RNR, Full Race and EBAY 02 housing testing...

[David Buschur]

Well I have tried to call RnR for the last 5 minutes. They must be very busy there as all I get is a busy signal. I wanted to talk to Ryan about the header before I take it off my RS and move onto the next test of the Full Race manifold.

The RS has been apart waiting on suspension for the last couple weeks. I put it back together and threw a quick alignment on it. Changed some other things around and tried a few new things in the AEM map when I started it. Put the car on the dyno and made 3 pulls. The car made 333.2 whp and 331.3 ft lbs. The changes I made had little effect over the last time I dyno'd it but they are up a horsepower or two. I am running 22 psi peak and the boost is falling to about 20 psi. AFR's are in the mid 11's. I datalogged 3 base runs which were between 330 and 333 whp before I swapped the ported/coated stock manifold out for the RNR header.

First off, if you are going to install the RNR header you will need a few things. A 6-8" extension, a swivel and I'd suggest a ratching 12mm and 15 mm wrench. It's tight on some of the bolts. Also remember to get some couplings to put the new radiator hose on with or you will have to cut your stock upper radiator hose. The cam sensor shield is really nice, the headers is not too actually. Perfect fit as far as where it goes. The turbo doesn't have to be moved or twisted, bolts went in although some are VERY hard to get to.

I made 2 pulls with the header, both came in slightly under the ported/coated manifold by 2-3 whp. I graphed them and saw the slight loss in low/mid range that I have seen with every header. The boost dropped off about a pound at peak and 2 psi at redline.

This sent up a flag, I wondered if the loss in boost was from better scavenging of the head, if this was the case that would be GREAT! In my experience though the turbine wheel is the choking point and a header won't help with scavenging in that case. Jarrod was back there and I said, "What the hell, let's crank up the boost." I turned the boost controller up 2 full turns. I said, if it works it is going to make a bunch of power, if it isn't from scavenging it is going to knock like a b itch.

Next pull wasn't better. With the boost being equal to the manifold the power was down. Low/end midrange of the graph was the same but once the boost hit 21-22 psi the car knocked and pulled timing/added fuel.

The verdict is............I did what I could and honestly have seen the same thing I have on all the rest.

Sorry, believe me, I didn't short cut this and the car is tuned as aggressively as I can get it to make the power. This was proven with the increase in boost that caused the power to drop.

I am heading back to test the Full Race manifold now.

Here are the two dyno run comparisons:








David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com

[David Buschur]

We are jamming here. Pulled off the RNR header and put the Full Race header on.

Exceptional fit. Every bolt is easy to access, no "special" tools. You do need to start 2-3 of the nuts on the head flange before tightening them up as the clearance from the end of the stud to the runner is tight, not a problem. Header is beautiful.

This particular header had a pre-production head flange on it. The ports were smaller than the ports at the head. I knew that could hurt the test. I called and got ahold of Geoff on his cel phone (shop gave it to me) and asked if I could port match it to the head. He said, "Please do as that head flange is not what we are going to see, it is all we had that we could get you in time for a test."

Anyway, first pull I was shocked to find that it gained power. The car made 339.7 whp and 335 ft lbs of torque. This was an increase of 7.7 whp and 4.7 ft lbs over the ported/coated stock parts. Very small loss up to 3800 rpm, very small maybe 2-3 hp at most. Over 4500 it made more power to 7,000 rpm.

I pulled up the datalog to compare to the stock manifold pulls and was surprised to see the AFR's changed quite a bit. Went as lean as 12.2:1. Very odd. It had cooled down quite a bit in the dyno room as the "sun" here is going down.

This leaner AFR would for sure make more power. I double checked the logs and boost and added 2-3% of fuel in the midrange. Pulled the car again and the power came down just a little.

The graph below shows the two parts compared to each other with the AFR's and boost levels being the same (same way I did the test with the RNR header). This header has much shorter runners than the RNR but has longer runners than any other production header out there, that I've seen.

Surprisingly after the AFR was adjusted the spool up is IDENTICAL to the stock ported/coated parts. This is the FIRST time I have seen a header NOT loose anything on the low/mid range. The power is basically the same, just smoothed out a small dip in the base pull I did.

Very nice. I don't know what this piece costs but I am sure Full Race can chime in. I'd say if you are looking for header this is the one to buy. I will give it my "stamp" of approval




David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com

[David Buschur]

Uh, hmmm, crap, what to do now? Here it goes.....haha.

Just tested that EBAY crap. Well guess what, it isn't such crap. Damn it, I hate to even post this! haha

That darn O2 housing actually works! I cannot believe how much the car picked up. It really opened up the exhaust flow. I have the high boost actuator on the car with the boost controller turned down all the way. Boost has been 21-22 psi peak. Well we threw the EBAY O2 housing on the car and the boost picked up to 22.8 psi. There must have been more restriction there than I thought. Not a huge gain but some. The gain was in the HP and Torque. It is almost not believable. The Full Race header is still on the car. We are swapping it back off right now to put the ported manifold back on. It will be interesting to see if the restriction in the 02 housing helps the header flow more or will help the manifold too.

Below is the dyno graph. It's pretty amazing. This is on PUMP GAS and has been all day! The car gained 13 whp and 12 ft lbs of torque.

This is a part I have absolutely NOTHING to gain by saying it works. I can sell the RNR stuff I can sell the Full Race stuff but I can't sell these! Damn it! haha

The truth is the truth, I don't lie about testing and I don't fudge results. This is wether I can profit from it or not.

I just hope a part like this doesn't crack and break as I would think it can't last as thin as it is. Sure makes some impressive gains in power.

Increase from 3900 rpm to 7,000 rpm. The increase in boost is probably most of the cause but I CAN NOT decrease the boost level more than it is. The boost control is backed off all the way and it is running on the actuator only. Inteteresting fact is the knock count did not increase at all with the increase in boost.



Enjoy and stand by for one more manifold test. This freaking header is HOT HOT HOT. Tough getting it off the car.




David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com

[David Buschur]

First, yes,the turbine housing for all this testing has been a single flapper 10.5 ported and coated and the 02 housing has been our ported/coated unit.

Second, we already pulled a 02 housing off the shelf to try to make larger than we have been. I am worried that making the casting too thin will cause it to fail and crach eventually, that is why they aren't larger than they are already. There is a point that you cross on things like that that could come back to haunt you. We will be testing a new housing next week though to see if we can enlarge it enough.

We already swapped the manifold back on. Did three pulls. No tuning changes. The boost is also up, as matter of fact it now hit 23.00 for an instant. So the O2 housing was for sure a restriction in the system.

The new dyno chart is below. Spool up for the Full Race header compared to the Ported/coated manifold is still identical. After 5300 rpm the Full Race header makes more power than the stock ported/coated manifold. The difference isn't huge, the header is now 4.1 more whp and 3.2 ft lbs. It was consistent on both runs though so it is a gain for sure.

That's it. 6 pm, we are closed and going home for Christmas. This will conclude our header testing. We cancelled the order on the other header, DC Sports, that we were going to test. I want my car together, I have other things to do to the car and test.

If the RNR header was easier to install I would give it another shot. Bottom line is the gains stayed consistent no matter what combination was tested so I don't see the minor loss in low/mid range with the RNR header to improve and power up top, while it may increase still shouldn't exceed the manifold as it didn't before. In other words, don't cry, I'm not re-testing it

Our ported 02 housing I will test again as it is something I think we can improve and we do sell quite a few of them. I'm honest but I'm not stupid

You all have a great Christmas!!





There's the sheet.

David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com

[Papa Romeo]

So how much is the Full Race header going for?

[SoCalAlex]

Dave,

i can't say thankyoue enough for everything you guys do for the 4g community.

No back on topic....

How do you fee the stock ported and coated manifold would do with on the mitsu flanged gt30r pr gt35r turbo's? You just proved that the tubular manifold aren't much better than hte stock one, but how would it effect spool and flow on a larger turbo?

[David Buschur]

I haven't gottena price from Full Race for the headers yet.

The stock EVO manifold would work well IF there was good way to bolt the turbo to the manifold, problem is there isn't any good way to do it.

We have a cast manifold for the EVO for a GT35R kit.

David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com