281GT

The ugly brown truck showed up with my American Racing long tube headers and catted x-pipe today!!!
Even though the box was damaged. Large tear in the side. All the contents are there and are in good condition.

These are by no means the least expensive headers on the market but wow! The quality is absolutely without exception the best that I have ever seen!
They look like something made for a Ferrari instead of a Mustang.
The bends are the smoothest I have ever seen. All internal welds are ground smooth and external welds compare in quality with some oil pipeline welds I have seen. Even where the primary tubes meet at the collector all edges are perfectly smooth and they transition with a four cornered device that tapers into a fine point in the middle of the collector to make the transition of the exhaust flowing from four into one as smooth and turbulence free as possible.
In fact I would go so far as to say there will be no turbulence with these headers at all.
Not only the design but the attention to detail is amazing with such things as ensuring that there are no rough or jagged edges anywhere inside the pipes will ensure there is no turbulence which of course will mean the highest possible flow.

Despite the fact that they may cost more than other headers for the S197 cars they are worth every penny!
I would highly recommend these headers for anyone who is looking for significant gains in the exhaust of the S197 cars.
I also found the quality of the x-pipe to be as good as the headers.

I'd also like to add that I purchased them from CR at Tillman Speed. His service is absolutely top notch and I will certainly be buying from him again.

tom281

Well they sure look good...... but how do they sound and perform? That's what I'd be more interested in, especially for the price.

281GT

Each to his / her own but I am more concerned with performance gains than with sound. The amount of actual gains remain to be seen but by past personal experience I have been able to realize measurable gains by doing things like ensuring there are no jagged edges inside anything exhaust related. This includes removing casting flash from ports, manifolds, ect. Being that this has already been done by American Racing and the fact that the bends are so smooth I would expect these headers to outperform cheaper ones. Probably not by a lot but every little bit helps.
I do plan to have the car dyno tested before and after so we can see actual results which I will post here.

tom281

That's my point, I would be more concerned about how they perform more so than their looks. Maybe I misunderstood your post, but the way you describe how they look and imply that because they look so good that they must be better than anything else out there is kinda misleading. I don't mean to be argumentative at all but I just got the impression from your post that their looks make them the best out there..... while for the money I'd rather have them look mediocre but perform great!

Anyway, congrats I'm sure they're great headers!

281GT

tom281 - I agree 100% with you there. Performance over all else. I was just trying to describe the effort they have gone to in order to ensure that there are no rough edges or anything else inside the tubes that would cause turbulence which should result in performance gains over something that was made without such attention to detail.

RandyB

Congrats on buying the best longtube header for the S-197, IMO. If I go with headers, my mind is made up as to which ones. There are some other pretty good ones like Kooks, Stainless Works and a few others, but I think all things considered American Racing are the best available for our cars.

TillmanSpeed

Glad they showed up and all is well! What a great product ARH makes!

official_style

this is what i have been trying to tell you all for a very long time. AR headers GAME OVER for all other header companies!

DynamicmustangGT

Are those catted or not? I know you said you didn't care about sound, but how much of a difference is there?

TillmanSpeed

Uncatted makes a good amount more power, but the cats they use are GREAT for those worried about staying street legal. They are good up to 600 ponies, and on average cost ARH an extra 50 dollars a piece to use in their systems, rather than the lack of quality cats in competitors brand.

We @ Tillman Speed have become American Racing Headers biased!!

Rudiepoo1

I would think that N/A the complete header system would put out around 15-20rwhp & possibly 20-30rwhp for SC applications.

05fordgt

I think I remember Nick from ARH saying on another forum with a proper high octane tune, CAI, and these headers, you may be able to get close to 30 hp N/A. I just don't remember where I read that.

Rudiepoo1

****....I'm liking that even better if that's the case. Just waiting for AR to get the new H system together.

05fordgt

Once my car gets fixed at the body shop late next week (see my thread in General, it got rear ended), I am giving my car to CR and his boys to check the fitment of the prototype H-pipe.