Rick's Header and Berk HFC

Rick's header and Berk 70mm HFC for Honda S2000

Rick's header is known to work good with AP1. It actually means that for Euro S2000 it's good for all years as those use only F20C 2.0L engines.

Putting Rick's header next to OEM i saw that it has very similar shape but with more elegant welds.

Looking closer it's apparent that some bends are less sharp and some bends are not there at all - which means smoother and faster gas flow.

In addition the tubing is bigger - runners are 44x52mm vs OEMs 38x44mm and output is also 3 mm bigger.

Of course there is a weight saving - 23.5 vs 12.8 lbs (10.66 vs 5.8 kg).

There is a small design issue with this header as with Mugen header which it replicates - OEM heatshiled mounting tabs at big flange (which connects to engine's head) brake off.

I guess this is because different heat expansion of the header so more stress is put on those tabs.

It leaves 3 other tabs to fix the heatshield - this is enough to hold it in place firmly.

Berk's High Flow Catalytic converter

I went for 70mm version.

You can that its core is more "open" than OEM's:

I decided to put stock heatshiled on the HFC - so staniless steell brackets were fabricated and welded:

All in all installation of header and HFC was quite straight forward.

As to performance gains - engine definitely climbs to top revs much more easily and it feels like there is a bit more torque in the midrange.

The sound has changed too.

I think at idle or low revs it's pretty much the same.

But under load or WOT it's more prominent/agressive but not disturbing.

Mind you that rest of exhaust is stock.