EL headers with Stock Cans

So many people hate the EL header sound, and what go that route because of it. As much as I love the subaru sound I love power more.

 

 

I was wondering if anyone ran EL headers with the stock exhaust/cans. Does it still sound like a normal car?

 

I have ported manifolds now and am looking for more power before i get a protune

Ok some more thinking. My mom and my girls mom both have 05+ Legacy 2.5i. Those are EL headers correct. They sound fine with stock exhaust so I wonder if a EL header for a LGT would sound the same..a bit louder obviously

I can only tell you what I've seen on my own WRX as we don't have any 4G LGTs here. I was using stock cast manifolds with an Invidia catted downpipe, custom 76mm midpipe with resonator and the stock axleback. When I switched to the ELH I didn't notice any increase in noise level from outside the car, but I got a little droning right at cruise speed that wasn't there before. My guess is that the stock mufflers are specially tuned to remove that strange off-beat noise the stock manifolds create, at the detriment of efficiency at other frequencies.

 

TBH I do not see gains from adding headers of any description to a LGT with a stock turbo. The tiny little turbine on the VF-40 or 46 is by far a bigger restriction to exhaust flow than the stock manifolds. If you fit a header with large diameter tubes (race type header) you will probably only see a loss in spool, response and torque.

Thanks for the tip. I have ported oem manifolds and a ported crosspipe and It has been great for spool. You are probably right about EL headers