97 Accord F22B2 Daily Driver Header Exhaust Manifold!!?? First Post
#1
04-28-2010, 03:41 PM
97 Accord F22B2 Daily Driver Header Exhaust Manifold!!?? First Post
Well I would first like to thank everyone on this forum for sharing their wealth of knowledge with me and all the rest of the newbies out there... thanks!!
Well after reading posts for many months (and saving up) I finally decided to do some basic upgrades to my daily driver 1997 Accord LX F22B2 Manual. I was not sure between stock exhaust manifold vs header so I started with a Catback exhaust.
I went with the Bosal 112-301 (looks nice in person compared to stock photo) and it really brought my car to life. My Accord became much more responsive and fun to drive!! And it sounded great, nice deep sound but not too loud. The exhaust was a direct fit and looks really nice with dual chrome exhaust tips.
After reading many different opinions on the forum I decided to test out the Header ( Headers ) vs stock exhaust manifold for myself. I called Bosal to see if their Header would reduce torque or increase bhp and they said that "the Honda stock exhaust manifold is a very good manifold and tough to beat". He went on to say that when they tested their header (on the F22B1) that they did not gain a significant increase or decrease in hp or torque and that their headers are designed to meet manufacturer spec (All 94-97 Accord EX and 97-99 Acura CL [F22B1] have 4-2-1 Manifold while all LX and SE [F22B2] have 4-1 : the Bosal header is designed to the EX and CL spec but is advertised to fit all models).
The F22B1 has vtec and the 4-2-1 manifold and the F22B2 has no vtec and 4-1 manifold so I was curious as to how my F22B2 would drive with the 4-2-1 exhaust manifold.
Since I have an F22B2 LX model I decided to try the stock F22B1 exhaust manifold and downpipe from a 97 Acura CL. The oxygen sensor had to be extended down to the front of the cat in order to fit right. The first thing I noticed was that the engine had a rough idle and a loud drone from about 1800 RPM to 2200 RPM and the exhaust did not sound as nice to me (too loud, still sounds deep but rough not as smooth as before). I did not notice a big difference during normal driving but it seemed a little less responsive during low RPMs and it seemed to pick up faster at higher RPMs particularly from 3rd gear and up it seemed to scream at higher RPMs.
At this point I still had a stock air intake so I decided to try a short air. The intake made it more responsive but I was still not happy with the loud drone so I went for the Bosal 111-351 Header. The header fit very nicely and looks great in my engine bay. It has a silverish "ceramic" finish and the inlet and outlet were a little larger than the stock manifold's so it seems like they would give you more air flow. The header also got rid of the loud drone that came from the stock F22B1 manifold and downpipe. The exhaust still did not sound as smooth as it did with the original F22B2 exhaust manifold.
After all was said and done and having filled my curiosity and compared three different exhaust manifolds/header I still would go with my original F22B2 exhaust manifold.
My Accord drove and sounded its best with my original F22B2 stock manifold, Catback exhaust and air intake.
My car is just a daily driver so to me since I am not adding a turbo its not worth having to mess with oxygen sensors and all of the broken engine studs and warped nuts and bolts that can go along with swaping out headers and manifolds on older engines.
On my next Accord whether its a F22B2 or an F22B1, instead of spending around $300 on header/exhaust manifolds I would put that money towards a good quality air intake/exhaust and maybe some stock Acura/Honda wheels and some good comfort tires or maybe some paint for the side panels and front and rear bumpers or maybe some jdm style headlights....basically anything except headers.
Anyway this is my First Post so if I messed something up or if I have stated some incorrect information please let me know.
thanks
Well after reading posts for many months (and saving up) I finally decided to do some basic upgrades to my daily driver 1997 Accord LX F22B2 Manual. I was not sure between stock exhaust manifold vs header so I started with a Catback exhaust.
I went with the Bosal 112-301 (looks nice in person compared to stock photo) and it really brought my car to life. My Accord became much more responsive and fun to drive!! And it sounded great, nice deep sound but not too loud. The exhaust was a direct fit and looks really nice with dual chrome exhaust tips.
After reading many different opinions on the forum I decided to test out the Header ( Headers ) vs stock exhaust manifold for myself. I called Bosal to see if their Header would reduce torque or increase bhp and they said that "the Honda stock exhaust manifold is a very good manifold and tough to beat". He went on to say that when they tested their header (on the F22B1) that they did not gain a significant increase or decrease in hp or torque and that their headers are designed to meet manufacturer spec (All 94-97 Accord EX and 97-99 Acura CL [F22B1] have 4-2-1 Manifold while all LX and SE [F22B2] have 4-1 : the Bosal header is designed to the EX and CL spec but is advertised to fit all models).
The F22B1 has vtec and the 4-2-1 manifold and the F22B2 has no vtec and 4-1 manifold so I was curious as to how my F22B2 would drive with the 4-2-1 exhaust manifold.
Since I have an F22B2 LX model I decided to try the stock F22B1 exhaust manifold and downpipe from a 97 Acura CL. The oxygen sensor had to be extended down to the front of the cat in order to fit right. The first thing I noticed was that the engine had a rough idle and a loud drone from about 1800 RPM to 2200 RPM and the exhaust did not sound as nice to me (too loud, still sounds deep but rough not as smooth as before). I did not notice a big difference during normal driving but it seemed a little less responsive during low RPMs and it seemed to pick up faster at higher RPMs particularly from 3rd gear and up it seemed to scream at higher RPMs.
At this point I still had a stock air intake so I decided to try a short air. The intake made it more responsive but I was still not happy with the loud drone so I went for the Bosal 111-351 Header. The header fit very nicely and looks great in my engine bay. It has a silverish "ceramic" finish and the inlet and outlet were a little larger than the stock manifold's so it seems like they would give you more air flow. The header also got rid of the loud drone that came from the stock F22B1 manifold and downpipe. The exhaust still did not sound as smooth as it did with the original F22B2 exhaust manifold.
After all was said and done and having filled my curiosity and compared three different exhaust manifolds/header I still would go with my original F22B2 exhaust manifold.
My Accord drove and sounded its best with my original F22B2 stock manifold, Catback exhaust and air intake.
My car is just a daily driver so to me since I am not adding a turbo its not worth having to mess with oxygen sensors and all of the broken engine studs and warped nuts and bolts that can go along with swaping out headers and manifolds on older engines.
On my next Accord whether its a F22B2 or an F22B1, instead of spending around $300 on header/exhaust manifolds I would put that money towards a good quality air intake/exhaust and maybe some stock Acura/Honda wheels and some good comfort tires or maybe some paint for the side panels and front and rear bumpers or maybe some jdm style headlights....basically anything except headers.
Anyway this is my First Post so if I messed something up or if I have stated some incorrect information please let me know.
thanks
#3
05-01-2010, 12:21 PM
Cat restricting air flow??!! Causing rough exhaust sound!!??
I am going to swap out my Cat to see if I can get some of the deep sound back from my exhaust. I think that my old Cat cannot handle the increased air flow from the new header and Cat back combined and it might be(probably) causing some of that raspy sound. I will post the results when I upgrade.(Hopefully soon.)
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