RoadsterSport MAX Power 1.8 Inch NC Header - Ceramic Coated 2006-2015

RoadsterSport MAX Power 1.8 Inch NC Header - Ceramic Coated 2006-2015

DESCRIPTION Power Made Here! Hand made here in the USA with lifetime warranty our BIG 1.875 inch primary NC header has become the standard for big power NC builds, particularly those with superchargers and 2.5 liter conversions. MONSTER 1.875 inch primaries AND BRIGHT SILVER ceramic coating! Also works great on 2.0 so well that we eliminated our older 1.6 inch primary header.

Look at those smooth curves! Notice you don't see 6 welded sections for each primary like so many lesser headers that are made from cut pieces of standard radius pipe and straights. Instead, where possible ultra SMOOTH all mandrel bent tube is used here to keep flow as clean as possible. Sexy all T304 polished stainless steel is formed into massive 1.8 inch primaries for max power...with a lifetime warranty!

We put incredible effort into making the exit at the collector as smooth and perfect as we can get it because this collection point is the KEY to good header flow and we had to make sure this was done as perfect as possible. Note we use the factory collector gasket....so our fit is as factory-like as possible.

Our collector outlet is 2.5 inches. For best performance customers should match our header with our midpipe and exhaust so they are running 2.5 inches of flow all the way...but our header will bolt in place of the factory header and connect perfectly to the factory midpipe.

This header has become the most popular choice for enthusiasts doing 2.5 conversions for consistent big power and torque results. This header is our top recommendation for any customers considering 2.5 liter motors.

OXYGEN SENSORS:

Several options on what to do with the O2 sensors with our header. Read below for options A, B and C. Optional oxygen sensor wire extension cables are available as an add-on option with this header. Adding ONE wire extension gets you one long wire extension to move the secondary oxygen sensor to the midpipe as described in option B below. Adding TWO wire extensions gets you one long and one short wire extension for moving both primary and secondary oxygen sensors down to the midpipe as described in option A below.

A) Buy our midpipe and our two wiring extensions available here for simple plug and play install. Our midpipes are designed to take both O2 sensors, and includes two O2 sensor connections for that - one before the midpipe's converter and one after the midpipe's converter to help avoid a code. Buy BOTH of our extensions for that option.

B) Second choice and most common choice is first sensor in the header and second sensor in our midpipe after the converter, which will also avoid a code. For install in the midpipe of both sensors you need both O2 extension cords, but if you put the first sensor in the header you only need an extension for the second sensor. The first sensor will reach header connection but you may have to follow the wires back to the harness and use a razor blade to clear some sheath which has them gathered shorter than they actually are.

C) Third choice is to put BOTH sensors in the header, which will cause a code unless your tuner turns off the code caused by having the second sensor in the header. You don't need any wiring extensions for that option (sensors will reach header connection but you may have to follow their wires back to the harness and use a razor blade to clear some sheath which has them gathered shorter than they actually are).

NOTES ON CERAMIC COATING. Frankly, it is usually only the mild steel headers that are ceramic coated and I had always suspected that the main reason was to slow down the inevitable rust that a mild steel header will suffer over time. Since this header is already made in ALL STAINLESS STEEL, it does not need ceramic coating for rust prevention. That left the pure question of whether or not we could really find additional torque with the ceramic coating to justify the costs. After lots of testing the answer turned out to be YES, our BRIGHT ceramic coating was consistently ~3% stronger across all points on the curve.

CARB NOTICE: Installing this header in the 2006 through 2015 MX5 Miata means removing the first catalytic converter which means this header will NEVER be a California street legal header, never be CARB approved (and therefore legal in California for off road use only). Sorry, we will not ship these to residents of California. Note that there are states in addition to California that now follow the California model and require CARB compliance, please check the rules of your state before ordering, in some states this setup is legal only for race cars and may never be used on public highway.

BRIAN'S APPLICATION NOTES: This is THE header for peak power on the NC with 2.0 and supercharger or 2.5 liter conversion. For a long time we suspected it was a bit big for normal street driven 2.0 liter motors but customer dyno work has more recently shown that it beats our smaller 1.6 inch primary header at all points of the curve. This header is BIG, it will NOT fit with AWR lowering mounts, our lowering brackets, there is just no room remaining to lower the motor with this big pipe header. We usually use our RoadsterSport engine mounts with this header.

The first converter is also a pretty good resonator so understand that installation of any header will raise the exhaust sound level a good 20%. Therefore, we strongly recommend the RoadsterSport Q muffler with any header change because it was designed to handle the sound level of the header, and our RoadsterSport Helmholtz midpipe tunes the final sound result for drone free fun.

FITMENT NOTES: YES this header fits with the automatic transmission with a bit of grinding. There is a minor clearance issue between the edge of the header's bottom flange and the auto transmission. Some grinding needs to be done to knock the corner of the flange down a hair and then everything will fit. This header is SO BIG that there is NO AVAILABLE SPACE TO LOWER THE MOTOR WITH OUR LOWERING BRACKETS OR LOWERING MOUNTS! We suggest our RoadsterSport MX-5 Competition Motor Mounts with all 2.5 conversions, item 61-1713 on our site. We assume Left Hand Drive fitment only, we have not installed this big header on cars other than USA/Canada versions.