Best Header for Supercharged Engines

[maharaj1]

Good Evening All,

Hope everyone has had a good safe, holiday thus far. While we were riding back up I was doing some reading, ETM scanning, and thinking by the way I think I have figured out how to run an S52 on OBDII management in an OBDI car I will update that thread as I figure that out. I got to thinking about the exhaust setup that I will be running on this car. I currently have Supersprint rep headers straight back to a Remus muffler out back, true dual, approximately 2.25" diameter. Going to be going to either a 3" or 3.5" exhaust after the headers but am having trouble deciding what the best route would be. I've noticed there are three common aftermarket header choices for the M/S Series 6 Cylinders that come in the E36 that I have listed out below.

First is the current header I have, Supersprint and their replica counterparts, stainless steel and decent welds depending on where you get them from. HP gains on an N/A engine are minimal at best, on a supercharged engine there is some rumored improvement at the top end.



Second is the Turner Motorsport shorty style header. HP and TQ gains seems to be best in the mid range while sacrificing some power up top.




Third is the RMS longtube header, according to my research it seems as though this is the largest diameter header available for the E36 aside from getting something custom fabricated. This seems like it would be the most beneficial header for an S/C setup due to their larger diameter.



My question I am posing to the forum is what header setup would be best for a Supercharged application. I know a lot of people run the shorties on N/A because they keep that mid-range torque, the problem is not a lot of people are building S/C E36 and information is scattered around. If anyone has any dyno sheets or feedback on what header setup would be most effective for this setup it would be appreciated. Hoping this will be a resourceful thread to those who are going the S/C route.

[someguy2800]

I would try this one



Seriously though I have nothing to add, good luck

[pbonsalb]

You are doing the same research many of us did 5-10 years ago before selling the blower and buying a turbo. The ultimate choice for a 3.0-3.2L trying to maximize power is RMS. The budget choice for an S50-52 max power build is Raceland Euro replicas. The only reason you would choose Turner shorties, which still add top end power, is if you need headers to fit the stock mid pipe — good headers if you need to swap in the stock mid for inspection purposes.

[maharaj1]

I would try this one



Seriously though I have nothing to add, good luck

Appreciate it, I know a lot of people have told me to go turbo but it's not the direction I had planned for this car. Once I get done with this build I'm looking at doing a 24V E30 Turbo build.

You are doing the same research many of us did 5-10 years ago before selling the blower and buying a turbo. The ultimate choice for a 3.0-3.2L trying to maximize power is RMS. The budget choice for an S50-52 max power build is Raceland Euro replicas. The only reason you would choose Turner shorties, which still add top end power, is if you need headers to fit the stock mid pipe — good headers if you need to swap in the stock mid for inspection purposes.

Yea a lot of threads I have found regarding S/C are from about 5-10 years ago and most of them just kind of trail off without getting any real input, information, or feedback. I'm hoping that these threads will so that other people looking to go S/C have something to reference.

I figured the RMS would yield the highest gains. I found some Turner shorty reps and a Bimmerworld Midpipe for a pretty good price on a Facebook BMW group but didn't know if the shorties would be restrictive. The midpipe has a 3" outlet so it would be pretty easy for me to get the rest of the exhaust fabbed at an exhaust shop. But this is option 2 behind the RMS headers. Thanks.

[pbonsalb]

While supercharged, I ran stock S52, BMP shorties, USA Supersprint replicas, and RMS. With the supercharger you can never get enough power so you keep trying mods. Add Schrick cams as well.

The advantage of the Raceland Euro SS replicas is that you can fit a real Euro SS midpipe and real Euro SS rear exhaust. The Euro and USA exhausts do not fit together.

If you do go RMS consider mating it to a 3.0 single like the AA Race exhaust. Bimmerworld may make one as well. Some custom welding required to mate RMS to anything and some don’t like to hack up their expensive new parts since it makes resale harder. I hacked up a real Supersprint Euro midpipe to mate to RMS headers.

[maharaj1]

I'm assuming that you got the best result from the RMS headers. Either way I go I will be going with a custom setup from the headerback, most likely 3" single pipe. I have the Supersprint US Replicas already, wouldn't be to hard to get a custom 3" mated up to that. The set of shorties I found were Schmiedmann Replicas of the TMS shorties and the bimmerworld midpipe. Price seems pretty good for both pieces but I would rather get the RMS since they seem to be the best performer of the big three.

[jmargo]

I'm currently running the AA full race exhaust and headers. This exhaust breathes quite well.

[maharaj1]

I'm currently running the AA full race exhaust and headers. This exhaust breathes quite well.

So you're running the complete AA system, I haven't looked at AAs products in a while, I'll have to take a look at them. Those numbers in your sig are pretty solid numbers for a S/C E36 though, very nice.

[milKt]

I ran the european E36 M3 manifolds
with SuperSprint Euro mid X
and rear section

with my EuroSport Twinscrew.

Effective
Purring
and Handsome

(fourth one back)







then
evolved into AR DESIGN

[Tanks95]

maharaj1, i am running the old school AA Long Tube Headers along with their track pipe (i don't think they offer them any more). UUC TSE Muffler. This has done very well for my setup.

old pic

20141124_195710 by William Wallace, on Flickr

[Tanks95]

....I would stick with a long tube variant. Your goal is to allow the gasses to escape as quickly and smoothly as possible.

[digger]

for a supercharger its about reducing pumping losses rather than tuned length etc as that will show more gain the more mass flow you try and move through the engine . so having the right tube size, not excessive length and relatively straight primaries that transition nicely off the head without stupid bends, nice merge into the collector.

[Jamesons Viggen]

I put on Turner shorties while I was NA. I am sure they are not ideal now that I have boost but they were $400 and a pain to install. I feel I am married to them lol.

[GG///M3]

Best bet is to stick with the euro SS headers, and SS euro race midpipes like Milkt had on his car. Those were on sale recently. I'm currently running that setup on my n/a s50. Made 245whp/240wtq. I'm also swapping to obd2. Should be done by this time next week.

[328iFun]

[liilpa09]

Pretty sure I had a thread I made years back showing differences with my exhaust setups with dyno charts...I'm sure if you look through my threads you'll find it. Bottom line is the RMS headers seem to be the best for s/c applications, I picked up a lot of power using them with a 3" exhaust over my previous full header back Supersprint US spec setup. I have not had another dyno to confirm what the difference between the 3" is vs. the euro supersprint midpipe and catback but I didn't notice any difference in the butt dyno. The 3" exhaust was too loud for me...

[danomite]

I know that's not for for Superchargers, but good luck finding one of those anyway!!! Those are almost as rare as hen's teeth!

[pbonsalb]

It’s also a heavy beast. I was not so impressed. I ran an original steedspeed for a year. I preferred my boostlogic, which is also NLA. I now run the twinscroll steedspeed but it is not so great either because the wastegate port is not adequate for a fast spoiling turbo and the wastegate piping is a bit convoluted. But twinscroll is better than open for a street car since it improves response significantly.

[GG///M3]

It’s also a heavy beast. I was not so impressed. I ran an original steedspeed for a year. I preferred my boostlogic, which is also NLA. I now run the twinscroll steedspeed but it is not so great either because the wastegate port is not adequate for a fast spoiling turbo and the wastegate piping is a bit convoluted. But twinscroll is better than open for a street car since it improves response significantly.

My Steed Speed performed fairly well with a HTA3586. Built like a tank.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pbonsalb]

It works fine. I just don’t think it’s function matched all the hype. It located an EFR 8374 poorly - turbine housing hit the FCAB eyeball and weighed a ton. My boostlogic did everything it did better in a more compact package that weighed much less. After trying both of the steedspeeds, I wish I had just kept the boostlogic.

[milKt]

After all that hype and years of design and feedback,
STEED still didn't come through.

[pbonsalb]

They came through in the sense that they are the only bottom mount twinscroll that is not custom built. That is why I got one.

[danomite]

...since we're here, does anyone wanna sell me their crappy, old, useless Boostlogic?


I tried to give chikinhed/Brad my doll hairs for his open Steed, but he disappeared all of a sudden!

[jimmyz66]

You are doing the same research many of us did 5-10 years ago before selling the blower and buying a turbo. The ultimate choice for a 3.0-3.2L trying to maximize power is RMS. The budget choice for an S50-52 max power build is Raceland Euro replicas. The only reason you would choose Turner shorties, which still add top end power, is if you need headers to fit the stock mid pipe — good headers if you need to swap in the stock mid for inspection purposes.

Run, do not walk, away from RMS. Never met more incompetent mechanics who call themselves "tuners". Seriously, from peronal experience.

[pbonsalb]

I would not use RMS for tuning but their hardware is excellent. The best on the market. Seriously. From personal experience.