DIY: Upgrade your stock exhaust manifolds W/ Agency Power headers.

DIY: Upgrade your stock exhaust manifolds to Agency Power headers.

Situation:
Stock exhaust manifolds is a known weak design by Ferrari. Its not a matter of IF they will crack but when it will crack. And when they crack it can feed metal particles into the engine which could be very costly to repair.

On my 2006 F430 Spider, during PPI, sure enough inspection showed Stock OE Headers and Exhaust brackets are cracked.

I was quoted $9,800.00 by a Ferrari dealer to replace stock exhaust manifolds. I don’t think so. Not when I can upgrade to headers made of stainless steel that costs a lot less & weights a lot less with a lifetime warranty.

There are 4 available aftermarket headers that I am aware of:
1. Capristo headers = Super expensive.~ $6,500.00.
2. Fabspeed headers = Expensive.~ $3,995.00
3. Agency Power = less expensive. Lifetime warranty. ~ $2,700.00.
4. Top Speed headers = much less expensive but not the best build quality. ~$1,200.00 in eBay.

Im not rich by any means so I chose the best bang for the buck = Agency Power headers. I ordered it from James @ Vivid Racing. Excellent customer support!
Contact James for FChat member pricing.

1st, thanks to Trent, Daniel, Aldus Voice & Flea7 for their excellent write up on R & R of headers. They listed must have tools to do the upgrade. Links to those threads below.
Thanks also to Dan for his post & excellent video.

So here is my experience:
1) Took me a total of 16 hours from start to finish and that includes a few trips to the fridge a day to get beer and peanuts. Chinese and Mexican food for lunch. I also scrubbed and cleaned the bottom panel and rear diffuser inside portion so my engine bay is clean.

2) The tools listed by Trent & Flea7 is a must have. Include a hex bit socket set for removing Oxygen sensor caps on the AP headers.

3) Pull the step by step procedure on the service manual. PM me if you need a copy.

4) The stock exhaust manifold weights 18 lbs. Agency Power headers weighs 10 lbs each. 16 lbs weight savings on the car.

5) AP headers are very well made and you have excellent support from James at Vivid Racing.

6) The AP headers comes with nuts but it doesn’t come with bolts so don’t destroy the bolts as you will have to reuse it.

7) Patience is the key as its extremely tight in there trying to remove the header nuts. Installation is much easier.

8) Torque the header nuts properly per Spec. DO NOT overtighten.

9) The result is amazing. An increased in exhaust volume which I like and improvement on overall sound of the stock exhaust (Although I will be replacing mine soon with Kline Innovation exhaust.)

10) I wrapped mine with volcanic wrap tape to reduce engine bay heat. You can find these wraps at Amazon.

11) Summary: Highly recommended upgrade for our pride and joy. Now I don’t have to worry about cracked headers which can feed metal parts into our engines damaging it.

12) I feel the increase in power by my recently calibrated butt-o-meter

Hope that helps some of you.
Photos below.

Dan
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Reference info from previous posts on OE exhaust manifold replacement:

AldousVoice:
https://aldousvoice.com/2014/03/25/ferrari-f430-exhaust-manifold-change/

Trent:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/382912-f430-exhaust-manifold-header-install-diy-fabspeed.html

Daniel/Dhulbert & Flea:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/547084-video-how-replace-f430-oem-manifolds-aftermarket-headers.html

Hope that helps some of you.

Dan

 

Titanium exhaust heat wrap I used:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B011B99B0I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Agency Power headers:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/552236-vivid-racing-%7C-agency-power-header-sale-low-%242295-shipped.html

 

Dan,
Awesome job!
The fact that you cleaned all the parts and areas available when the covers were off tells me you LOVE your Ferrari!

 

Great writeup. I performed the same swap early this spring with my father. It took HOURS but the sound and piece of mind is well worth it.

Looking forward to hearing some sound clips!

 

Thanks Skim!

Yes, I love my car. A dream car come true for me.

Next is Kline Innovation exhaust like yours. I can't wait to get & install mine!

I plan to be at ERTC car show this Saturday. Hope to see you there.

Dan

 

Thanks!

Congrats on getting your upgrade done too!

I will try and shoot some video this weekend.

Dan

 

Great writeup Dan! Very helpful as I plan to tackle this same operation soon. Thanks.

 

Nice job Dan, thanks for sharing your project and photos.

 

Nice write up! However with regard to wrapping the headers, how will you be able to inspect them to see if there is a crack? I had one of mine crack within 18 months of installation. I noticed an exhaust smell in the car with the top down. Of course the header was replaced free of charge but I had to pay to remove and reinstall.

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And it was an AP header? It's good that they have a great warranty.

 

One quick thing I would like to add to help those out. A day or two before get the car up on stands and take off the diffuser and under tray. Then PB blast all of the nuts on the headers. Let it sit for a day and come back and respray all the nuts. I did the entire job with this gear swivel wrench GearWrench 9553 12mm Stubby Flex-Head Combination Ratcheting Wrench https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HBDWNO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kCVGzb3QX816R
Only took me 5 hours total but the wrap itself was at least 2 of those hours.


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Yep, AP

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yep i second this. I PB blasted mine quite a few times for 2 maybe even a third day before i started on mine. Glad i did cuz the job went easy

 

There is a 5th option: Tubi headers.

http://www.championmotorsport.com/product-p/tsfe430c09-003-i.htm

 

Ultra expensive but has some heat shielding built in.

 

Inconel no less....those should be immortal.

 

I DIY'ed mine to AP headers, long job but not hard and that from a guy that really doesn't do mechanicals, for me I hated the massive increase in volume, couldn't live with them, went back to stock asap, strongly advise every stock F430 owner to go for a long drive in a 430 with aftermarket headers like Fabspeed/AP's 1st before you take the plunge.

I must say they look amazing and I did want that piece of mine they offer but the volume was simply crazy loud.
Also considered all your helpful advise, closing off valves, controllers, even earplugs!! but that sadly didn't take away the shear embarrassment each time I use her.

 

Be proud. I love making a lot of noise lol.

 

Adding the Kline (or equivalent S pipe design) exhaust will quieten it down, but also give the noise a bit more character. Just make sure you have those 200 cell cats to dial the volume back up.

The aftermarkets by themselves with stock everything else sound a bit boomy.

 

I LOVE this idea! Anyone in the Tri-state area want to let me drive their aftermarket exhausted (that actually sounds like they're tired) F430's around for a bit? 😁

 

@Mikael-F360: Thank you!

@f355spider = Thanks Hugh!

@SCKOMS = Thanks Spiro! And thanks also for sharing your experience that your headers cracked. How can I inspect? It is very easy to cut the stainless steel tie wraps to inspect the headers. And I think by that time I should have enough money saved up and upgrade to Fabspeed blanket heat wraps. I understand those do a better job insulating header heat.

@CarAholic: Thanks for sharing additional info and the excellent gear wrench!

@ Doug2D: I agree, Tubi is a much better made headers. But $8,700.00 is steep!

@dvb247: Thanks for sharing your experience. We are all different. To each his own. Looks like the AP headers is too loud for you. For me, the volume is perfect.

Thanks again to all of you for chiming in.

Dan

 

By the way, in case anyone out there also think AP is too loud and wants to switch back to stock - I plan on selling my OE exhaust manifold soon.

Dan

 

Not really sure about the comments of the exhaust is to loud with headers. When the valves are closed it is maybe 10% louder and I think that is over exaggerated. Once the valves are open she is definitely louder but that is only under a good amount of throttle. For those that say it's to loud are you not running the stock cars?


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