Stainless steel headers

Hi everyone,

Delkevic have stainless steel headers for 399 AUD.

What is your experience of stainless steel headers please?

i.e.

Does it make the bike excessively loud?
Any downside to installing them?

I'd love to replace the stock header but don't know what I might affect or change in a good or bad way on the bike.

Thanks everyone..

 

I cant help with an opinion on stainless headers. Saw a VFR with ceramic coated pipes advertised.
I would be interested in the stainless headers as well.

 

Today I spoke with the US reseller for Motad headers. I was asking if he had any sort of dyno chart or objective info on the effect of replacing the stock set of pipes with a header. His answer was that essentially, the aftermarket headers are intended to be an alternative to buying another set of OEM pipes rather than any sort of performance improvement. Needless to say, this was a surprise but I thanked him for his honesty and candor. Personally, my experience with my Aprilia RST1000 was that gutting the OEM pre-muffler and removing the cat bundle made a big difference to the point that it easily pulled the front wheel up afterwards when it hadn't before. I called him hoping to hear that a similar improvement could be expected with the VFR.

I still believe that removing the cat and turning the OEM header into nothing more that a collector would have to improve performance at least a little. If you swap a set in, please let us know.

 

Interesting

Thanks for the reply fdbgt..

I noticed the other day that the ebay info for the delkevic headers does state there is no performance increase. I think you may be right.

I wonder if staintune headers are the same.

I am really enjoying learning about all of this stuff.

I recently was reading about the pros/cons of after market air filters. I still can't work out what the go is. So many different opinions.

At least the headers seem to be more clear cut

 

It depends on the diameter of the pipe. Larger pipes, more flow, along with tuned FI would equal a little more top end HP at the expense of some mid-range torque. That's been my experience with the TBros set up. SS or not doesn't matter much except for longevity.

 

VFRCapN,

You are correct. He mentioned that as well - an increase in tube diameter will result in a trade off of a little more HP up top for a loss in mid-range torque. In his experience, there are only so many (not that many) HP available on the VFR w/o going into the engine and spending big-bucks. BTW, he referred to the VFR as a torque-monster (?).

 

Nice set of pipes!!!
Sorry to threadjack.
VFRcapn I notice you have frame sliders. Did you have to cut your fairing for those?

 

Thanks for the info

Thanks for your input (and the cool pic)

 

Thanks, just spent a few hours polishing the headers up last weekend. Yes, you have to cut the fairing for those sliders. They're GSG Moko brand but same or similar to the R&G set up. Not sure the GSG's are still available?

 

Cool,
I'm not keen on cutting the fairing at present. I'm looking into fabricating a stronger bracket just behind where yours are. That will replace the flimsy bracket and hopefully support an accidental driveway tip over

 

Hi Pap11y,
Have you noticed on Ebay.com.au there are Delkevic full systems for $899 AUS.

 

My bike came with stainless Motad headers and can.

The can is stamped with the correct British Standard number so is completly road legal, so what your guy says makes sense to me.

It's not excessivly loud and sounds great on the over-run

 

Thanks Mark 024

I definately considered it but had to have a hi rise system...

 

Pity, they are not high rise. Would be great to swap the whole system out with ssteel

 

I was not aware that there was a cat model of the Gen 5 or any stainless systems that were still made for the gen 5. I looked for a long time and found nothing.

 

When I bought my 2000 I did a little research and it seems like nobody has been able to coax much more out of the VFR than Honda did with the stock pipes. I'd love to know that I'm wrong, and I'm sure if you were to spend a little time and money (well maybe a lot) with a Power Commander, a Pipe bender and a dyno you could ring out a little more power. ( If you had the know how)
All that being said I would love a set of stainless pipes. The Stainless headers I put on my FJ Cruiser always look great, no rust, no flaking paint/coating, just a little mud now and again. And you can clean them with a wire brush and a scotch brite pad.

Dave

 

I previously had a 98 model with no cat. I just bought a 00 model and it has a Cat.
I havent checked Ebay.com but on the oz version there are full Delkevic systems or just exhausts in stainless.

 

I just put a set of the delkevic headers on my 98. Pipe inner diameter is about 1.5-2mm larger than stock, gives noticeably(only just) more power from about 9K rpm upwards. Engine note with the staintune muffler is better, still about the same sound level dB wise.

 

I got the headers (from santa)

They are a massive improvement.

My only gripe is delkevic not supplying the clamps at the back. They cost $90 from honda new and delkevic think its fine to put the old ones on (I disagree wholeheartedly)..

So performance and ride improvement.. 5 stars
Delkevic not providing rear header pipe clamps... FAIL