430 Headers: AP or Capristo?

I have AP headers + S-line, but in the time before adding the S-line I thought the car sounded like a louder version of stock, no complaints about tone, etc. Quality has been great and the price can't be beat. I'm not sure about the torque dip because I can't feel it and I've never dyno'd. What I do feel is the extra $3,000 in my pocket. I have not been left wanting in terms of acceleration compared to even more modern cars like the M3/M4, GTR, etc.

 

Not to add another option for you but I have heard good things with the top speed headers and those are only $900


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I have challenge headers which are scud headers and have no cats in them. They are a little louder but still have the stock tone. Scuds sound good. Also sorted out the appalling rear brackets. (which cause the header failure in the first place) Exhaust done.

 

I just bought AP headers for my coupe. I wanted peace of mind to. They are definetly low growl sound to them. But its not obnoxiously loud. Going down the interstate at 80mph it actually has a nice sound/hum to it. I wish there was a way to get that high pitch sound back tho.

 

I went capristo but havent gotten the car back yet. I also have capristo high flow cats and keeping oem mufflers


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I installed the Capristo spring header brackets instead of changing out the headers. I also like the sound of the stock exhaust. The headers on my car were changed as part of a update done a while back according to the history report. Interesting to me was, when my mechanic removed the old brackets there was a crack in one that had been welded. So while the headers were fine, there still was stress on the brackets. The amount of hardware that came off the original brackets amounted to what seemed like 15 pounds. The new brackets weigh about 5 pounds in total. It has been a little while since I have done this switch but so far everything seems pretty solid. I know that I am not the only one who has done this, so I would be interested to see if anyone else is happy with this particular fix. The Capristo brackets were about $700 for the pair.

 

I have the Capisto manifolds and expansion brackets, The manifolds are not the easiest to fit as not much room to get the spanners on the nuts.
The insulation blankets drop the engine space temperature by a lot, so definitly worth fitting.
There is so much expansion on the exhaust that you can see how much on the brackets, so they must be doing some good.
With the valves closed do not notice any diff in tone, but it has a nice growl without being too much when they do open- you can drive down the motorway without it driving you crackers.

 

I have a Capristo header + thermal blankets + Capristo bracket with stock exhaust. I wasn't ready for the full-on exhaust conversion so figured the Capristo header would give it a tad more sound while addressing the inevitable OEM header failure.

There's some discussion on the difference between the Capristo 4-2-1 vs other 4-1 designs but I'm not whether one can feel a 1% difference in power (if true). What sold me on Capristo was the reputation of the company and the quality product (headers & brackets I received validated it). It's been 4 years and 10k miles since and I'm still pleased with my decision.

Having said that, I'm tempted with the S-Line and could see myself upgrading the OEM exhaust in the near future.

The price for the Titanium AP exhaust is quite attractive but I can't seem to find enough videos online for me to tell if the Ti exhaust gives the higher pitch sound.

Speaking of sounds, I'm not sure what a typical Ferrari V-8 sound is. It's definitely not a rumbling American V-8 with its 90 degree firing intervals. But when I had a 348, it was rather bassy. I know the 355 is closer to the F-1 scream (a tenor) and the F430 is more of a baritone in Stock form

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I did this and I have MKII headers and stock exhaust. So far so good

 

I have AP headers and S line exhaust and love the sound! Remember the AP headers don't come with blankets, so add the extra cost for them. The only negative to the AP headers (4 in 1 design) is they have a power dip at around 4 - 5 K rpm. If you read the other header threads, there is plenty of info there. If I had to do over, I'd probably go with the Capristos since they seem to provide more low end torque with no power dip.

 

If I ever do headers again I will take my originals to the custom motorcycle/race car exhaust/header shop nearby and using the original flanges re-make the tubes/collectors using decent quality stainless. I will keep the stock 4-2-1 design and keep the stock tube sizes. Minus the cats.

 

Challenge headers fell in my lap from a wrecked race car. I made my own version of expanding brackets. But yes you need something as the exhaust grows 10mm (3/8") and then some in length.

 

IMHO, my Capristo + stock exhaust is very similar to stock. Perhaps a tad growler at idle (but nothing significant), then maybe a tad louder when the valves open and a tad higher pitch at the higher RPMs. And when I say a tad, maybe 10-20% more. But obviously it's all subjective - you'll literally need both set-up side-by-side or have a sound meter to really say.

I don't think headers in general, AP or Capristo, impact the sound much. Engineering wise, they're relatively the same vs. the stock - just better quality. Cat-back exhausts, however, are a different matter altogether

 

I bought the AP headers and Capristo blankets form Vivid Racing with the F Chat discount. Yes I could feel the dead spot. However I had the ECUs tuned and it really woke up the car, and that power dip is not really noticeable anymore.

 

I went with Fabspeed along with their blankets for peace of mind on the potential heat issue. Mike from Yellow Compass can get you a good deal on the setup. As for the sound, I was a little concerned with the increase in exhaust volume, especially after reading previous posts. But because I still had the MKI manifolds, the move to aftermarket headers was a given. So I psyched myself for the worst case on the volume and was pleasantly surprised after the install. Noticeable increase on first fire-up, but once the car warmed up and the valves started closing, it wasn't bad at all. Driving at constant speed or even moderate acceleration keeping the valves from opening up, I only notice a slight increase in volume with a little deeper tone. Give her hell though with open valves going under an overpass and she really sounds good IMHO. I had some friends standing in a parking lot that remember what it sounded with the stock manifolds as I took off down the road and state they think it actually sounds better now with the aftermarkets. Granted, they're not Ferrari connoisseurs but they are pretty conservative guys. BTW, the rest of the exhaust is stock.

 

Yes you need the exhaust to be able to expand thermally. The stronger aftermarket headers may not crack but they will still be stressed and stud failure is not uncommon. Just my opinion but I believe an easy fix is simply to bin the lower brackets. They stop the expansion. Hence why they break so often. The 360 does not have these lower brackets and the 360's muffler is huge compared to the 430's. (and I would guess heavier) When I first removed my lower brackets the exhaust did not move or sag at all. The upper bow spring is easily able to support the weight and allows for expansion as it does in the 360 which has far fewer header issues. Why Ferrari would add crude steel brackets to the 430, which stop the expansion, is completely beyond me.