happens with the top-end anyways, right?