Product Review: PLM H-Series Tri-Y Header
* At this time, I am only able to provide an out-of-car review. The engine is not yet completed, therefore I can't run it on a dyno (butt or real one) to comment on its performance.
If you've actually been following my build, you know my header decision has been very back-and-forth. "I'm going to do this," "I'm debating that"... I'm sorry! The original plan was for a Bisimoto header, simply because I am absolutely in love with its look. I still am, and would love to pick one up some day. At one point, I was three days away from getting a real one used (I was in communication with the seller), but just before I had the cash he sold it to someone else. A while later, I was under the impression that Bisi stopped making them new when he seemed to dip out of the Honda scene. More recently I've noticed that the headers (as well as many of his seemingly dropped Honda products) are back on their website, but now they're costing about $300 more than I remember. I'm not paying $1300 or whatever it is for a header I'd only use half of. Then I saw that PLM makes an excellent-looking replica. That is, they did. They changed their design, and not only does the collector look like absolute shit now (not that it would have mattered for me, since I'd change it from a 4-1 to a 4-2-1 anyway to try and fix that weak mid-range), but for some reason they felt the need to add an additional cut to the primaries, necessitating an additional weld. It just looks ugly now, and the whole point of me getting that spaghetti header was for looks. The photos at PLM's website of a sleek-looking header are not current but I've e-mailed both PLM and dealer JHPUSA, and got confirmation from both that the photos at JHP are indeed current. Maybe Bisimoto came after them for ripping off the design and that was how they solved it... just like all those Chinese brands (in any industry) that blatantly rip off the aesthetics of other successful products and get away with it on the grounds that "it's not the same." You can check out that header here if you're interested. For the record, when I e-mailed PLM, I asked if they'd be willing to match JHP's $50-cheaper price. Because on PLM's site, they do say "e-mail me a better price." I did e-mail them that better price, and they told me to just buy from JHP. There's a company that's interested in its customers.
After that Bisi-rep disappointment, I decided to 'settle' and just get their HyTech rip-off. At PLM, it's listed at the same price as the Bisimoto rep: $500. JHP's got it for $279 shipped. I wasn't about to waste my time asking PLM for a price match! And at that price, I'm willing to take the risk of buying something from a brand that is notorious for hit-or-miss fitment. It's worth noting before I even opened the box that I don't trust slip joints in the slightest, and plan on completely welding this thing up. It's going into a street car anyway.
RANT: Seriously, what is the point of price matching another seller? I'm not just talking car parts here, either, but for anything. At the same store, comparing their own online to in-store pricing is fine. But if I see a cheaper price for the same product at another store I'm already at - or in the case of the internet is only a click away - I'll buy from them. Being able to say I bought from a given company name doesn't get me off. It wastes my time. If these companies are going to do anything about price adjustment, they should be bidding for your business and going lower than the competition. I digress...
Straight out of the box, I took some measurements. For the curious, let's go top to bottom.
Flange thickness:
If you've actually been following my build, you know my header decision has been very back-and-forth. "I'm going to do this," "I'm debating that"... I'm sorry! The original plan was for a Bisimoto header, simply because I am absolutely in love with its look. I still am, and would love to pick one up some day. At one point, I was three days away from getting a real one used (I was in communication with the seller), but just before I had the cash he sold it to someone else. A while later, I was under the impression that Bisi stopped making them new when he seemed to dip out of the Honda scene. More recently I've noticed that the headers (as well as many of his seemingly dropped Honda products) are back on their website, but now they're costing about $300 more than I remember. I'm not paying $1300 or whatever it is for a header I'd only use half of. Then I saw that PLM makes an excellent-looking replica. That is, they did. They changed their design, and not only does the collector look like absolute shit now (not that it would have mattered for me, since I'd change it from a 4-1 to a 4-2-1 anyway to try and fix that weak mid-range), but for some reason they felt the need to add an additional cut to the primaries, necessitating an additional weld. It just looks ugly now, and the whole point of me getting that spaghetti header was for looks. The photos at PLM's website of a sleek-looking header are not current but I've e-mailed both PLM and dealer JHPUSA, and got confirmation from both that the photos at JHP are indeed current. Maybe Bisimoto came after them for ripping off the design and that was how they solved it... just like all those Chinese brands (in any industry) that blatantly rip off the aesthetics of other successful products and get away with it on the grounds that "it's not the same." You can check out that header here if you're interested. For the record, when I e-mailed PLM, I asked if they'd be willing to match JHP's $50-cheaper price. Because on PLM's site, they do say "e-mail me a better price." I did e-mail them that better price, and they told me to just buy from JHP. There's a company that's interested in its customers.
After that Bisi-rep disappointment, I decided to 'settle' and just get their HyTech rip-off. At PLM, it's listed at the same price as the Bisimoto rep: $500. JHP's got it for $279 shipped. I wasn't about to waste my time asking PLM for a price match! And at that price, I'm willing to take the risk of buying something from a brand that is notorious for hit-or-miss fitment. It's worth noting before I even opened the box that I don't trust slip joints in the slightest, and plan on completely welding this thing up. It's going into a street car anyway.
RANT: Seriously, what is the point of price matching another seller? I'm not just talking car parts here, either, but for anything. At the same store, comparing their own online to in-store pricing is fine. But if I see a cheaper price for the same product at another store I'm already at - or in the case of the internet is only a click away - I'll buy from them. Being able to say I bought from a given company name doesn't get me off. It wastes my time. If these companies are going to do anything about price adjustment, they should be bidding for your business and going lower than the competition. I digress...
Straight out of the box, I took some measurements. For the curious, let's go top to bottom.
Flange thickness:
Inlet size:
First step-up diameter:
Secondary diameter:
Outlet diameter:
The tubing is 18-gauge 304 stainless. I would have preferred thicker, since I hear it's good for sound-suppression (makes sense), and it offers an obvious advantage in heat-retention. I'll probably look into local ceramic coaters at some point.
The welds certainly look pretty, but I'm no welder so I can't judge penetration just by looking at it. I will say that when I was taking these photos in my garage, I was using a case of bottled water to stand the header up. At the end, I lifted the water, stupidly forgetting that the header was still standing, and the flange swung down and hit the bare concrete. It sounded like a heavy whack at the time. No dent or chip in the flange, no cracked welds. On first impressions, it seems to be put together pretty well...
The slip joints, as you probably expected, are where things get bad. I've wrestled with it, I've taken a dead-blow to it, I've tried lubricating the metal with engine oil, and I've tried adjusting the joints in tiny amounts and assembling them in different orders. As a whole, the pieces aren't all aligning. You have to wonder if they weld it all up while it's even assembled. With mine, I think the problem is in the middle pieces that bend to go under the oil pan. It looks like one of the female tubes wasn't welded onto the collector at the right angle.
Here are some photos of that problem, off and on the engine, given that the secondaries are properly seated into the primaries. You can see that not only are they at different angles, but also slightly different positions in terms of how far back they reach - not that that would matter much hidden inside the slip joint, but the difference is there to show how far off the 4-into-2 collectors are.
Left as-is, I can get the final collector on about half an inch. It's enough to weld, sure, but eventually you know that stress is going to crack a weld somewhere. Rather than trying to deal with a replacement header, I think I can fix this myself with a simple pie-cut in one of the tubes to angle it more even with the other.
These photos are also starting to show off the over-abundance of oil pan clearance, or lack of ground clearance. Bringing the secondaries closer to the oil pan is an easy fix, though. I can simply take about 3/4" out of those first slip joints.
On a personal note, I want to extend the piping after the final collector. For one, I have a V-band clamp to replace the donut flange. And secondly, I'll be using both the stock O2 sensor as well as a wide-band sensor for an A/F gauge, and I want a bit more spacing between the two sensors than the current tube allows for with its O2 bung already welded into the middle of it.
Still, she's looking pretty, ain't she? I've only got a few more parts to pick up for this build, then it's on to some fairly serious saving for machining, tuning, and of course the perfect wagon to put this in. I'll update this review at dyno time...