OK For everyone out there looking for headers here are your options.
-Travelers shorty header- retains stock components cost around 400 depening on options
-AWR header - eliminated first cat and EGR valve 375 for mild steel and 500 for Stainless
-OBX header- no details really known probably full length 4-1 header. OBX website says 250 for ceramic coated and 300 for stainless
-HP Racing Header - Eliminates first cat and uses a simulator for 2nd O2 sensor to make the ECU think its reading a Cat. Not out yet ETA is end of summer according to HP price 180 for chrome plated and 207 for ceramic coat

I believe this is all of them. Not much has been said or heard about the OBX header as not many people carry OBX stuff its good quality just hard to find.

 

With the HP Header, what are the consequences of fooling the 2nd O2 sensor, any? Will this cause any damage to the car, or is it just because of the emissions?

 

bump

good question. I wanna know too

 

Fooling the second sensor won't affect anything. It's only there to monitor converter performance.

 

is the header pretty easy to self install ?

 

I haven't seen it or done it on the Mazda engines but they have been pretty straight forward on all the other FWD 4-cylinder cars I've come across. Looking at the engine layout I don't forsee any big issues.

 

I've sent OBX an email asking for more info on the Header...I will post when (if) I recieve a reply.

 

decided to call OBX....ETA of the header is 2 to 3 months.
4-2-1 design.
Of course it eliminate the pri. cat.

 

Thanks for the info on teh OBX header it seems everyoen is dragging their *** on them. I"m going wiht the AWR header anyways. 1 piece design and race specs. For those of you who don't know its the same header used on the world challenge protege.

 

The manifold is very easy to get off our cars. All you have to do is loosen the brackets that hold the cat up, remove the 5 nuts that hold the cat to the manifold, then remove the manifold from the cylinder head making sure you loosen the EGR hookup. If you remove the cat, then the header should bolt up to the factory exhuast flange but you might need to fabricate a piece for the race headers since they won't be using the second converter either. If you retain the primary cat, installation is basically the reverse of removal. I'm working on the next header right now and am hoping to make bolt access even better. It also will be ceramic coated.

 

Traveler,
you seem to know your stuff, would you help me out?
1.- what's that pipe coming out of the stock header? how can it be removed?

2.- if I buy the AWR header, which eliminates the primary cat, how do I keeo the CEL froming coming on?

 

bump

 

The pipe comoign out of the stock header is the EGR piping and you can just take it off block off the port on the manifold and on the intake manifold but you may throw a CEL
2. to keep the CEL from coming on you can try moving the 2nd O2 behind the 2nd cat or make a simulator there is a thread somewhere on here about it do a search.

 

Like he said. It's the EGR fitting. It picks up exhaust out of the #4 runner. The header I'm building bolts right up to it. I haven't thrown a CEL yet and the car runs great. I just checked my mileage and I was right at 30 MPG average. Not bad when you consider I have a hard time keeping my foot out of it. I was fairly moderate on that tank, but I still played with it a bit. I ran 5 0-60 runs on my G-tech/pro to test it (the G-tech). I'm pretty happy with the mileage I'm getting right now. 0-60 on the G-tech started at 10.25 but I had the A/C on. Got it down to 8.8 after 3 more runs. Hard part seems to be launching. I'm getting wheel hop out of the one wheel that drives. A better diff would take half a second off if not more I'm positive.

 

Well i gots a Bosal catback, and I was looking to get the HP Racing header. I won't have any cats in my car then, so am I gonna get CEL's or does the simulator thingy on it fix that? I'll be puttin it on myself too, can't be that hard.