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Hello, I am new to modifying cars and just installed a V2 cold air system. Now I want to install DC headers. I know very little about them and am not sure which to get. What is the difference between the 4-2-1 and the 4-1? What about the different materials? Is the performance not as good on ceramic or is it jus looks? Any advise will be greatlly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 
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A 4-2-1 header has 2 collection points. This means that the four pipes coming out of the cylinder head connect into 2 pipes before connecting again into 1 exhaust pipe. A 4-1 header has 1 collection point where all 4 pipes connect in 1 spot. The theory behind all this have the exhaust gas pulses pass the intersection point at the same time that the exhaust valve opens up for the next cylinder in the firing order. That way the vacuum caused by the first pulse sucks out (evacuates) exhaust more efficiently and less burnt fuel is left in the chamber for the next firing. Which configuration is best for you depends on your setup because the intersection point will vary with rpm and load. I believe that a 4-2-1 config is best for low end power while 4-1 is better for high end. For your setup, it sounds like neither setup would benefit you until you 've done other mods first.

As far as the material is concerned, there are trade-offs. Stainless looks nice when its new and won't rust but will eventually get that burnt look and will emit more heat into your engine bay. Ceramic will insulate the heat from your engine bay and also won't rust. But if you really want to keep performance in mind, you should use heat wrap and then the material doesn't matter cause you won't see it. Heat wrap does the best job of keeping your engine bay cooler but doesn't have the bling look.

 
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Nicely put!

 
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And plus header wrap looks cooler to those "in the know". Oh yeah baby, be one of the cool kids, everyone is doing it.

And remember, only V-6s and V-8s have headers (i.e. more than one). Us inline, 4-banger guys can only have 1 header installed at any one time. Usually there's always a, "Pssht, ricer! For rizzeal! How can you have more than one header on your car! Noob!" kind of post by some ignorant moron. Looks like most of those kiddies have been grounded from their computers.