[CobraMarty]

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts?

aFe cost about $1420 shipped and Magnaflow $985 shipped.

Going to use either Catted Headers with mid cat delete and DIY PE.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by CobraMarty

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts?

aFe cost about $1420 shipped and Magnaflow $985 shipped.

Going to use either Catted Headers with mid cat delete and DIY PE.

Based on our experience of selling parts for a while and modifying cars they are both sound choices. I believe the AFE bits are on backorder so I'd sooner tell you to save some money and go with Magnaflow. If you need any further help let me know.

Also Magnaflow makes two grades catalytic converters Standard and OEM Grade.

[rick100]

magnaflow sells headers for n52?

[CobraMarty]

Catted Headers-
Magnaflow #50290/1 STD/HeavyMetal Series and #49762/3 OEM Grade Series. Both spec the same.

IDK what the difference is besides about $100. I am calling them tomorrow.

[Jimsbim]

Searching Magnaflow 49762 on Amazon, they sell for $709, but "often purchased together 49763 for $715. Each item only shows one header (3 collection pipes), might you need to buy both?

[hassmaschine]

I dunno if I'd really consider those 'headers'. It's more like a tubular manifold - the primaries are way too short to be of much benefit over stock. Probably meant to be more like an OEM replacement than a performance part.

I'm pretty sure it comes with two though - FWIW, I believe that isn't even a photo of the actual headers, but a rendering. You can see the full resolution image on Amazon (and it's also used everywhere else).

[CobraMarty]

Magnaflow has 2 different catted headers.

#50290/1 front/rear STD Heavy Metal Series $651/$657= $1308 total, found for $451/$455= $906 total

#49762/3 front/rear OEM Grade Series $710/$716= $1426 total, found for $490/$493= $983 total

Primaries 2" SS, Cat- ceramic 2.5"in/2.0"out, 5"width, 7.625" length

They are short tubular primaries into a 'flat' 3into1 collector. And a high flow cat.
Far better than stock small log style manifold.
Short tubular headers have been tested for years with the Mustang guys and 'very short' vs 'short' vs 'medium' tubular headers were all within 2HP of each other. More than stock log type and less than long tube headers.

Probably promoted more as 'replacement' rather than 'headers' but they definitely are an improvement over stock.

Very few actual pictures online.


Verses- aFe catted headers which have 1.5" diameter about 6" longer primaries and 'cone' shaped 3into1 collector and $1500.
200 cell semi-metallic cat converter.
I've read of 1 aFe cat failure/melting.

[CobraMarty]

Also EURO exhaust manifolds-

[CobraMarty]

Stock US N52 'log style' exhaust manifolds-

[CobraMarty]

Found aFe for $1349 shipped.

[hassmaschine]

Maybe better than stock - somebody will have to dyno.

That collector looks like poo though (not worse than stock I guess), and I don't know that you can compare a Mustang V8 to a BMW 6 cyl, but I understand your point.

[CobraMarty]

Heard back from Magnaflow=

Magnaflow has 2 different catted headers.

#50290/1 front/rear STD Heavy Metal Series $651/$657= $1308 total, found for $451/$455= $906 total

#49762/3 front/rear OEM Grade Series $710/$716= $1426 total, found for $490/$493= $983 total

The OEM Grade Series is California emissions compliant. It is loaded with more precious metals to clean the air. If the emission tag located under the hood says anywhere 'California' you must use the OEM Grade to keep from getting a check engine light.

[hassmaschine]

heh, so they sell the front and rear separately? Odd. Nice to have another choice for emissions compliant headers though.

Probably the 'OEM' version is meant for the N51, SULEV engine.

[W37V]

Originally Posted by CobraMarty

Heard back from Magnaflow=

Magnaflow has 2 different catted headers.

#50290/1 front/rear STD Heavy Metal Series $651/$657= $1308 total, found for $451/$455= $906 total

#49762/3 front/rear OEM Grade Series $710/$716= $1426 total, found for $490/$493= $983 total

The OEM Grade Series is California emissions compliant. It is loaded with more precious metals to clean the air. If the emission tag located under the hood says anywhere 'California' you must use the OEM Grade to keep from getting a check engine light.

But, are they high flow cats? AFE cats are supposed to be high-flow. What's the point swapping one restrictive cat for another equally restrictive?

EDIT:
NM: I missed your mention of this in earlier post. You answered it in post#7. They are high flow.

[CobraMarty]

Bit the bullet and ordered a set of the aFe headers with cats.

[F31cruisin]

Originally Posted by CobraMarty

Bit the bullet and ordered a set of the aFe headers with cats.

Wondering why you didnt go with the AA headers?

[N52UNED]

Originally Posted by CobraMarty

Bit the bullet and ordered a set of the aFe headers with cats.

Really curious about aFe catted headers ... Please keep us posted with some feedback.

[skeetx3]

I have afe headers with their afe mid pipes and BMW PE installed on my e92 and it sounds a little raspy. With afe mid pipes and BMW PE it sounded just right. Down shifting to 3rd around 40 mph it would burble and crackle all day. I would play around with the pedal at different speeds just to hear it and there was no rice a roni drone with that setup.

After getting the afe headers installed it got louder obviously but the performance gain was worth it for me. Accelerating from a stop is very loud but tapers off once you get above 40 mph. It's very raspy which I can do without. It still burbles and crackles but it also pops or backfires now which it didn't do before. Driving in D you get the normal burbles and crackles and when you drive in DS you can pretty much get a feel when you want it to burble and crackle and pop when you're decelerating. There is a very small amount of drone going around 60 mph but seems to get quieter around 80 mph which I thought was kind of strange. I can use the built in bluetooth and it's not annoying to me or the person I'm talking to at these speeds. So it's definitely not annoying. When you floor it you can definitely hear it and it climbs a lot faster. Overall it's definitely transformed the car and doesn't feel restricted anymore.

[CobraMarty]

The placed that I ordered a set for $1349 cancelled the order. IDK why?

I did also order a second set directly from aFe on Black Friday 25% off for $1199 free ship. The came UPS last night.
They are really nice. So tiny. Well made.
I think that we will send them out to get ceramic coated.

[CobraMarty]

A few have PM'ed me as to 'Why catted headers'?

We live in PA and they do 'visual' and OBD smog inspections yearly. We want to stay 'legal' and it helps me sleep at night knowing that my emissions are slightly better than non-cats. And the cats help pull some of the exhaust 'rasp' out. We can run with secondary cat delete (they are not required) and PE and still have reasonably tolerable exhaust sound. And everyone does the cat-less because it's cheaper and we wanted to be different.

[atmosphericM]

Too bad you can't run with just the secondary cats and delete the primaries. I would think that would result in more ponies while still reducing the rasp.

I wouldn't say that most run cat-less for cost reasons though.. I think it's for more power.

I personally will probably delete one pair of cats but keep the other, because raspy exhaust is pretty bad IMO. Just gotta figure out which pair to delete. Sad to hear that there is reported rasp with high-flow primaries and deleted secondaries. =/

[CobraMarty]

IDK which is best for power, sound and smell.

They are being sent out to be ceramic coated.

They will pass the 'visual' part of the smog testing at the shop that I go to.

Plan is for catted headers, mid pipe cat deletes and PE on my sons car.
Mine will be the Magnaflow catted headers, mid pipe cat deletes, resonator and modded stock muffler.