S52 Stock headers VS Raceland

[MarceloMontero]

I know that maybe this has been asked several times, but I always get more and more lost with the spam and all the people arguing between each other.

I had a M50tub25 with the stock exhaust manifold and I managed to get 280Nm from that.

Now the question is, I have a S52, and have the stock exhaust , and got a set of raceland headers.
And will get later a set of cams.
Should I install them or just keep the stock manifold?

I will do the M50 intake mod, and remap it to the Alpina 3.2 map , so , its worth it ? Or should I sell the headers?

[bimma360]

My fiance got me a set of raceland's for Christmas. Unfortunately, I am waiting for it to warm up before I install them, so I can't provide any first hand experience. I will say though, that I am definitely not planning on getting rid of them. I have read some stating that they are too big, and that there would be a good bit of torque loss installing them. Personally, I feel that on a full bolt on S52, installing these would be nothing but beneficial. The way I see it, is that a full bolt on S52 will put down numbers similar to a euro S50B30, and that the raceland's are intended for the euro motor. I think these headers should be viewed as a supporting mod more than anything. Once you have the intake tract opened up, fully upgrading the exhaust tract becomes necessary.

Currently I have:

• Dinan CAI
• Dinan MAF
• Dinan BBTB
• Dinan 4bar FPR
• M50 Intake Manifold
• Dinan Stage 5 Tune (intended for all of the mods above)
• 15lb. LTW Flywheel

The plan for the exhaust side is...

• Raceland Euro Headers
• E46 M3 Midsection (custom fitted)
• 200 cell Vibrant Metal Cats
• Dinan Gen 2 Catback

I think after that, a mild cam should help with any shortcomings (if any) in the torque department. Once I do get the exhaust completed, I'll most likely do a dyno just to see what the power curves look like and get a general idea of how much power the car is making. Anyway, my long winded point is that I anticipate them being beneficial once you modify the car to breath a lot better.

[LagWagon]

The s52 exhaust manifolds are really good. You won't see much, if any, performance gain unless you go absolutely all out on the car. It's not worth the effort in my opinion

[Butters Stoch]

Stage 5

[bimma360]

Stage 5

Yes, with dual valve exhaustesses.