what type of stainless steel exhaust headers ?

[torben4180]

Hello

 

i have a VFR 800 FIX 1999 today with original headers with cat and a Staintune exhaust. I have power commander and don´t use O2 sensors, and i use mainstand offen.

 

anybody of you mabye have experience with this ? and do you know one of them to be is best value for money?

 

Blackwidow

https://www.ebay.de/itm/VFR-800-Exhaust-Collector-Front-Down-Pipes-Manifold-Headers-NEW-1997-2003-RC46/153290055008?hash=item23b0cc9d60:g:ILgAAOSwcZ1cBqHi

 

lextek

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-VFR800-1997-to-2002-Lextek-Stainless-Steel-Exhaust-Headers-Downpipes/401824517145?epid=10030028325&hash=item5d8e9b8c19:g:4ZMAAOSwdmRdNuYz

 

Delkevic

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-VFR800F-VFR800-VTEC-1998-2013-STAINLESS-STEEL-EXHAUST-DOWNPIPES-OEM/284051795590?epid=1328780307&hash=item4222ce6e86:g:G5IAAOSwJ7FfjvqS

[CraigG]

Out of those 3 id say Blackwidow is the best quality. They have excellent customer service also

[Sweeper]

I have the Delkevic on mine but they came on the bike. I've not had any issues with them. If I didn't already have them, I would buy the header from here on VFRD.

 

[Careca]

I have the black widow set up on my bike. Very good quality /fit /service and no complaints. 

 

Your bike will benefit from a remap to suit. I know mine did and its pumping out 115.6 bhp !!

[adkfinn]

2 hours ago, Careca said:

I have the black widow set up on my bike. Very good quality /fit /service and no complaints. 

 

Your bike will benefit from a remap to suit. I know mine did and its pumping out 115.6 bhp !!

 

<minihijack>

I think I speak for the group when I say we'd love to see your dyno charts pre/post.

</minihijack>

[Careca]

 

The lockdown refresh was coming along a treat but there was one issue that needed dealing with . The fueling , because the bike felt down on power and it was clearly running lean. Replacing the original air filter with a K&N item didn't help that , plus I had to replace the complete exhaust system on my VFR because the original collector box was rotten. That added to the problem. Choices for complete exhaust systems these days are limited and in the end I went with a full system from Black Widow. I am pleased with the quality and fit .
So the first step to correct the issue was to fit a Power Commander V , with a generic map that Glenn @ Vanguard did for me. That helped a lot. Although the bike was much better , you really could feel the difference , it still felt a bit lean at the top end and  rich low down.  Having gone this far , I decided to go for a proper set up with a custom map.
I don't know what the bike was producing before the modifications. I have read many reports of what a stock new VFR 800 Fi should produce and its somewhere in the 104 / 107 bhp depending where you read it. To me it felt like the bike was running at sub 100 bhp , maybe even a bit lower  but that's just a guess on my part.

I never had the chance to dyno it before the big refresh, new k&n air filter or the black widow exhaust.
With the PC V and generic map it was producing 111.19 BHP and 54.35 Torque.
Now it is making a healthy 115.6 BHP and 55.76 Torque .

 

You can also see the fuel/air ratio on the bottom graph , the dotted red line is the ideal ratio , the solid red line is where it was and the blue line is where it is now. 

As you can imagine it rides much better and it smooth throughout the rev range and  I know for sure that it  is running as best and efficiently as it  can run now.

The work was done for me by Glenn at Vanguard Motorsport.

Just for the record, I am in no way affiliated with Vanguard Motorsport , but I can recommending Glenn as he did a really good job for me if you are in the UK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gaz66]

I smell Bull💩

No bike details in Dyno print?

No base dyno run to work from?

 

No dyno operator re-maps an ECU without 1st doing a base dyno run of stock BHP @ wheel.

Must be "lets make shit up week".

[Captain 80s]

49 minutes ago, Gaz66 said:

I smell Bull💩

No bike details in Dyno print?

No base dyno run to work from?

 

No dyno operator re-maps an ECU without 1st doing a base dyno run of stock BHP @ wheel.

Must be "lets make shit up week".

 

 

The post was over FOUR YEARS AGO.  Way to call them out.  Statute of limitations doesn't expire on this level of BS.

[Gaz66]

Totally agree Captain 80's, age of post is irrelevant imho.

Most members on here, me included are here for some good banter/chat, help others in their struggles & I feel it's my duty to call out the obvious Bull 💩erzzzzz that waste any of our time, drain the collectives energy when genuine help is offered in an easy to follow logical/methodical manner....Oooo get me with the the big words on a Friday & I aint even had a beer yet.

Howz the riding weather over your way?

Still sub 10 Centigrade & mostly wet here in the UK.

 

[Captain 80s]

25 minutes ago, Captain 80s said:

 

 

The post was over FOUR YEARS AGO.  Way to call them out.  Statute of limitations doesn't expire on this level of BS.

 

/s

[Ughandi]

Homie on the dyno definitely turned up some gains on the results for ya to make you happy. I'd go somewhere else to pull.

FYSA. I made 114 hp only after WILD headers & a staintune can, Wide band O2 sensors on each cylinder to tune each cylinder independently, a lightweight flywheel, 520 chain conversion, coil on plug conversion, pair & flap, and a hi flow filter.

And my baseline dyno was at 73hp lmao. I was down a cylinder and in desperate need of a valve clearance (baseline after we got that addressed was ~100 hp, sans headers, COP, flywheel and 520 chain)

[Morados]

7 hours ago, Ughandi said:

Homie on the dyno definitely turned up some gains on the results for ya to make you happy. I'd go somewhere else to pull.

FYSA. I made 114 hp only after WILD headers & a staintune can, Wide band O2 sensors on each cylinder to tune each cylinder independently, a lightweight flywheel, 520 chain conversion, coil on plug conversion, pair & flap, and a hi flow filter.

And my baseline dyno was at 73hp lmao. I was down a cylinder and in desperate need of a valve clearance (baseline after we got that addressed was ~100 hp, sans headers, COP, flywheel and 520 chain)

Hmm that Flywheel mod sounds very interesting, how did you achieve that? Do you feel any unbalance/vibrations etc? Was is easy to shave of the weights and where do exactly do you shave of weight on the wheel?

[Mohawk]

Stock 5th gens put out approx 95hp at the wheel. With 98/99 copy headers & opening the airbox + K&N etc with a custom tune will net you around 112hp. As dynojet dynos are notorious for there inconsistency from location to location, a +/- 2-3hp is within the error margin. Most race bike tuners set their dynos up to read conservatively. Some outfits set them up very liberally. As always YMMV. 

[Ughandi]

43 minutes ago, Morados said:

Do you feel any unbalance/vibrations etc? Was is easy to shave of the weights and where do exactly do you shave of weight on the wheel?

No imbalances. When you turn stuff on a lathe, they tend to come out mostly balanced. There's lots of meat on the outer diameter to cut off, and it is most effective to trim that stuff first anyway. IIRC about 400G was removed for the one in my machine.

See here for my spare that I had shaved (~250g removed) : 

 

I use it to hold my socket extensions & a stepper bit! 😁 

[Morados]

On 3/15/2025 at 11:41 PM, Ughandi said:

No imbalances. When you turn stuff on a lathe, they tend to come out mostly balanced. There's lots of meat on the outer diameter to cut off, and it is most effective to trim that stuff first anyway. IIRC about 400G was removed for the one in my machine.

See here for my spare that I had shaved (~250g removed) : 

 

I use it to hold my socket extensions & a stepper bit! 😁 

That is good to hear, I just ordered a spare flywheel for gen 8 VFR but it seems they come with extrusions for the magnetic pole sensor and I cant shave those off, so I have to look elsewhere for a bit of weight savings and I came with the following reductions: I shave half width off the outer diameter excluding the extrusions 

 

and on the inside of the flywheel wall that goes against the crankcase (the one with the holes) I can hopefully shave of half of that width, bore the holes out a bit and or make a round groove around it, only if that does not impact the magnetic performance ofcourse 

 

I added some pictures of gen 6 flywheel that has some indentions on the outside wall and inside “wall” that the gen 8 and 5 does not have, I might potentially shave some weight off there as well

[Ughandi]

8 hours ago, Morados said:

That is good to hear, I just ordered a spare flywheel for gen 8 VFR but it seems they come with extrusions for the magnetic pole sensor and I cant shave those off, so I have to look elsewhere for a bit of weight savings and I came with the following reductions: I shave half width off the outer diameter excluding the extrusions 

Sounds like you have your bases covered. I didnt know about those spikes on the 8th gen flywheels! Very interesting.

... I wonder if one would be so bold as to delete that system altogether... Bikes survived for many decades without...