Well, I finally got around to getting everything in and finished. Heres the link to the full review, and comparisons with the old header with nice pictures. Its not really nessecary to make another identical post, after all.
http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1157682
Enjoy!
nice… so hows the cross member hold up? i hear bad stories about modding the stock one sometimes… i wanna buy an aftermarket one but there isnt one that catches my eye yet
notching out the cross member is fine aslong as you box up the cutout area. I’ve seen to many peoplw just cut it out and have it bend over time.
Yep, box the crossmember if you cut more than an inch or so out of it. I am going to have to do that soon. But first I have to bend the member back a smidge more to totally clear the header. Trial and error, I guess.
Its worth it. My car sounds like my old LS did with its intake. Thats saying something when you talking about a 1.6L without the help of a metal intake tube for resonance. Im going to fab a metal intake and see how that sounds…should be wicked.
what do you mean by “box the crossmember”?
weld metal back into the area that you just cut out to give it back some sort of support, instead of a hole which eventually caves in.
like i said in you HT post beautiful header.
ok so i looked whre my crossmember was “notched” it doesnt really look like i can put anything between it and the header. can u post a pic?
He’s talking about closing the hole, not bracing it.
think of it as welding the final “wall” on the crossmember, so it looks stock, but notched. So you cant see into the crossmember.
Its a shitty explanation, but its all I have.
thanks to Lyonel!
thx. now that makes sense. yeah that was done when i got the header installed, which is why i was confused cause that took up the little room that was left. thx.
UPDATE: watch out for parking space concrete “stoppers”. I hit one today with the header. I came home, looked at it, and it was just BARELY even scathed. It took some of the concrete with it, though. Talk about beefy. No dents, just a visual flaw about 1X2mm. Whew
Just ordered one yesterday from James 
Was time to get rid of the old Chikara T.S. anyways. By the way, how much did you notch off on the crossmember? any dimensions? and possible pics? I ask because im pulling the xmember off so that I can have a metal shop cut and box it in for me.