I took a look at the system today and am happy! The welds seem very neat and precise with no visible holes anywhere. We will see if they hold up to the heat / pressure but they look good. All the flanges are perfect and nice and beefy. The ports are very clean, I could not find any part that needed to be deburred or re-ported. I am quite impressed especially considering the price!

As far as the cat I am still unsure. I am debating just leaving the testpipe alone. The testpipe is a small piece. From outside of flange to outside opposite flange it measures approximately 11.75". The resonator they use is roughly 6 inches. I have been on magnaflow's site for a few minutes trying to find something close in size with an 02 sensor bung and it is proving a little difficult (but not impossible). I am going to consult my manual to see where the second sensor is located on the OEM exhaust to help pick the right cat.

I plan to install early May. I am saving for an exhaust. I plan to do a stock run and then run again with exhaust / header but i really don't want to take the time to do the header alone so while you will see gains ( hopefully) I will not be able to distinguish between exhaust and header.

I will keep posting as more goes down for anyone looking for product info.

As far as people saying to "hack" the stock cat i refuse for 3 reasons.
1. i like to keep all stock parts neat and intact for that "just in case" type of situation.

2. I am picky and neat. I would not want to use a hacked up rewelded cat with something I just purchases...I know I am prissy...

3. I may be wrong here but I am pretty sure while the header is 2.5" the factory cat is not and I would rather keep the same size. if I am wrong then scratch this out.

Seann

 

Seann,
excellent over-view and I - personally - appreciate you taking the time to do all this. I am with you when you claim to be picky and everything. I, too would look further down into the CAT; the main reason is because I want it to be street-legal. This is my daily-driver, so I don't wanna get into any (more) trouble with the cops...

Keep us posted on what happens, I'm really looking into this now, just need a precise high-flow CAT that will fit and perform.

Thanks again,
Leo.

 

Awesome report Seann! Look forward to eharing more about the dyno results and if you find a suitable cat. Thanks!

 

I just found out yesterday that my Megan/Pilo racing header is leaking. Its the first version with the long flex piece. I have only had it on about 2500 miles and now that flex piece is leaking and sounds horrible . I just emailed them and am patiently waiting. Also I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

 

Man. that sucks. Hopefully Pilo or Megan can straighten things out for you.

 

Anything new with this?

 

I too have a leaking flex joint with the Megan Header. Installed in December and have about 500 race miles on the header. The leak started this past weekend during our USTCC race at Miller. I've emailed Megan Racing and will be following up with a phone call Tuesday.

 

After I first posted about the header I waited for about four days for a reply from Pilo, maybe because it was the weekend. When they finally responded back they simply stated, call Megan Racing. So I did and they remembered me from a couple months ago when my coilover snapped. All I had to do was take a couple pictures to show it was leaking and a few days later the new version header arrived. I love those Megan guys . The only difference I noticed is the exhaust ports were smaller and is a lot more quiet with the resonator. I didn't think the ports made a difference, but they did, I lost some of my throttle reponse and maybe a couple horses. So when I get the head done, I'm going to make sure to make the ports bigger.

 

So has anyone ever figured out what exactly to do about a cat...or has everyone that has posted on this thread that installed one just skipped the cat and forgot about coming up with a solution?? Also, you guys that are runnign this header and no cat on the street, do you guys have OBDII inspections or just dyno's? I live in NY and they just switched to OBDII inspections last year . Anyways, in case anyone is not familiar..if your check engine light is on for any reason you automatically fail. Obviously if you ran without a cat the CEL would come on....wanted to know what you guys did about it or do you just run an o2 simulator.
Thanks,
Steve

 

I have not put mine on yet but I am saying forget the cat. I bought this header cause it was cheap. I don't wanna start adding to it with a cat or I would've just grabbed a used Miltech. I am thinking about coating it though.

Seann

 

Talked with Steve at Megan on Tuesday and he said if I could bring the header in they will look at it and exchange it if there was a problem. Pulled the header out on Tuesday night and had my wife run it over to Megan in La Puente, Ca today Wednesday. Took one look at it and handed over a new header in the box. It's nice to have some good service from the aftermarket community.

Looking at the new header I still need to rework the ports, Open them up a bit so they match the header gasket. I'll reinstalled on Sunday.

Thanks Megan Racing for the quick turn around.

 

hey guy, how can you tell is flex piece leak, i have the same header and start have that header leak sound and it was horrible, and i put my hand around the flex piece but i dont fell that much. can you guy give me some pointer. Thanks.

 

After making sure it wasn't leaking at the head and the exhaust flanges, I put my hand up at the flex joint and could feel the exhaust leak. When I removed the test pipe, I tried to move the end of the header below the flex, you could then hear the joint grinding, also the joint was much easier to move. Try those and let us know what you come up with.

 

What's the dealio with this? Mediocre quality flex joints, or does the MINI engine really move around that much (the last part's a rhetorical question - it moves like mf'er).

 

you should notice the color change. instead of it being gold it shoul be a flat brown.

 

what are the numbers between this and the obx. they are both cheap. i heard the obx sometimes doesnt come with all of the stuff, how is the build quality

 

Thanks guy, now I believe when my oil fill motor mount broke few months back that could started it all, I'm going to pull it out this week and see how it look. I probably just going to cut the flex joint off and weld a pipe back in instead.

 

I received my Megan header last night, and all I have to say is: let's be thankful for the global economy. There's no way this thing could be made in the US at that price--and with that much quality for twice the price. The welds are gorgeous, almost perfect. I might not even put it in the car...just hand it on the wall and look at it!
Now to find someone to weld up the CAT, and time for me to grind out the ports on the manifold, and install...woohoo.
sorry, you can tell I'm excited!

 

To anyone already running this header...did it throw any codes? I'd rather no ahead of time as I am finally putting it in this weekend along with my exhaust.

Seann

 

I *know* what's going to happen with the Megan--it doesnt' come with a cat, so it will throw codes without a doubt. I installed the o2 simulator at the same time as I installed the header. Time will tell, but I recon the odds are in my favor that I won't throw a light before I get the custom cat installed. btw, installation of the Megan is no simple task--it requires both brains and brute force in ample proportions.
good luck,

 

Thats lovely to know...

Can you get into a little detail for me as far as the install headaches.

I think I may as well grab the cat now prior to install. Will any Magnaflow (correct size of course) to the trick as far as no codes thrown?

Thanks for your help thus far


Seann

 

The problem is getting the car high enough to slip the header in between the firewall and the sway bar from underneath. The stock header comes out pretty easily because it can be twisted sideways, but the Megan's pipes just form a triangle with the manifold and the flexjoint. There are two very stiff wires in the space going back to the emergency brakes at the rear, and these interfere with getting the header in between the sway bar (which you wont be moving at all) and the body panels. I ended up removing all the heat shields to give myself the most room and still scratched the body paint (not the scratches matter, it's just to indicate how tight the fit is.) Still, once the header was in, replacing the heat shields was pretty easy, and the install went well from there on out. It took me 4.5 hours total, of which about 2 were dealing with sliding the header in. In the end, the car was about 15" off the ground at the jack points, just to give you some idea how much clearance you need. It would be easier with one of those car hoists...
I'd also recommend removing the coil and spark plug leads, just to get lots of access to the header bolts.
I ordered the Magnaflow that had been posted here in another thread--it is a little big, but fits in the space OK. You'll have to get flanges welded on.

cheers,

 

Might I mention Random Technologies for your cat needs. They create top quality high flow cats for high horsepower vehicles and they also offer universal cats that offer the same great build quality as the custom applications that they have. They have dyno charts where just switching from a factory cat to one of their cats picked up almost 10 whp!! Not sure if any has heard of them...haven't really read it here before. Here's there link: http://www.randomtechnology.com
Just my $.02,
Steve

 

That's good that the Random cat adds 10 HP since they cost $225 and don't come with an o2 bung (I have asked them about this.) They may be very good cats, but perhaps not very suitable for a MINI.
cheers,

 

You get what you pay for with cats in my experience... Magnaflow's last less than a year in my experience, even less if you do any track or autocrossing.