Nick Koan

iTrader: (3)

Properly designed headers (and that doesn't necessiarly mean equal-length) can increase performance with the right tuning, but in most cases it doesn't do much.

Equal length headers do change that subaru sound to be a bit more Honda-ish. It loses that boxer-growl and gets that inline-4 whine.

cudaeh

the way i understood it is the "boxter" sound was because of unequal lenght headers.
If that is ture then yest equal lenght headers will lessen the boxter sound.
I dont believe it is true tho because front wheel drive v6 cars dont sound like boxters..
your gains.
again from what i have been told so this could be off.
I was always told the longer your runners the quicker your turbo will spool.

Nick Koan

iTrader: (3)

The sound is a function of the engine, not necessiarly the headers. The boxer engine has a very unique sound, which can be helped or hurt by the headers. The equal length headers can make a boxer sound like an inline or a v, but putting unequal length headers on an inline or a v motor will not make it sound like a boxer.

Its really two parts, both the engine layout and the headers.

kumaWRX

iTrader: (5)

I've heard a Subie with equal length headers and it doesn't have that boxer beat to it but it does sound mean, unlike Hondas. It roars like a rally car Subies have a lower, deeper exhaust note than Hondas.

slow04wrx

iTrader: (3)

the boxer sound definitely comes from the engine. The exhaust only masks/alters the true sound into what you hear out the tail pipe(s)

Boost Addict

The BOXER BEAT is caused by the Firing order of the cylinders and the flat-4 orientation... Thats why you get that sound... Equal length headers will not ELIMINATE the sound, but make it much less apparent...

Wingless Wonder

iTrader: (7)

I agree. Think about the sound of the current crop of boxer engines like the old air-cooled VWs and the Porsche 911 variants (both air and water-cooled), neither of which sound like conventional inline fours or V-6s, respectively, equal length header primaries or not.

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0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

jwrx

exactly why does the boxer sound like it does? isnt the firing order 1-3-2-4, with 1 and 3 being the pass. bank, and 2 and 4 being the drivers side bank? how many degrees apart are the crank journals? (not sure if thats the correct terminology for the part where the crank meets the con. rod.)

Imprezer

iTrader: (9)

I disagee. I have used over 6 different headers on my car and none of them made my WRX sound like a Honda. Afterall, have any of you ever heard the WRC car? Whoever says it sounds like a Honda have never heard a true equal length headered WRX.

Wingless Wonder

iTrader: (7)

With whom? The last few posts, or the top post? Back me up.

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0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

Nick Koan

iTrader: (3)

Alex certainly isn't disagreeing with me, I said "-ish," not "exactly".

I've heard some equal length headers that sound great (Cobb, IIRC) and some that I don't like at all. Maybe not Honda-ish, but certainly not as good as the stock headers, at least in my opinion.