Asad's Hotshot Header Review

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Name: Asad Aboobaker
Email: [email protected]
Product: HotShot
Model: Header
Store: used
Price: $190
Car: Nissan 240SX 1992
Worth_it: Yes
Difficulty_Rating: 8
Date: 29 Nov 1999

Problems

Yeah...see the tips. All in all the install took the better part of 2 days, but I was working alone and took frequent breaks :)

Tips

1. Soak EVERYTHING in WD-40 before beginning, and wait. 2. When putting stuff back together, use anti-seize on EVERYTHING. 3. I had to use the exhaust nuts to pull the header onto the head because the holes in the flange didn't quite line up properly. Oh yeah, buy a new gasket -- I used a Mr. Gasket Copperseal gasket. 3. The header-to-cat flange was twisted with respect to the cat. To get everything to line up properly, I removed the cat's front hanger and lined everything up. You could probably just loosen all the nuts and it will work also. I used a jack to raise up the cat so the holes in the flange would line up. 4. The EGR tube lined up pretty well, but the lip on the tube gets caught on the threads inside the EGR fitting on the header. Just yank forward on the EGR tube until it doesn't move any more, and then you should be able to screw in the fitting. The two oxygen sensors hooked up no problems. 5. The first time I started it, it leaked at the head (after warming up). I just kept tightening the bolts and starting the car to check for leaks until it stopped leaking. And then I tightened them again the next day because I read you're supposed to do that because of the softness of copper gaskets.

Thoughts

Major boost on the high-end. Cut my G-Tech 0-60 time from 7.67 s to 6.70 s (yes, that's almost a full second). If there's any low-end torque loss, its unnoticeable in everyday driving with a 5-speed.

Other

Its loud. I need a new exhaust system, with a resonator!