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What have others been using these days for heat management on aftermarket headers? I realize you can always go the way of using HP header armor, but at the expensive of some time and effort fitting it the way you want it and making it look clean which takes time. https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/header-armor Obviously ceramic coating is an option as well.
Its just a shame they are so rare for F430's, and priced like unicorn horns when you can find them...
My Kline inconel catback and 200 cell cats arrived finally, I'll be installing this week. The Larini manifold that I ordered still hasn't arrived so I'll be installing that separately. That means I'll be able to provide comparison videos, one with stock manifold + Kline and one with Larini + Kline. Personally I care much more about the tone than the volume. I think the 200 cell cats will be right for me, it shouldn't really be much louder than stock, possibly even slightly quieter. But the tone will be much better from the X-pipe the Kline has.
Install a small displacement turbo v6 with dual 3 into one into one full open exhaust to get a F1 sound..
**hardly scientific analysis ahead** I'm sure the different mics, placements, etc make a difference but I was curious what running those two samples through a frequency analyzer would report compared to what I'm hearing through my headphones.... I think it matched? I tried to freeze-frame them at 3rd gear 8000rpm (I'd say +/- 200) Overlay suggests the S-line unit has a bit more high end (and/or the Kline sample's mic didn't capture it all) for completeness I used a bumper mounted Shure SM57 and a Zoom H6e to record the S-line sample also a real v10 at redline at the bottom courtesy of very old YT footage for comparison View attachment 3846280
My mic was placed inside the cabin which I think is going to give quite a different response than outside unfortunately. Also there's a foam cover over my mic which has the effect of reducing wind noise but also reduces high frequencies. I appreciate the effort though Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ah yeah, I have a big foam wind guard too forgot about that. Kind of like dyno comparisons need same gear on same day sort of tests to be definitive. I’m looking forward to hearing your impressions on the Larini headers!
Sorry for the delay. The headers are finally installed. I think everyone should consider replacing their headers as preventative maintenance since the OEM one is prone to warping. Quality is excellent. Shipping was slow, took a couple weeks longer than the Kline exhaust parts, I think it took almost 3 months if I remember correctly. As for sound, this is just going off of memory but I feel like there's less drone now. With the OEM manifold + Kline cats and exhaust I didn't like leaving the valve always open because it would drone at lower RPM. So I would leave it in the default setting where it opens under load. Now with the Larini I can leave it always open just fine. Also I noticed with the OEM manifold there was a faint metallic pinging at idle, that's now gone with the Larini, must have something to do with different shaped/thickness metals resonating differently, whatever metallic engine sound that was carrying through the OEM manifold is no longer carrying through. I think it's a bit of a trade-off though. There's less drone and the sound did get smoother/richer and not necessarily deeper, if that makes sense, which I feel is a great thing. But it did lose a touch of the high rpm scream. So ultimately I feel the sound is "better" now in the sense it's more well rounded but if you're going for ultimate scream, this isn't the choice. Then again, you probably wouldn't be getting the Kline if all you wanted was scream anyway, so I'd say the Larini matches well with the intent of this whole setup, close enough to "F1 scream" without being harsh or droning. But again, this is just going by memory. Maybe the actual clips will say otherwise. I'll be tracking the car at Pocono Raceway in a week and will be getting some video using a DJI wireless mic in the engine bay (near the back where the grille vents are) which should produce some great sound. I'll also try to get a clip with the camera mounted the same way as my previous clip (in the cockpit, suctioned to the rear glass) to do exact before and after comparisons. Also this could just be because I've been driving my slower (not by a lot) Audi RS5 lately but my first drive back in the Scud with the Larini headers I was actually caught off guard with how quickly it accelerated. I was on a backroad in 2nd gear, stepped on it and redline came up VERY quickly. Again, it's just seat of the pants feel so not scientific but it does feel very rev happy and quicker now with the Larini. I was simply startled by how quickly I found myself at redline, which implied to me that something had changed, otherwise it shouldn't have been such a surprise as someone who's put 1k miles on this car in the last 6mo.
