Mazda Talk Forums

Ok, will send you some photos.

A couple of other tips I forgot to mention;

Regarding the heat shield that uses 3 bolts to secure it. This shield is a bugger to get the front and centre bolts off, so when I reinstalled the shield, I mounted it on top of the body instead of underneath. All you need to do is either drill the centre bolt hole out a little bigger or place a couple of washers on the "nut", then you can bolt the shield on from the top instead of the bottom.

I found the best way to line up the exhaust tips was have header, midpipe slip joint and muffler bolts loose, one buddy keeping an eye on the tips and another buddy moving the midpipe to get the tips aligned. My car needed the midpipe pushed to the right side of the car to get the tips aligned.
Once tips are aligned I found it best to tighten the muffler first, then the midpipe and finally the two bolts/springs at the header.

The one question I have is;

Does this system (catless header, Helmholz mid and Super Q) usually give a pop on upshifts?? If I upshift at about 3-4000rpm, every upshift I get a pop??

Cheers

Brian, can you flip the top pic once clockwise please?

Cheers

Like this?

Yes, thank you. The pic that way shows the post I installed to zip tie the cable extensions to.

I also asked if the full exhaust system gets a pop on upshifts or is it something to do with tuning?

I get a pop on every upshift at about 4000rpm. Just wondering what is causing it??

Cheers

BryanH915 wrote:Yes, thank you. The pic that way shows the post I installed to zip tie the cable extensions to.

I also asked if the full exhaust system gets a pop on upshifts or is it something to do with tuning?

I get a pop on every upshift at about 4000rpm. Just wondering what is causing it??

Cheers

That's a tune issue on the pop, can be changed with the tune. The kids intentionally make that worse for the pops and gurgle effect, in our cars here no pops.

Thank you!

Cheers

I just purchased the FULL Ceramic Catted Street Header package that I will be installing to replace a FULL MAX Header package. In other words, I'll be replacing all parts (headers, HH mid-pipe, and SQ muffler). That may sound a little crazy, but ....

The main reason I'm doing this is because I currently have two NC Miatas (2007 and 2009). My setup is as follows:

2007 Touring, Bing Cherry, GWR Ceramic Street, HH Mid, SQ, ME CAI and Tune
2009 Sport, Silver, ME 2.5L 1.5 Cams, GWR Max, HH Mid, SQ, ME CAI and Tune, Happy Meal, AWR 1D Roll, Koyo, Ohlins, RX8 Sways

I want to replace one of them with an ND2 in the near future. So the obvious choice (in my mind) is to let go of the 2.0L and keep the 2.5L beast. But I need to tame it down a bit, for the commute. The mid-pipe on the 2009 recently developed a serious "crack" around the cat that a trusted mechanic has determined is not reparable. Thus, a full front-to-back overhaul of the exhaust with shiny new bits makes sense to me.

Anyway, my question is: How does the header install differ when swapping out a MAX header with the Street header? Will the install be any easier? Also, will the 2.5L engine necessitate any different treatment?

NOTE: I did not originally install the exhaust on either of these cars, but I'd like to give it a whirl this time around. I do enjoy wrenching just for enjoyment, though money is not a deciding factor for me. I have more experience working on my sport-touring motorcycles (BMW K1600GT and FJR1300ES), but I'm not a complete novice working on the Miatas. I've done a variety of smaller upgrades myself.

The catted headers and catless headers bolt up the same way, the only difference is what happens with the O2 sensors per the prior pages here. Fortunately 2.5 or 2.0 liter makes no difference.

Thanks Brian.

Thoughtful ND Header install video by Customer Ron Cook