PPE Header review - 05 GS430
Oh man Brian.. I knew you were going to say that. 
You know how it goes.. family first. Come Spring the GS will be a priority! I have a garage full of parts.
Plus Brian.. the link you provided is incorrect. Those are for the SC which are NOT the same as the GS.
You know how it goes.. family first. Come Spring the GS will be a priority! I have a garage full of parts.
Plus Brian.. the link you provided is incorrect. Those are for the SC which are NOT the same as the GS.
here is the GS link
http://www.partshawk.com/product/mgn-1183
same part # as in my last link.........
Waiting to get some motor mounts before I do the install, now to decide whether to go for the meagans or O.E.M
Ended up going with OEM motor mounts and did the PPE header install this past weekend, Man the driver's side was a PITA! Took me about 6 hrs. for the driver's side and 2 hrs. for the passenger side. Did the install in my driveway. But the hard work was well worth it! 
I feel the car a lot smoother at idle cuz of the new mounts, and quick acceleration due to the headers, I love the way my car picks up speed and the exhaust sounds niceeee!
I feel the car a lot smoother at idle cuz of the new mounts, and quick acceleration due to the headers, I love the way my car picks up speed and the exhaust sounds niceeee!
shew, glad those are over
I have done this 3 times on my car now.... I iinstalled the PPE (yeah it was a pain in the ***) then removed them and reinstalled oem, then decided to go PPE again. I guess i have installed headers onto my car 3 times now. it gets easier every time. Think the last time took me under 4 hours for both sides. R&I
They do now: http://www.meganracing.com/product.a...=1407&catid=91
And they are cheaper than oem retail cost.
And they are cheaper than oem retail cost.
I just replaced my motor and trans mounts and havent even drivin the car yet. Wish I had seen these.....It took me around 12+hours to fight the heat shields off to install my headers. Worst part was I got some of the first junky S&S and they cracked immediately
. Not so bad the second time around though
i had my headers installed for a year or so, no issues whatsoever, great mod. i then removed them and sold them to another member. Never heard back from him so i assume there were no issues. I was going to sell my car, but then decided to keep it, so I installed another set of headers on it. This was approx 5-6 months ago. No issues once again. Great mod
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 10
Likes: 2
From: Pennsylvania
Installed these about a week ago and I am very happy with them. I notice a little more low end scoot when pulling away from stop lights. All I have installed other than the headers is the Injen short ram. I still have 100% stock exhaust. The install to say lightly was a complete nightmare. I am an experienced tech, working on a full shop lift and it still took me about 10 hrs. I wasn't speeding through it, making sure to get everything right but these are an extremely tight fit. And in the process of intially jacking up the engine I forgot to unplug the driver side AFR sensor connector from the main harness and it ripped all 4 wires out of the harness side. This took about 1.5 hours to repair as these wires are TINY and soldering them individually with almost no room was the biggest challenge. I ended up having to change the wire colors because I used plugs from another harness connector so I would have more room to work with. Luckily no check engine lights yet so it is holding up. You need a pretty good set of tools to get to all of the nuts/bolts and make sure you have someone helping you, it makes things a lot easier. Needless to say I hope I never have to change these out again! lol I made sure to use copper silicone on both the header-head flange and header-cat flange to lower the risk of leaks. I did have to cut off the steering shaft heat shield for clearance. That brings me to the ceramic coating. This is nothing short of amazing. The next day I put the car back on the lift to retighten all the bolts and the engine heads/block were scolding hot but I cannot believe this: I could grab the headers with my hand and they were not even hot at all. Lukewarm. Incredible coating. So you guys worried about ridding of the heat shield, worry not. This stuff is great.
I am hoping to see even more gains when I get my exhaust pieces all together and made up. I plan on running 2.5" piping all the way back from the cats back and converting into a true dual exhaust. Replacing the y-pipe/cat with a dual-in/dual-out MAC ProChamber.
I am hoping to see even more gains when I get my exhaust pieces all together and made up. I plan on running 2.5" piping all the way back from the cats back and converting into a true dual exhaust. Replacing the y-pipe/cat with a dual-in/dual-out MAC ProChamber.
re x pipe... When I bought my 2003 GS430, a few months back, it had an exhaust leak, so we (my local exhaust shop) replaced the h.pipe w/2.5 stainless back. Replaced the resonators with an x pipe. It felt restricted on the stock cans, so they installed some magnaflows with some clean tips.[sounds great, tame at idle, minimal drone, you can conversate on the highway, but barks under load. More importantly it works a little better, not as badass as straightpipes but nice]
the numbers on the headers look intriguing..... did your sound profile change any with the stock after-cats?
Last edited by MrBlack000; May 23, 2020 at 05:40 AM.
Advanced
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 558
Likes: 37
From: NJ
Dude, that last thread was over seven years ago - lol.
But for what’s it’s worth i just installed some S&S headers last month. Not that hard. My tips? (1) Use a saws all to cut the factory header when you can get to a stud cuz ur just gonna trash it anyway. (2) Spray the studs down with Seafoam DeepCreep for a few days prior. (3) Use an engine lift cuz with the floor jack wood block on the oil pan method, the engine tends to slip and slide sometimes.
K&N intake, resonator delete and cat back exhaust.
Sounds nice, little to no drone.
Low end torque much improved and cars breathes really good at high speed especially when I get on it.
But for what’s it’s worth i just installed some S&S headers last month. Not that hard. My tips? (1) Use a saws all to cut the factory header when you can get to a stud cuz ur just gonna trash it anyway. (2) Spray the studs down with Seafoam DeepCreep for a few days prior. (3) Use an engine lift cuz with the floor jack wood block on the oil pan method, the engine tends to slip and slide sometimes.
K&N intake, resonator delete and cat back exhaust.
Sounds nice, little to no drone.
Low end torque much improved and cars breathes really good at high speed especially when I get on it.
Thread Starter
Pit Crew
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 101
Likes: 21
From: NV
Welcome back from the dead lol
I honestly don't remember what changed, if anything, with the headers/stock cat-back. It's been too long. I would have to guess that there was a small change in tone, but something you only notice at higher revs.
For reference, here's what it sounds like after I did the custom cat-back w mac prochamber and aero turbines:
I honestly don't remember what changed, if anything, with the headers/stock cat-back. It's been too long. I would have to guess that there was a small change in tone, but something you only notice at higher revs.
For reference, here's what it sounds like after I did the custom cat-back w mac prochamber and aero turbines:
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 10
Likes: 2
From: Pennsylvania
For reference, here's what it sounds like after I did the custom cat-back w mac prochamber and aero turbines:
https://youtu.be/_WTC_lHSUTs
https://youtu.be/_WTC_lHSUTs
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
passnu2
2Gen GS430 / 400/ 300 Classifieds (98-05)
26
Nov 28, 2010 08:28 AM
