I donno about any one else but i CALLED HP racing themselves to find out and they said they are NOT FOR SALE right. They said they will be ready next month. Same with OBX racing!

So that what they company told me themselves!

has anyone ever bothered with the MazdaSpeed Header?

The Mazdaspeed is real expensive and will eliminate all the cats.

well, is it safe to say HP Racing is giving us the run around yet? I actually started contacting HP back in APRIL! Every time I've called, I get "it'll be ready by the end of the month". So, every month I call, and it's the same story.

I figure we need a list of people that are ready (with the cash available) to purchase headers. HP Racing should see how many people are waiting and getting pissed.

Headers don't take this long to make!

I'm just one guy and it took me about 3 days to make my first one working a few hours each day. It took me 6 hours to make the last set and I got them back from the ceramic coaters in 7 days. I think I went from dyno tested prototype to ceramic coated header in a little over a month working in my spare time. If you haven't seen it yet, there's a couple posts on here about it or you can see it here:
http://www.geocities.com/traveler12820/robsprotege.html
Follow the link for 'ceramic coated header'

I wish that would work. Unfortunately money won't make a difference. They know that there are a million people waiting for this product with money. We alone would buy quite a few.

Next week sometime I will begin to become extremely frustrated and begin to figure out other options.

Traveler I admire the fact that you've produced a header, a feat that few others would take. That is extremely commendable. I wish HP was a small operation and only worked on the damn protege so they could turn around R & D as quickly as you have.

I figure they've got a bunch of things that they're having produced at the same time so everything must ship at the same time. I do believe that they're bullshitting me and the product can be ready.

I have yet to see the quality of this product so only time will tell. If it is near borderline I will not accept it and figure something else out once again. Maybe Traveler and I can put our resources together and begin to mass produce them to lower the pricing. ;)

Laters, Rishie

Hey traveler - slightly off topic, but relevant to the headers issue..

How's that mileage working out for you?? That thread you made kinda died off there...

Are you still getting those amazing numbers?

And another question about the header.. Your original you had wrapped in heatwrap and your coated one you don't... is that because of the coating you don't need it, or you just decided not to put that stuff on?

Traveler, Seeing the work that went into that pipe for yours, I'm sure you could fab a full 4-2-1, 2 piece unit much easier. If Rishie wants to pool resources, I'd offer to lay out some design drawings in 3-D cad with 2-D prints suitable for out sourcing the mandrel bent sections. I may even put up some money. It's something to think about.

I'm also starting to think the FS isn't resonding well to a full header, at least not at the ECU. AWR first started working with MS to produce a marketable header, and then dropped it. HP and OBX have been talking shit for a while now, but produced nothing. There must be a reson, because the aftermarket world seldom leaves a market like this untapped for this long. Something else to think about.

Just to give hope, I have seen pics of Sport 20s in Japan with the mazda speed header. So, it can be done. It can't be that bad. I've seen plenty of other mazdas with headers and the stock ecu.

If you guys can put together a full lenght header, that'd be great. It seems that you guys have the resources and experience (traveler). I say go for it. I bet you guys could finish before OBX and HP.

ARDMP5: I've got a source for the flanges, but I can get the price way down if I could start ordering several sets at a time. As for the pipes, nobody can make them. You have to have a minimum 6 inches of straight pipe between bends on a mandrel machine and mine don't even come close. That's why I built it out of 180 degree mandrel U-bends. The collectors you can find in several varieties all over the place.

Sandman: Yep, it's still getting really decent mileage. The lowest I've gotten is 32.5 with a LOT of city driving in the last few weeks. The best is still 36.

Zeus: I'm beginning to think that may be the way to go. I could fab one out of mandrel bent pipe and then have someone duplicate the pipes in one piece.

Sweet! Keep us posted as to how your mileage goes as the winter months come up. I still haven't decided when i'm gonna go turbo, but if it won't be for a while, I'll prolly go with your header!! Especially if you have a means of making them cheaper.. Us canucks get bent over on the exchange rate... :(