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

 

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

 

@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