The Granny
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2015
I originally sent this as an email to Tyler, the owner of Boosted RPS, with hopes it'd be used as a tool for him to help guide any future customers when deciding to run these headers or not. Since then, I have decided to post it here to help do the same; help anyone decide if these headers are for them, answer any fitment issues I had or would except to encounter, and just how I overall feel about these headers. Coming from TA 3 bolt headers, I will try to be as unbiased as possible and post nothing but facts.
p.s., these are their 3 bolt street headers. designed to clear factory AC and other factory components. https://www.boostedrps.com/product-page/street-headers-by-gee-m-racing
For those of you just wanting the gist of the post, and don't want to read the whole thing, here it is:
- The Gee M headers fit better than the TA Headers.
- These headers clear a plethora of aftermarket components, such as the RJC girdle, oil pan, and rear motor brace, and downpipe (all on my car).
- I did have an issue with the individual EGT Bungs, as they came with BSPT (British Standard Pipe Thread) as opposed to NPT threads, however Tyler, his partners, and the guys at Gee M have collaborated and were kind enough to pick up well over half the cost of getting the headers done right, which is more than I could ask for.
- Initially, I had ordered these headers with intentions of having them on for the Dyno Day in Houston with Bison not too long ago, and Tyler along with the Gee M guys assured they'd get me a set of their headers a couple days in advance of the dyno, even though I had ordered them roughly only 4 weeks in advance. Being a 100% custom piece and coming from Finland, I knew this would be a tough task however I trusted their word and they came in the mail in enough time for the dyno day. Following the discovery of the issue with the bungs on the headers, Tyler has been super helpful throughout this whole ordeal by always checking in on the progress, and assuring me it would happen to no one else as Gee M would now be using NPT bungs on their headers. If you were ordering a set like mine, I'd suggest verifying NPT bungs will be used.
- If anyone would like any additional photos, please let me know and I will get them taken and posted
My Notes:
Fitment, better than TA headers. The one piece crossover pipe, driver side, and passenger side all fit together so easily and sealed so well that it was as if the headers had been custom designed for my car and my car only. Ran the car on a lift after install and checked for any exhaust leaks at the vband connections, and found no leaks.
A couple details about my combo: I have a 3" RJC downpipe. If you look at the picture of the TA and Gee M passenger sides next to one another, it seems as if the Gee M headers stick out further than the TAs. This could pose some fitment issues, However with my 3" RJC pipe, I had plenty of clearance between the DP and primary tubes. Enough to where I wouldn't be worried about trying to fit a larger pipe. I have an RJC girdle, oil pan, and rear motor brace. The headers do not interfere with any of these components. Again, giving me the impression the crossover pipe was custom made for my combo. My motor mounts are OEM replacements from AutoZone, and are also less than a year old, so I assume the height of my motor to be close to stock. If you had old worn busted motor mounts, it's obvious the fitment on your car could possibly be different than that on my car. The crossover pipe is also slightly narrower than the crossover of the TA headers. Being the exhaust gases of the driver side have to travel much further than the passenger side I assume this was done intentionally to increase the velocity.
I also have TRZ control arms in the front of my car. As you can see in the pictures they do run fairly close to the arms, but then again so do the TAs. The TAs actually rubbed against the stock control arms slightly. With TRZ upper arms, there is plenty of clearance between the collectors and the arm. I cannot say for sure a stock control arm would clear these headers.
The Gee M headers don't run any closer to any of the fusible links that run to the starter than the TAs. However if you have the headers off, i highly suggest using heat wrap on the links and any other electrical connections you might have down there to prevent any issues. I didn't do it when I installed either set of headers, however I do need to do it soon.
I opted for individual EGT bungs on my headers. First off, 5/6 of the bungs were in perfect locations and cleared factory AC and everything else. One bung, cylinder #1, posed an issue. It interfered with the AC line in the back of the compressor, so i had to remove the compressor line to get the probe into the bung. If the bung was clocked more in the 1 or 2 o' clock position rather than the 11 o' clock, fitment in that aspect might be better. However i just removed the AC line on the back of the compressor and it all fit fine. No big deal to me since i don't use the AC in my car. Another thing, the bungs were 1/8" BSPT thread. The threads on the EGT kit from FAST are 1/8" NPT. An easy way to resolve this issue is to run a 1/8" NPT tap through the bung, to change the BSPT threads to NPT. This is possible because the difference between BSPT and NPT is only 1 thread per inch (26 vs 27) and the difference in the angle between each thread is only 5° (55° vs 60°). The material to be removed is so small that I believed the use of a tap would be acceptable. This was not the case and I couldn't get enough thread engagement, and the probe would not penetrate deep into the primary tube enough, per FAST and Gee M, so I would need to get the bungs on the headers removed and get the correct bungs installed. The headers are currently at a fab shop, Speed Lab inc., where they're getting corrected. Tyler, his partners, and the guys at Gee M have agreed to paying the majority of the shop fees and Tyler himself offered to pay for 100% of the parts cost, which was a really stand up thing for him to do in my opinion. This could have been avoided if the bungs welded in were NPT. But since the headers are made in Finland, acquiring NPT bungs there might pose an issue and raise production costs. Either way, when you order a set make sure they have NPT bungs or that they come drilled for the bungs and you can get the correct bungs yourself.
Overall I'm very glad I got these headers. getting them installed was so easy, the fitment was great, and my car has a slightly different exhaust tone. I plan on hanging onto my TA headers and doing testing between the two, primarily on the exhaust pressure and spool up, to determine any differences. Just by looking at the design, I anticipate the Gee M headers to have a lower exhaust pressure and spool up faster than the TA headers.
I want to say thank you again to Tyler and the guys at Gee M for working on getting me these headers, and for being so helpful following the bung issue.
p.s., these are their 3 bolt street headers. designed to clear factory AC and other factory components. https://www.boostedrps.com/product-page/street-headers-by-gee-m-racing
For those of you just wanting the gist of the post, and don't want to read the whole thing, here it is:
- The Gee M headers fit better than the TA Headers.
- These headers clear a plethora of aftermarket components, such as the RJC girdle, oil pan, and rear motor brace, and downpipe (all on my car).
- I did have an issue with the individual EGT Bungs, as they came with BSPT (British Standard Pipe Thread) as opposed to NPT threads, however Tyler, his partners, and the guys at Gee M have collaborated and were kind enough to pick up well over half the cost of getting the headers done right, which is more than I could ask for.
- Initially, I had ordered these headers with intentions of having them on for the Dyno Day in Houston with Bison not too long ago, and Tyler along with the Gee M guys assured they'd get me a set of their headers a couple days in advance of the dyno, even though I had ordered them roughly only 4 weeks in advance. Being a 100% custom piece and coming from Finland, I knew this would be a tough task however I trusted their word and they came in the mail in enough time for the dyno day. Following the discovery of the issue with the bungs on the headers, Tyler has been super helpful throughout this whole ordeal by always checking in on the progress, and assuring me it would happen to no one else as Gee M would now be using NPT bungs on their headers. If you were ordering a set like mine, I'd suggest verifying NPT bungs will be used.
- If anyone would like any additional photos, please let me know and I will get them taken and posted
My Notes:
Fitment, better than TA headers. The one piece crossover pipe, driver side, and passenger side all fit together so easily and sealed so well that it was as if the headers had been custom designed for my car and my car only. Ran the car on a lift after install and checked for any exhaust leaks at the vband connections, and found no leaks.
A couple details about my combo: I have a 3" RJC downpipe. If you look at the picture of the TA and Gee M passenger sides next to one another, it seems as if the Gee M headers stick out further than the TAs. This could pose some fitment issues, However with my 3" RJC pipe, I had plenty of clearance between the DP and primary tubes. Enough to where I wouldn't be worried about trying to fit a larger pipe. I have an RJC girdle, oil pan, and rear motor brace. The headers do not interfere with any of these components. Again, giving me the impression the crossover pipe was custom made for my combo. My motor mounts are OEM replacements from AutoZone, and are also less than a year old, so I assume the height of my motor to be close to stock. If you had old worn busted motor mounts, it's obvious the fitment on your car could possibly be different than that on my car. The crossover pipe is also slightly narrower than the crossover of the TA headers. Being the exhaust gases of the driver side have to travel much further than the passenger side I assume this was done intentionally to increase the velocity.
I also have TRZ control arms in the front of my car. As you can see in the pictures they do run fairly close to the arms, but then again so do the TAs. The TAs actually rubbed against the stock control arms slightly. With TRZ upper arms, there is plenty of clearance between the collectors and the arm. I cannot say for sure a stock control arm would clear these headers.
The Gee M headers don't run any closer to any of the fusible links that run to the starter than the TAs. However if you have the headers off, i highly suggest using heat wrap on the links and any other electrical connections you might have down there to prevent any issues. I didn't do it when I installed either set of headers, however I do need to do it soon.
I opted for individual EGT bungs on my headers. First off, 5/6 of the bungs were in perfect locations and cleared factory AC and everything else. One bung, cylinder #1, posed an issue. It interfered with the AC line in the back of the compressor, so i had to remove the compressor line to get the probe into the bung. If the bung was clocked more in the 1 or 2 o' clock position rather than the 11 o' clock, fitment in that aspect might be better. However i just removed the AC line on the back of the compressor and it all fit fine. No big deal to me since i don't use the AC in my car. Another thing, the bungs were 1/8" BSPT thread. The threads on the EGT kit from FAST are 1/8" NPT. An easy way to resolve this issue is to run a 1/8" NPT tap through the bung, to change the BSPT threads to NPT. This is possible because the difference between BSPT and NPT is only 1 thread per inch (26 vs 27) and the difference in the angle between each thread is only 5° (55° vs 60°). The material to be removed is so small that I believed the use of a tap would be acceptable. This was not the case and I couldn't get enough thread engagement, and the probe would not penetrate deep into the primary tube enough, per FAST and Gee M, so I would need to get the bungs on the headers removed and get the correct bungs installed. The headers are currently at a fab shop, Speed Lab inc., where they're getting corrected. Tyler, his partners, and the guys at Gee M have agreed to paying the majority of the shop fees and Tyler himself offered to pay for 100% of the parts cost, which was a really stand up thing for him to do in my opinion. This could have been avoided if the bungs welded in were NPT. But since the headers are made in Finland, acquiring NPT bungs there might pose an issue and raise production costs. Either way, when you order a set make sure they have NPT bungs or that they come drilled for the bungs and you can get the correct bungs yourself.
Overall I'm very glad I got these headers. getting them installed was so easy, the fitment was great, and my car has a slightly different exhaust tone. I plan on hanging onto my TA headers and doing testing between the two, primarily on the exhaust pressure and spool up, to determine any differences. Just by looking at the design, I anticipate the Gee M headers to have a lower exhaust pressure and spool up faster than the TA headers.
I want to say thank you again to Tyler and the guys at Gee M for working on getting me these headers, and for being so helpful following the bung issue.
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