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INSTALLATION NOTES
CMC (Juston Poole) header and cat (Installed November 2007) This is an expensive, custom make header. Juston, out of Georgia, makes each header by hand, and in my case, made a "stock" header to match my lack of head modifications. It doesn't do much power-wise, but headers generally don't with the Mini. But it sure looks fantastic:
The header is mild steel, ceramic coated on the inside and outside. It is very well made and fits very cleanly. It comes with an o2 bung, a wide-band tuning bung, and a V-band joint to the catalytic converter, which also comes with an o2 sensor bung. The 4-2-1 design pairs cylinders 1-4 and 2-3 which is different from every other 4-2-1 design for the Mini. It has quite a distinctive sound, a little like a Subaru (I said a little, and not bad) as the cylinders seem to pulse more discretely compared to the Megan header. The system comes with a modified Milltek mid pipe that has a Hushpower II resonator in line. This makes for a very quiet system, but I like loud! Megan Racing header and short pipe (Undertaken 6/10/06, 11000 miles) This is a really inexpensive header--I got it from OutMotoring for $199 plus $25 shipping. Made in China, it uses pretty light stainless steel and things are not perfectly lined up, but the welds are very even and the header fits the car as designed. The resonator pipe is a joke--it doesn't do much but add a little rice to the note. To run a catalytic converter you must get one fabricated, welding 2 flanges that match those of the resonator pipe. Installation notes:
It's nearly a month since I installed my Megan Race header (and a week before that I installed my *first* Megan header...) and all continues to get better as time
goes by.
The header comes in a box directly from China, with decals, but no installation instructions. Randy Webb's header installation instructions are generic enough to work for the Megan. Before removing the existing header I prepared the Megan by reaming out the ports to match the OEM gasket (a much nicer gasket than the one that comes with the Megan, even though the Megan one works). I wrapped the header and sealed it the day before as the wrap must be wetted to apply and takes a long time to dry. Removing the OEM header is simple but here are some tricks that make things easier (but are not absolutely essential.) 1. I removed the ignition coil and wires to give me lots of room to access the header bolts. 2. It's best to pull out the heat shield as you're going to have cut it to fit the Megan anyway. 3. I jacked the front of the car up leaving the rear wheels on the ground. I had more than enough room with the jack stands at about 15" 4. The front sway bar is the culprit in getting the new header in, as it rotates as you jack the car up (the suspension extends fully rotating the sway bar...) 5. I removed all the heat shields to give me maximum room to squeeze the Megan in, and with the header wrapped even had to do some panel beating to get it in (this is optional depending on the position of the sway bar and presence of the wrap.) 6. You need to take care of the gear shifter cables as they are in the way of the install. You don't need to remove them, but you need to move them and they are covered in heat shielding that can be damaged by the install. 7. Install the header without the short pipe as you'll have the most room to twist and shout. 8. It's best to use new gaskets, but I've seen Randy Webb reuse old ones. The Megan and short pipe push the catback resonator (Milltek in my case) up against the heat shield near the gear shifter. This will rattle at idle after a while, and annoy you, perhaps. I'm still working on a solution for this... The wrap and sealer make massive smoke and smell for about 10 minutes. It will go away. The Megan flex joint is prone to leak, and sounds bad. The reason I installed two headers is that the first one had a bad flex joint leak, the second one not so bad. It does "bed in" after 500 miles and mine now leaks very slightly. There's no odor, and the noise is just annoying. I've talked with Steve of Megan and the flex joint is not a common problem and there are people on NAM with no problems, so don't necessarily expect it, but don't be surprised if it leaks. Any questions?
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