Installed: Status Gruppe Tuning Headers

[No_Dominion]

So, after having a set of polished headers from Status Gruppe Tuning sitting around in a corner of my living room for a few months, I finally got the chance to install them last week. This post will be combination discussion of how the install went, as well as a review of my impressions so far.

Backstory

Last summer I started getting serious about doing some performance modifications, and decided to do headers, intake and tune all in one fell swoop. I decided on what intake and tune I wanted fairly easily, but was having some trouble deciding on a set of headers. I knew that I wanted a decent quality set, no fitment issues (i.e. FCAB/motor/tranny mount clearance,) and I didn't want to break the bank. The primary options I was considering based on reviews from members of this forum seemed like very good options, but most of the ones that guaranteed no fitment issues cost more than I was willing to spend (Super Sprint.)

So, after poking around on some of the E46 M3 forums, I found a lot of really good reviews for a set of headers made by a small company in California by the name of Status Gruppe Tuning. I contacted Mike with SGT, and he satisfied all my questions regarding fitment for the Z4M, and on top of that, the price was very reasonable, $810 plus shipping. I ordered a set, and within a week or so, they were at my door. Unfortunately, one of the header flanges on the longer set of tubes was warped to the point where it would have been unusable. But Mike, being the awesome guy that he is, saved the day by immediately sending out a replacement set after I explained the problem to him. When the new set arrived, they were absolutely flawless. SGT definitely has some outstanding customer service.

Install

Fast forward a few months later, and I was stuck trying to find a shop around Indy that would be willing to install the headers for a reasonable price. I had purchased all the necessary gaskets, nuts, bolts and other odds and ends to make the install successful, so all it would be is simple labor. I was unable to find anywhere that was willing to do the install for less than $600-$800, so I decided to go an alternate route.

About 2 years ago, a guy opened up a DIY Garage here in Indianapolis, so I looked in to using their space to do a self-install. After checking with them, their rate to rent a lift bay was only $25/hour, and a full mechanics set of tools is included in the cost of the bay rental. A friend of mine who is very mechanically inclined agreed to help, so I decided to take a chance and attempt the DIY install.

Lets just say, I was extremely surprised and pleased with how easy the installation was. By the time I was only halfway through it, I could hardly believe I had ever considered paying some shop to do the work for me. Total install time was 4 1/2 hours, and that was including taking a couple of short breaks. I used a step-by-step install guide I found online from Bill of Bill's Web Space, and it was extremely helpful. When all was said and done, the install went off without hardly a problem, the headers fit perfectly, no denting required, the flanges all made a perfect seal with the gaskets I used, no leaks were present, and it was all completed with a minimum of bruised/bloodied knuckles. Total cost of install: $125 plus tax to the shop, plus a little cash I thew my buddies way for helping out.

Review

Having only had the headers installed for a week, and not having done a dyno run yet, my review is only going to consist of my basic impressions.

Quality: These headers, though they might not cost nearly as much as some others, are of the highest quality. The welds are outstanding, the flanges are perfections (barring the weird one that somehow made it to me initially,) and everything just looks gorgeous. You can tell that SGT really cares about the products they create.

Fitment: They fit perfectly, with no denting required for FCAB clearance. The bungs were all in the best position I could imagine them being in, and reinstalling the O2/EGT sensors was a breeze. The flanges mated up to the head perfectly, and there was essentially no bending/prying/pulling required to get everything to go where it should. These headers truly fit as if they were designed from the factory.

Sound: Once I got done breaking them in, I truly enjoyed the new sound quality the exhaust has with these headers installed. Yes, there is a bit more rasp present than before, but the same is true for any headers we would put on our vehicles, but the rasp is only noticeable at certain RPM's under certain throttle conditions. Overall the tone is surprisingly deeper, more aggressive, and when you truly get on the throttle, you can hear how much more freely the exhaust gases are able to flow. It reminded me of how much easier you can breath after using nasal decongestant spray when you have a severely stuffy nose, haha.

Power: Obviously this is just anecdotal, as I have yet to take my car for a dyno run post install, but I could definitely feel an increase in top end HP, specifically above 5K RPM. No noticeable increase in TQ, but SGT didn't really claim any TQ benefits, so I wasn't expecting any. Now, granted, I do have a custom tune from Evolve, so that is contributing to the increase in power I'm feeling at the top end, but getting headers without a tune to help take advantage of the more freely flowing exhaust wouldn't make much sense, anyway.

Overall Impression: I would HIGHLY recommend the SGT headers to anyone looking for a quality product without spending ridiculous amounts of money. I'm not quite sure why these headers are essentially unknown in our circle, when the E46 M3 guys love and swear by them, but believe me, they are worth it.

Sorry for the overly long post, I just wanted to be as thorough as possible given I'm the first person to do a review of them on here, as far as I can tell. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Below are some pictures from SGT's website

[pokeybritches]

Excellent review! And you're definitely right about cross-shopping some of the E46 M3 parts. I did the same with my CPI stepped headers (which I love, and I need to write a review for them too).

Did you replace the studs with the swap? I went with extended studs, which I wouldn't recommend unless you need it.

I'm surprised you didn't notice some low end gains, but I guess everyone's butt dyno is calibrated differently.

What did you end up doing about the CEL and secondary O2 sensors?

Again, excellent review! It's nice to see someone branching out!

[No_Dominion]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

Excellent review! And you're definitely right about cross-shopping some of the E46 M3 parts. I did the same with my CPI stepped headers (which I love, and I need to write a review for them too).

Did you replace the studs with the swap? I went with extended studs, which I wouldn't recommend unless you need it.

I'm surprised you didn't notice some low end gains, but I guess everyone's butt dyno is calibrated differently.

What did you end up doing about the CEL and secondary O2 sensors?

Again, excellent review! It's nice to see someone branching out!

I was able to use the stock studs, as the flanges that SGT use are thin enough not to require buying longer ones, thankfully. Wouldn't have been any big deal if I did have to use longer ones, though.

I already had picked up a decent amount of low end TQ gains from the combo of Eventuri intake and the tune I had put on previously, so that could be why I didn't really notice much difference down low. I also haven't had much opportunity to truly thrash it around the low end yet, either. I got to feel the high end gains during a a few jaunts on the highway over the weekend.

The tune from Evolve took care of any CEL lights that the headers would have thrown, thankfully.

[David70]

Good write up.

[No_Dominion]

Originally Posted by David70

Good write up.

Thanks, hopefully it'll help someone out there that was on the fence like I was.

[Arsonism]

I thought about going this route but went for the euro option instead. Unfortunately just didn't have the funds for COI or STG. I hope my review can compare!

[No_Dominion]

Originally Posted by Arsonism

I thought about going this route but went for the euro option instead. Unfortunately just didn't have the funds for COI or STG. I hope my review can compare!

Nothing wrong with that at all, that's why it's nice to have different options out there. And with the Euros, you'll know that fitment will be guaranteed, which is nice.

[Vanne]

nice read and review, thx

[Cortes2141]

Man, I'm not going to lie....those things are beautiful! Looking forward to seeing some dyno numbers. I was trying to do Euro CSL headers but it fell through. I am planning on doing a SC later on so I'm looking for non stepped for the lower end gains, I hope these compare!

EDIT: Forgot to ask, do you by chance know how much they weighed? (So I can compare to the CSL)

[No_Dominion]

Originally Posted by Cortes2141

Man, I'm not going to lie....those things are beautiful! Looking forward to seeing some dyno numbers. I was trying to do Euro CSL headers but it fell through. I am planning on doing a SC later on so I'm looking for non stepped for the lower end gains, I hope these compare!

EDIT: Forgot to ask, do you by chance know how much they weighed? (So I can compare to the CSL)

They are pretty damn good looking as far as headers go, I'll agree with you there. Beautiful welds, and the polish is almost a mirror finish. I left the top heat shield off when I installed them, so I can still see them even while in my engine bay.

I did a dyno run after I installed them, thread is here: http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1238699 Unfortunately, I had already installed an Eventuri intake and had an Evolve tune on the ECU, so you won't be able to see exactly what increase was due to the headers alone. But anecdotally, I'm confident that the headers and tune together made the majority of my gains. And putting headers on without a tune to take advantage of them and eliminate CELs would be like doing half a job, anyway.

I can't say exactly how much they weighed, but I know it was significantly less than the stock monstrosities that I pulled off. If you reach out to Mike at SGT, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to give you an exact number. FWIW, The shipment that the longer section came in was listed at 12 lbs, according to UPS.

[Cortes2141]

Awesome man, thanks! I was looking at their site and I see they do 200 cell section 1s! I would be very curious to see what kind of gains our cars could get with a full SGT setup and evolve tune over stock. Considering the I can get the headers and the section 1 for almost half the price of SS headers alone, I may have to be the one to try it out.

[No_Dominion]

Originally Posted by Cortes2141

Awesome man, thanks! I was looking at their site and I see they do 200 cell section 1s! I would be very curious to see what kind of gains our cars could get with a full SGT setup and evolve tune over stock. Considering the I can get the headers and the section 1 for almost half the price of SS headers alone, I may have to be the one to try it out.

Their 200 cell Section 1 is definitely in my list of to do mods. Don't know if I'll get to it this year, or not, but at some point for sure. I have no doubt that going from large, stock, 600 CPI cats to smaller, 200 CPI ones would make a measurable improvement, especially combined with everything else I have done.

I am planning on leaving the stock Section 2 with resonator, though, as it isn't really much of a construction point, and the resonator does its job as well as can be. With their Section 1 and a set of more free-flowing exhaust cans, that will pretty much close out my intake/exhaust upgrade path. That is, unless I decide to get really crazy one day and put on CSL style CF airbox and/or bored out throttle bodies; but then that will require a custom Alpha-N tune, and I don't know if I want to spend that much cash on an upgrade that yields such a small ROI.

[Cortes2141]

Well I did it, I bought a set of SGT headers and 200 cell section 1! I even ordered them jet hot coated and everything looked beautiful. Hopefully I will finish the install tomorrow and get the tune uploaded and take her for a spin....I did have one question though....My O2 sensors cables are DANGEROUSLY close to touching (if not actually touching) the headers in some spots...I would assume the sheaths are heat resistant, but can they withstand headers, or do I need to try to figure out a new way of harnessing the cables??

EDIT: OK install complete...doesnt appear to have any wires touching... but it immediately started smoking and smelling something burning (ie not exhaust smell). I shut it off immediately and started looking but found nothing! I'm baffled. Second concern, the studs arent long enough to full thread through the nut. I was able to full cinch them down though with several rotations, so its not like the nut is just barely on the stud....I would say the studs are threaded about 2/3-3/4 through the nuts. I need advice HELP!!!!...thanks

Brian

[No_Dominion]

Originally Posted by Cortes2141

Well I did it, I bought a set of SGT headers and 200 cell section 1! I even ordered them jet hot coated and everything looked beautiful. Hopefully I will finish the install tomorrow and get the tune uploaded and take her for a spin....I did have one question though....My O2 sensors cables are DANGEROUSLY close to touching (if not actually touching) the headers in some spots...I would assume the sheaths are heat resistant, but can they withstand headers, or do I need to try to figure out a new way of harnessing the cables??

EDIT: OK install complete...doesnt appear to have any wires touching... but it immediately started smoking and smelling something burning (ie not exhaust smell). I shut it off immediately and started looking but found nothing! I'm baffled. Second concern, the studs arent long enough to full thread through the nut. I was able to full cinch them down though with several rotations, so its not like the nut is just barely on the stud....I would say the studs are threaded about 2/3-3/4 through the nuts. I need advice HELP!!!!...thanks

Brian

Can you post some photos of the stud length problem? I reused the original head studs and didn't have any issues like you are describing. Also, did you use the gaskets that came with the headers?

As far as the smell, that might just be initial burnoff of small particulate debris left inside the headers themselves during the production process. I noticed a slight smell at first until they were broken in after a couple of heat cycles. But mine weren't coated, either, so that may or may not make a difference.

[Cortes2141]

Here is a pic of the nuts/bolts....I did use the provided gaskets. As for the smell and smoke, it has gone away, I think it was just burning off some residual particles or something. My only issues right now are, for some damn reason I now have a rattle inside my dash (despite that I did not work on anything in it) and that my left muffler has a weird rattle/ rasp under full load. This issue was addressed sometime back, I am now thinking I have a broken wield inside the can. Other than this weird rasp sometimes, the car sounds AMAZING. It has a perfect, deep grumble...and practically no reverberation in the cab.

[pokeybritches]

There will be some initial burn off, with white or gray smoke.

There are header install kits available with extended length studs. I forget off the top of my head who sells them... ECS, Turner, or Bimmerworld.

[Cortes2141]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

There will be some initial burn off, with white or gray smoke.

There are header install kits available with extended length studs. I forget off the top of my head who sells them... ECS, Turner, or Bimmerworld.

Cool, any idea how long it takes to fully break in the cats? After further investigation on my rattling from the dash, I think its actually coming from directly under the gear shift area. Which makes it sound like its inside the cab. I did also install RE tranny mounts while I was under there, however, everything was torqued down to spec. I'm wondering if its A. heat shield that I bent a little to get to the trans mounts, B. the larger diameter section 1 rattling against the tranny brace every once in a while (kind of doubt it though) or C. the cats themselves are breaking in (after I turn the car off I can hear some popping and crackling coming from the cats)...Anyone have any thoughts or ideas?

[No_Dominion]

Originally Posted by Cortes2141

Cool, any idea how long it takes to fully break in the cats? After further investigation on my rattling from the dash, I think its actually coming from directly under the gear shift area. Which makes it sound like its inside the cab. I did also install RE tranny mounts while I was under there, however, everything was torqued down to spec. I'm wondering if its A. heat shield that I bent a little to get to the trans mounts, B. the larger diameter section 1 rattling against the tranny brace every once in a while (kind of doubt it though) or C. the cats themselves are breaking in (after I turn the car off I can hear some popping and crackling coming from the cats)...Anyone have any thoughts or ideas?

Without hearing the sound, my money would be on your heat shield rattling and coming in contact somewhere. Might be worth taking a look, and it's fairly easy to correct by just bending it back a bit where it won't make contact.

[pokeybritches]

My guess is the passenger side RE transmission mount colliding with the s-pipe. You can trim the mount's threaded end.

[No_Dominion]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

My guess is the passenger side RE transmission mount colliding with the s-pipe. You can trim the mount's threaded end.

Yeah, that's also a possibility. Mine wasn't anywhere close to making contact, but apparently everyone's experience with that is slightly different.

I'm still confused by the stud length issue he had. They even designed the flanges specifically to be shallow enough that new studs wouldn't be necessary.

[Cortes2141]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

My guess is the passenger side RE transmission mount colliding with the s-pipe. You can trim the mount's threaded end.

Oh, has this been a known issue before? Does the top end need to be cut as well or is it typically just the bottom end by the S pipe?

Originally Posted by No_Dominion

Yeah, that's also a possibility. Mine wasn't anywhere close to making contact, but apparently everyone's experience with that is slightly different.

I'm still confused by the stud length issue he had. They even designed the flanges specifically to be shallow enough that new studs wouldn't be necessary.

Yeah man, I have no idea how the bolts are so short either. Is it possible some one set them too deep? A couple of them backed out when I took off the original nuts and I had to reset them myself. I didn't find any torque specs (not that you could use a torque wrench). The studs don't have a hex head insert or anything, I had to buy 2 M7 nuts at Ace hardware and back them into each other to wrench them back into the block. All that being said, all the studs are too short, not just the 3 or 4 I had to reset.

[fdagen]

The only thing I can think of is leftover gasket? Did you remove all of the previous gaskets from the previous headers before you installed the new headers and gaskets?