3sge header to 5sfe, how much of an improvement and will it bolt up? Options

[goferris]

hey all. i've been thinking about getting a header for my pretty much stock 5sfe and have seen the headers on ebay but realised that the 3sge came stock with what looks like a pretty decent header.

i was just wondering if it would better to get a stock 3sge header with the heat shield already attached vs buying a cheap header off ebay then wrapping it. would the performance boost (however little it may be) be about the same?

also i'm pretty sure it would bolt to the engine just fine but how about to the rest of my exhaust system and would it fit in the space there? i'm sure i would eventually just get a whole new exhaust system header back but in the meantime will this fit before hand?

another reason i ask is because i was chatting with lewfx the other day about getting a header and he said it really heat up the engine bay when he had one on his celi. since the 3sge header is a stock one with the heatshield i figured it would be a little bit cooler and a lot better quality than the ebay headers.
TIA



VS



This post has been edited by goferris: Jul 12, 2008 - 9:12 AM

[Bitter]

incase its not apparent in your pictures you posted, the ports are spaced very differently between the 2 heads.

[DEATH]

incase its not apparent in your pictures you posted, the ports are spaced very differently between the 2 heads.

The above statement is totally false.
I can testify that the header in the first pic will bolt right up to the 5S head. You will need a different bPipe cause the bigger head [wider angle to be more correct] on the 3S-GE will cause the bottom of the header to be closer to the block than on the 3s.
Been here - done this already on a 5S MR2. The quality and the ease of Heatshield mounting are definetly worth it. It definetly flows a little better too. I'd expect the gains are the same as an ebay header but better quality.
Just for cheaps sake tho - you know you can always bolt a heatshield like the 3S one to a ebay header with a little weld work to add the mounts for it. You'd just bolt the mounts to the heatshield already, do some grinding work to get the fits as close as possible and then have your local muffler shop weld it on. I'd rather your original idea tho [I've had an ebay header before and the quality is just so so at best].
BTW - Since it hasn't been pointed out yet - you'd want a 3rd or 4th gen 3S-GE header - the USDM 1st gen ones aren't much [if any] better than the stock 5S one from the later Camry's [which is actually slightly better than the Celica one BTW].
As you can see I've done my research on this subject a few years back and actually done some header swapping on my friend's N/A MR2 [Both Camry and 3rd gen 3s]. So hands on - not speculation .

This post has been edited by DEATH: Jul 14, 2008 - 2:13 PM