[FastCougar]

I was just browsing the Draxas website and I noticed that the Mazda6 Headers are almost identicle to the 2.5L Headers except for the 2.5L's stock rear 180 bend. I'm wondering since they have similar oil pans if the Mazda setup wouldn't fit the 2.5/3.0L ... anyone care to try?

 

[hamill]

Hey trev,you buy it I'll try it

They do look very similar. I have a mazda dealership right next door to my ford dealer....I should ask when I get my car out.

 

[POWERAGE]

I think if you used the mazda y pipe you could make them fit. By looking at those pics anyway. The front banks look to be the same but the rears are a bit off?? Someone should try. That would mean a couple extra header options for us wooohoo!

 

[Buckshot77]

Why not just ask Marty at MSDS since he makes sets for both cars?

Rick

 

[Draxas]

i agree..call Marty and ask... The Y-pipe is completely different than on the Cougar, that is for sure. And the Mazda6 headers have a 180 degree bend similar to the Cougars, except it runs vertically as opposed to horizontally...


Nikolas

 

[GrandMasterKhan]

For visual reference

Mazda 6

Cougar

They both do look similar. I am curious if the Mazda6 Ypipe would have That much of an Improvement over the Brullin?....but over any other ypipe (especially stock) it is obvious.

If you look at the pics...the Mazda6 front manifold seems to be longer than the cougars? But the otherwise the orientation is damn close....Anyone else notice that?

 

[crossbow]

Greetings fella's,

I'm a mazda6 owner doing searches on the MSDS headers. We've also noted an extremely similar aspect between the 2.5 Contour MSDS and the 3.0 Mazda 6s headers.

We started searching the contour forums to see if there were similarities between the two headers because....

1) The headers for the Mazda 6s were rushed out the door, and showed up before intakes, exhausts, or even rudimentary mods were available for the car.

2) The placement of the flex pipe is way off from the stock location. So much so that it causes excessive vibration in the cabin, as well as causing one of the clamps to come loose and require tightening.

3) Some of the piping curves is extremely odd on the 6. It just doesn't make sense. (They could have run a tighter pipe here, or less curves here etc). The fitment is so off that it requires that you hack your alternator heat shield to pieces just to get the piping to fit.

Has anyone noted any additional similarities between the two systems, or talked to MSDS directly about the similarities? Were grasping for straws here as we think the reason these problems exist is because the headers weren't designed for the 6, they were merely "modified" from the contour to fit the 6.

Any information or ideas would be extremely helpful.

Thank you for your time.

Greg
http://www.mazda6tech.com
Admin

 

[Draxas]

Originally posted by: crossbow
Greetings fella's,

I'm a mazda6 owner doing searches on the MSDS headers. We've also noted an extremely similar aspect between the 2.5 Contour MSDS and the 3.0 Mazda 6s headers.

We started searching the contour forums to see if there were similarities between the two headers because....

1) The headers for the Mazda 6s were rushed out the door, and showed up before intakes, exhausts, or even rudimentary mods were available for the car.

2) The placement of the flex pipe is way off from the stock location. So much so that it causes excessive vibration in the cabin, as well as causing one of the clamps to come loose and require tightening.

3) Some of the piping curves is extremely odd on the 6. It just doesn't make sense. (They could have run a tighter pipe here, or less curves here etc). The fitment is so off that it requires that you hack your alternator heat shield to pieces just to get the piping to fit.

Has anyone noted any additional similarities between the two systems, or talked to MSDS directly about the similarities? Were grasping for straws here as we think the reason these problems exist is because the headers weren't designed for the 6, they were merely "modified" from the contour to fit the 6.

Any information or ideas would be extremely helpful.

Thank you for your time.

Greg
http://www.mazda6tech.com
Admin

Greg,

I have answered many of these questions at Mazda6Tech.com and laid to rest the "concerns" that you seem to have with the Mazda6s headers designed by Marty at MSDS.

1)These headers were not rushed out the door, by any means. Marty had Chris's car in the shop for nearly 2 weeks. Before the kits were even available for order, Chris had run the headers on his car for nearly one month, reporting NO problems, only SUBSTANTIAL gains in HP and TQ as evidenced by MUCH lower quarter mile times and improvements on the dyno. Chris had the original set of headers on his car for at least 6 months (maybe longer) and never reported a problem to Marty.

Marty designed his Duratec shorty headers on a 1999 2.5L Mercury Cougar back in late 2000. With some minor changes (EGR port location, O2 sensor location, etc) the same 2.5L header can be made to work with the 3.0L engine. Marty had to redesign the Y-Pipe, for obvious reasons.

2) Excessive vibration.... Chris never complained about vibration, Loren has not complained about vibration and I did not notice vibration while driving Loren's car for 3 months (with the headers installed). I explained to you in the other thread yesterday that Marty has since fixed the problem that causes the two pipes to come apart. He will be running a thinner gauge pipe for the last section of the Y-Pipe. This will allow the supplied clamp to adequately "squish" (for lack of a better word) the outer pipe onto the inner pipe. The first sets to go out had too thick of a gauge of metal pipe for the clamp to have any affect on the pipe. Again, had this problem come up while Chris had the original set or we had Lorens car here in California, it would have been fixed. Now that Marty sees this happening, he made changes. If he doesnt see a problem, how does he know to fix it?

3)The alternator heat shield issue is seperate. Maybe Marty can do something that will eliminate the need to hack the heat shield up. To my knowledge, the Mazda6 is the only Duratec equipped vehicle to come with a heat shield. Of the hundreds if not thousands of Duratec equipped cars that have MSDS headers installed, NONE, AFAIK, have had alternator failure due to the headers being installed. Being that the headers are ceramic coated, heat is MUCH less a factor here than on a standard Mazda6s exhaust manifold. Its pretty amazing just how well the newer ceramic keeps heat in the pipes.

However, we dont need to run around telling everyone we can that these headers cause alternator failure, when we dont know if that is true. The one Mazda6s owner who did have alternator failure said in a post that the alternator failed because the tech doing the install messed up:

http://www.mazda6club.com/forums/read.php?TID=16525&page=2

On a side note, Marty is reading every one of these posts, and is pretty upset by now. I strongly recommend that ANYONE who has an issue with their MSDS headers to contact Marty directly. Has anyone with a "problem" called Marty to have the "problem" resolved?

Until you have factual evidence that clearly shows his product caused the failure of another part, I would refrain for posting statements as such.


NIkolas

 

[Buckshot77]

I remember Marty telling me last year they were fabbing a set of headers on a test car so these are definitely not modified. I would also strongly suggest that anyone with a problem with his product contact him directly to get any issues resolved. I've dealt with Marty on several things and he has had excellent customer service.

Thanks,
Rick