well, I'm not entirely sure that they are *worth* all the money and effort. It was a lot of work. When I took the headers to the muffler shop to have them change the o2 location, the guy at the shop asked me if they were pacesetter headers. I nodded and he laughed and said "their shit never fits". but for me I liked it because it made my car have a bit of extra get up and go on the high-way.(very useful in the mountains) plus I autocross the car so its nice having a little bit extra power. I'm not sure of what power I actually do have, but with my current set up in my car I think I am about 130 HP or less which is up from stock 115 HP.
the o2 sensor relocation cost me about 48 dollars for labour at a local shop where they welded the whole onto my down pipe, and covered up the hole on the header. there is an older thread regarding this, which I have posted pics of the final project. The headers themselves i think were around 200? can't remember off the top of my head.
I might add that for the header to mate up with the down pipe flange... you're going to have to have the people who relocate the o2 sensor to the downpipe also make it so the bolt holes line up with the header's bolt holes.
In addition to this, when you remove your old exhaust manifold, use plenty of penetrating oil, or you'll never do it.... and also make sure the car is not hot... so wait at least 30-40 minutes after running the car to allow the exhaust manifold and cat to cool.
when i did this project, the bolt hole on the engine itself got the threads stripped out in one of the bolts for the exhaust manifold. it was a pain in the ass to fix. I used a tap and die set which was fine. if I had to take the thing in to a machine shop though, that would have involved taking the whole engine head off the engine... which of course would have been even more of a hassel.
just keep that all in mind, cause when you're doing a project like this on an old car, you might end up with a few unexpected problems!
and as far as how loud the car got... well I have a straight thru muffler... HKS high power to be precise. and the car got very loud. I have had a cop pull me over, but I think the only reason why was because he was an asshole with nothing better to do on thanksgiving night at 2AM out in the county. The car is not loud enough where it is not street legal though. which is why said cop couldnt give me a ticket :lol: But if you're using a stock muffler, I don't think that it will be too loud. if you're worried about it though, you can get a high-flo cat to put in your car further down the pipes. Your stock down pipe has a resonator in it too I might add. which you should probably keep in there... I still used to the stock downpipe with my headers. the flow is fine.
)... just removing the cat by itself though can improve your performance in your car.
