Looking at a new header
- Thread starter bh4rnnr
- Start date
. Hopefully with the next pay check, I should be able to get my self one of 
Westy
Adventurer
That is the best header made for the 22RE. They come ceramic coated and with all the parts you will need. It also fits very well, opposed to some other designs. Years from now it will still as good as it did when you bought it, as opposed to the chrome headers which will deteoriate rather quickly.
Alot of people like the Doug Thorley header from Summit Racing because of the Tri-Y design. It is said to give more low-mid end power as opposed to the LC is more on the top end.
I am completing a 22RE swap on my 86 pickup and I will be purchasing an LC header next week. The quality of the LC header is worth the extra $ IMO.
Alot of people like the Doug Thorley header from Summit Racing because of the Tri-Y design. It is said to give more low-mid end power as opposed to the LC is more on the top end.
I am completing a 22RE swap on my 86 pickup and I will be purchasing an LC header next week. The quality of the LC header is worth the extra $ IMO.
bigreen505
Expedition Leader
Honestly $360 is not out of line for a high quality, ceramic coated header.
The Nissan crowd sweard by the Thorley headers, but they don't last forever.
The Nissan crowd sweard by the Thorley headers, but they don't last forever.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I have the LCE header on my truck. Mine is not ceramic coated, though, it's stainless steel header. As has been pointed out there are two schools of thought on headers for the R motors, tri-Y or 4-to-1. The LCE is 4-to-1, the Thorley and NWOR use a tri-Y. The claim is that the Thorley does better at the low end of the RPM band, while the 4-to-1 doesn't start to show improvement until your engine gets up in the revs a bit. Well, no R motor is going to have much torque below 1500 RPM, so a small bump does there isn't going to matter. You need to get the little motor up into the RPMs to produce any power, so you really should optimize for 2000 to 4500. Anyway, happy enough with mine. I would skip their exhaust (I have LCE from head to tailpipe), it's too loud IMHO. But I paid around $700 for a complete stainless exhaust system, which is made well.
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
'nuther LCE header fan! Made a definate "seat of the pants" change in power. Combined with a 2-1/2 in/out Flowmaster 50 series it sounded great until the baffles broke loose from repeated pounding on the case...guess you can't use a muffler as a skid plate for two years.
Brian894x4
Explorer
I have an LCE header that was pre stainless, with ceramic coating. I've had it for around 5 years now I think and haven't had a single problem, except for keeping downpipe flange to seal. For some reason it keeps blowing gaskets, but I might have hit it on something and warped or something like that. For an aftermarket header, it's a good one.
As for the gains, it's hard to say. I justified the expense when my stock manifold downpipe broke off. I think there's a little bit of gain at the upper end, but if yer short on cash, I could probably think of other places to spend it.
At least make sure you use a stock Toyota header gasket and it wouldn't hurt to use new header bolts and check the torque spec after a few days. Also, if you haven't removed the old header in a while, I'd oil the heck out of the header bolts a day or two before you do the job, since the last thing you want is a header bolt to break on you.
Good luck.
As for the gains, it's hard to say. I justified the expense when my stock manifold downpipe broke off. I think there's a little bit of gain at the upper end, but if yer short on cash, I could probably think of other places to spend it.
At least make sure you use a stock Toyota header gasket and it wouldn't hurt to use new header bolts and check the torque spec after a few days. Also, if you haven't removed the old header in a while, I'd oil the heck out of the header bolts a day or two before you do the job, since the last thing you want is a header bolt to break on you.
Good luck.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Mine blew out the gasket that LCE included with the header. But Summit sells generic exhaust gaskets and that one has lasted about 2 years so far. Also they are cheap, i.e. spares!Brian894x4 said:
That's why mine got replaced, the original manifold cracked. I agree with Brian that if the surgery is elective in nature, the performance isn't a major gain (although I do think it's noticeable when accelerating). If you've got a cracked manifold, then I see a header as a worthwhile expensive rather than trying to find or fix a part that's known to be problematic.
bh4rnnr
Adventurer
Well, got the new header installed today:jumping: . Shipping took a little while as there power went out last week. Took me a little over an hour to install.. That cross pipe is a tight fit.. Also dont like how it is against the torsion bar braket for the driver side. Will have to look into that. Still need to re-wire the O2 sensor and double check every thing tomorrow. Was going to get pics of th install but didnt have the camera and was to tired...