Header Size For 1.8

[drift nut]

im looking into a new set of extractors for my 1.8 ltr lancer daily as im sick of the fuel consumption due to lack of tourque, any body know what size runners, or brands to look for?

[mad082]

just go to your local exhaust shop and ask them what extractors they can get.

oh and FYI, extractors won't do much for fuel economy. in a lot of cases they will do bugger all, or make it worse. they generally only make a difference to power at the higher end of the rev range, at the expense of a bit of low end.

it may be worth looking at other, cheaper things to try and improve fuel economy. check your o2 sensor, clean your AFM, take note of how long the car takes to warm up (if it takes more than 5 mins or a few kms of driving to warm up, or doesn't warm up to the middle of the gauge, then the thermostat is shot and replacing it will improve your economy) and most importantly, examine your driving style. if you floor it everytime you take off then you aren't helping the situation.

it's also worth pointing out that spending a few hundred dollars to TRY and get better economy is somewhat counter productive. lets say for example that you spend $300 on extractors and it only gives you a 10% increase in economy (which is a reasonable figure), you will only save $3 a week, so it will take you nearly 2 years before you have saved enough to pay for the extractors. what sort of economy are you getting?

[drift nut]

ive cleaned both, run a high flow filter and cold air intake,, and 5w 30 oil, thinest that is practical to run, drive it like a granny, and im not nesacerally after the money back id just like to make the lack of power more liveable and keep the same economy if not improve it, after all number to is crushed to allow number three to run on the standard manifold, and i was more after recomendations for brands, sorry for not clarifying

[mad082]

most major brands are all reasonable quality. if you talk to enough people you will hear that every brand is crap, and that every brand is great. you are actually best looking on a lancer forum and seeing what they recommend. what brand works well on one car might not work as another brand on another car, so any advice you get from what works well on a skyline might not be true for on a lancer.

i've used genie and pacemaker headers with no issues in the past.

i should also note that there are certain cars where aftermarket headers make next to no difference in power. v6 magnas are a great example of this. the reason being that the cams are a bigger restriction than the headers. so gains will be minimal. having said that, on something like a SSS pulsar they make a big difference. also i've driven a lancer and they aren't that bad of a car power wise. maybe yours has a bigger issue, such as low compression or a dodgy fuel pump or clogged injectors (which a bottle of injector cleaner won't fix), or possibly even a blocked cat. not trying to talk you out of getting headers, just don't want you to be let down by the possible lack of gains if there is something else going on.

[drift nut]

i have been tossing up those options of dirty/blocked parts, as it was driven extremely sedately when my mother owned it and runs better when it gets a bit of a rev or run injector cleaner through it, how would i go about cleaning these items

[mad082]

to properly clean the injectors you need to remove them and have them professionally cleaned. this generally isn't that expensive and would probably cost less than $150 all up.

[drift nut]

ah ok, i'll have to look into that

[warps]

i should also note that there are certain cars where aftermarket headers make next to no difference in power. v6 magnas are a great example of this. the reason being that the cams are a bigger restriction than the headers. so gains will be minimal. .

At the risk of derailing this thread, and admitting that I was once a Magna tragic, I have to ask whether you tried the muffler upgrade? At the time I had my TH, the word on the street was that the rear muffler was a fairly m,ajor source of restriction, and replacing it with a bigger (not necessarily a ricey fart cannon) made a reasonable difference (around 10-12kW IIRC in the 3.5 TH). Never ended up changing mine (couldn't see the sense in hotting up a Magna) but there seemed to be a few people claiming it made a reasonable difference. Interesting to hear about the extractors though. At the time I got mine (early 2000) there weren't any off the shelf units, and my exhaust guy offered to make a set of stainless extractors for $500. Again, I couldn't justify spoending those $$ on the boat.

Normal programming will resume now.

[drift nut]

yeah im not trying it for sound or to make it go faster just to make it more liveable, woul their be any point changing the rear muffler and leaving the centre one?

[warps]

Possibly - as Marc said it comes down to each car's areas of weakness. In the case of the Magna, the rear muffler was quite restrictive to keep them quiet (at the time they were reknowned for very low NVH levels compared to other cars in the class). If you're going for a less restrictive muffler, then larger volume tends to help keep the noise down while still flowing OK. Juet be careful you don't end up with something droney. Talk to the Lancer guys to find out what results others have had (just be prepared to wade through the stories of how a canon and shiny 4" exhaust turned a stock lancer into a GTR killah)

At any rate, I think on a 1.8 lancer, any exhaust changes will only have a marginal effect, and the benefits (if any) will most likely only be there at higher revs (ie peak power where flow will be highest), not for normaly day to day driving.

[PN-Mad]

What do you fill up with? And what kind of economy are we talking about here? Auto or manual?

I have a daily Mazda 323, it's a 1.8. Manual. Filled up last night, and calculated 6.7 litres per 100 km. that's comuting, but being holidays traffic isn't bad. I use 95 at the pump, and have increased the static timing to compensate, to the point where I don't have pre det. I also removed the centre muffler, not cause full hectic, but cause it was forever leaking. Made nil difference in econ.

Also noticed you live in tassie. Roads can be pretty mountainous round those parts, so factor that into your economy. Other things that come to mind, do you do lost of short trips? That increases fuel use. Check your idle is within manufacturers stds, adjust if needed. Other than that, what Marc said about afm and O2 sensor.

[drift nut]

on average on good 91 i'll get 7-8ish per hundred, 6.5 if i get a really good batch of fuel, its manual, and its i have been tossing up that the timings out cause it does run a little rich, i've checked plug gap etc so

[mad082]

At the risk of derailing this thread, and admitting that I was once a Magna tragic, I have to ask whether you tried the muffler upgrade? At the time I had my TH, the word on the street was that the rear muffler was a fairly m,ajor source of restriction, and replacing it with a bigger (not necessarily a ricey fart cannon) made a reasonable difference (around 10-12kW IIRC in the 3.5 TH). Never ended up changing mine (couldn't see the sense in hotting up a Magna) but there seemed to be a few people claiming it made a reasonable difference. Interesting to hear about the extractors though. At the time I got mine (early 2000) there weren't any off the shelf units, and my exhaust guy offered to make a set of stainless extractors for $500. Again, I couldn't justify spoending those $$ on the boat.

Normal programming will resume now.

yeah i did. mine was also a TH and i put a lukey rear muffler on and it made a difference. then i put a redback mid section on and it made a difference too. extractors did bugger all though. and yeah, up to around 10kw is pretty much spot on.

on average on good 91 i'll get 7-8ish per hundred, 6.5 if i get a really good batch of fuel, its manual, and its i have been tossing up that the timings out cause it does run a little rich, i've checked plug gap etc so

that is pretty darn good economy. you won't get much better than that. the best i've ever gotten out of the missus SSS is 6.5L/100kms on the highway (generally around the 7 to 8L/100kms on the highway. round town i generally get 10 to 11L/100kms out of it (and about 14L/100kms out of my vt wagon around town and 9L/100kms on the highway), but that is a lot of short trips (so car runs on cold start enrichment most of the time) and stop/start driving, so poor economy is to be expected.

[drift nut]

see im not nesacerally after a better economy, wouldnt complain if it i did though, im just trying to make it more live able and keep the same economy by improving the low end torque

[mad082]

if you do extractors then you would want to do a cat back exhaust to make the most of it. the power gains from doing this would be in the range of 5 to 10kw, but that will be more at the top end of the rev range. the low to mid range won't increase much, or may even drop a little bit in the lower rev range.

it really does sound like you have unrealistic expectations from a 4 cylinder car though. as i said in an earlier post, i've driven a 1.8L lancer and they aren't bad to drive as far as power goes. sure the don't have the low down pull of a larger motor, but they are far from lacking (unless there is a mechanical issue, but from your fuel economy i don't think there is). any mods you do to increase power will only gain you about 10% more power, most of it at the higher end of the rev range. so not really the sort of change that it sounds like you are after. about the only thing that would give you the sort of low to mid range power gains is bolting a turbo to it.

[bozodos]

I have never heard of anyone going backwards with extractors, unless you were to fit ones that didnt suit the particular motor (i,e overly large primaries etc). might not give a huge increase in power but should make the motor considerably more efficient.

Pacemaker do a 4 into 1 set for about 400 bucks.

OP: stop thrashing the shit out of it!

BTW the thought of modding a Magna is laughable. Worst aussie family car i've driven, i'd rather get around in a VN!

[drift nut]

i dont thrsh the shit out of it, and the v6 magnas arent a bad car to drive, wouldnt have one, but their not that bad