When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I happen to have both sets available to me for now. The Speed Engineering just arrived and looks great so far.
The TPS will be going back. For three times the price and despite being professionally outed now as absolutely having Chinese origin one would think customer service would be positive but the more I mention my experience the more I hear damning commentary both by clients and by other vendors alike. This tells me all I need to know as a client.
That doesn't mean the pipes themselves are any better or worse in design. Both kits have a reputation for close clearance fitment. I can't speak for the TPS as the primaries have remained in the box and wrapped. But I'll get into the Speed kit's primaries for sure.
For now, just a comparison of the X-pipes. For construction, weld quality, and metal width. I won't pretend to know if I can identify one alloy vs another here because I do not have that ability. Both are said to be 304 stainless.
All mid piping on the Speed kit is 1.35mm wall thickness. All mix piping on the tps kit is 1.50mm wall thickness.
In the pics below the dull left set is tps and the polished set is from Speed. One has thicker welds. One thinner. Perhaps due to metal thickness? Again I cannot speak where I am out of my depth. One clearly is better finished, and that one costs 1/3 that of the other at its lowest price or 1/5 when not on sale.
The tps kit has hangar tabs welded onto the rear pipes for the mid section which the Speed kit does not. Likewise, the tps set has brackets welded at the back lf the mid section to connect to factory style 2.5" brackets. Speed does not presume that you're running oe connections or pipe diameter and provides only a neck down piece to 2.5" should you want it. I am going a different route and employing vband clamps to make disassembly for clutch service easy.
I'll let you guys look for yourselves. Only the tps has cat examples here. And though the pictures don't always show detail the Speed set all had a quick zip of a dremel or wheel to clean the lips with a minute bevel and all cuts are clean. The tps set was not purged when welded, nothing was touched, and one pic shows what is evident on all lieces where the relief cuts made for slip fit areas have flashing left in place. Not an issue since they're pipes and going to be welded or in many cases installed by a shop. But good to know what is coming in the mail when you order it. And that is exactly what happened in my case, receiving a kit I did not order.
I pulled the wrap back to get a partial shot of the tps pipea with ceramic coat and get the mircometer on the collector and flange.
Tps collector wall thickness with ceramic is 2.02mm and flange is 9.60.
Speed collector varied slightly from 1.42 to 1.53 and the flange is 9.55mm.
The Speed pipes overall between primaries and mid pipes are far lighter in hand than tps. Not knowing the specific alloys used and not calculating the wall thickness / diameter / length to calculate mass leave me unable to presume whether lighter weight or heavier is better in this case. I don't have a scale or I would weigh them. At best it would be an inaccurate bathroom scale if I did.
Above are the tps pipes. No merge collector. Welded fine. Ceramkc coat looks great. Though I did not expect an orange peel finish to it. I expected a more even finish like Cerakote or powder coating would provide. If you look at the air pipe... This is of interest to many who might be interested in this set specifically due to the air pipe... That looks like packing foam in there right? But there is no foam in the box anywhere. I randomly pressed it. Nope! That is welding spall. It is solid metal firmly connected to the walls of the air tube. It defeats all purpose of the air tube even if tps did not include an air block off plate with their kit. And with unexpected metal vume there, guess where the lipe will corrode and begin to wesr first from different heaf cycle effects? I know this form experience with another brand. Those pipes fail and create a weak point in the primaries. Granted, this takes a decade to occur mind you!
The Speed only needs three pictures. It has some mild surface rust around the flange. It may just be related to the welding done. I'll see what can be removed before install or not. The pipes have a smootg polished stsinless look. The merge spike is prominent.
Best of all.... what was delivered came rapidly and is exactly what was ordered. I call that basic solid customer service and am a happy customer.
Edit: For whatit is worth or not, when looking at O2 placement it appears the Tps pipes would be primarily fed by #5 in this example and the Speed set would read #3 cylinder more.
I read these threads all the time regarding low cost headers vs. ARH, Kooks and similar higher priced headers. I purchased ARH and installed them myself on jackstands. No drama just simple install, no welding just bolt up and done other than tune. I'm not saying these are better than speed engineering or Texas Speed but I would like to see an honest comparison of cost for install. I don't weld so what would it cost me to install Speed Engineering headers if I were to buy the kit, cats, and have the x pipe and cats welded up with just one set of quality clamps. It appears that you will need to cut off the flange at your cat back to install the reducers for the x pipe to cat back so that is a no go for me so I would need to source a flange and have the welded on to keep my existing cat back flanged.
If you are able to do the install including the welding I'm sure you will save money but if you pay to have a shop weld everything up what are the true costs ? Perhaps if you decide to go with the Speed Engineering you could keep track of your costs including weld time and include that in this thread when you finish your install.
I realize you have to modify you cat back because of the C6 components you are using but if you were just installing with standard C5 parts what would it cost. I would like to see an honest comparison for installed costs.
Sorry for rambling on and I will say TPS has treated you very poorly and I hope they step up and make this right.
@SilverBulletVette - I had to request a peer vendor at the prompting of my cc company to write explaining the issue with TPS and why the part they sent me was wrong as well as how the industry deals with these things typically by taking it back into stock and shipping me the correct part. That vendor does business here on the forum regularly and likewise is a dealer of multiple exhaust brands.
Excerpt from their response: @redzg - yes it does vary by year. If you go to LG Motorsports I remember them listing the part number needed to convert between air tube types to make it work if yours is the early type. Should reasonably work for any other set also designed to function with the later type.
@03 Owner - well the dead simplest solution here would be to just weld a matching plate on the end of each adapter. We're talking fifty bucks for parts and welding there. I initially wanted cats but then an important question was raised by Mr Black whose tuner demanded his be removed befoee next tune session and illuminated the risk at his power level of clogging a pipe and killing the engine. I will be in the same ballpark and also have the ability to go beyond on E85 so I asked around and read a bit and decided I will also forego the cats for now. If you added cats to the Speed kit its about 220 for theirs. Others are cheaper so why not. But if you wamt high function you need the Green cats like from Kooks and those are about 600 a set.... More expensive than the entire Speed kit. As for installation....? Get the car in the air, bolt up the primaries, clamp the sh-t out of the clamps that come with it and use a long breaker bar to ensure they exert enough force, have that reducer end welded and done. Or go cheaper and weld the reducer into your cat back pipe and then clamp it as designed to the mid pipe. Nothing complicated.
peer vender cc company? I dont know what that means. So WHO exactly claimed they were made in China? and How can that be proven?
Id like to cancel my order, but that is not proof to me.
Unless they read this and chime in I'm not going to go tossing the name around. But I can say that one of the vendors I dealt with separately which also was trying to get me some ARH headers commented the same about TPS and also commented on the customer service. These are things I had not heard or encountered prior to my own buying experience with them which I wish I had.
Now, if you want AIR pipes....? Go for it. If they're a one trick pony putting out air tube headers and that's what you want, darnit they put out some good fitting air tube headers by the look of it and still way less expensive than ARH or Kooks. I wouldn't worry about it if that is what you're after. They're pipes and not exactly NOT going to work right?
Coating. I had to look above to verify. The collector interior is clearly bare metal, not coated internally. Though other than Harleys I had not heard of that approach until recently.
Coating. I had to look above to verify. The collector interior is clearly bare metal, not coated internally. Though other than Harleys I had not heard of that approach until recently.
IIRC Jet Hot did that from the get go…
Last edited by vette4fl; Mar 11, 2023 at 03:01 AM.
Which one has a merge spike in the Primary? My TPS bought in 2019 did not.
I have a feeling Covid did something to that company and now it seems customer service has suffered. My transaction with Mike at TPS was great/simple. I even had 1 3/4" primaries sent to me when I ordered 1 7/8". They swapped them no problem.
Yeah, there seems a huge disconnect between perception and reality. On their page it showed a great post around Christmas of a giant pile of toys and items which theu brought to a local children's hospital. My interactions never had a negative comment from them, always a positive statement or promise too. There was just zero follow through on the commitment they gave. They had also gone from rapid, frequent, long-winded responses via fb messenger when I was a prospective client to days or a week between comments once they had my money, and then those comments being empty. I call it Japanese Inspection.... They speak sugar and say yes but they really have no intent of follow through and allow you to sit and wait expecting you to go away. Or perhaps there is cognitive dissonance. Either way, I have run many companies ivee time and while not fun when one of my employees make a mistake I have always made it right and acted fairly. What bothered me through this whole experience were two dudes who dm'd me about their negative experiences which they kept quiet about, and then the open commentary by vendors when their company was mentioned. One of whom I know well and often speaks well of comperting vendors but was quick to share the opposite in this case. These are things which would have influenced my money and where it went initially and this company never would have seen business from me. And so amto the extent that I am able to, I try to share my experiences as fact and with as little filter or inflection as possible so others can be aware.
Because it doesn't or shouldn't need to end with a credit card company dispute. That remained in the vendor's control to otherwise resolve the problem for months. What was it, 102 days or 108 days before I submitted the dispute? I was left no alternative. I feel I was patient and allowed ample time for resolution or to be made whole.
Now, if you want AIR pipes....? Go for it. If they're a one trick pony putting out air tube headers and that's what you want, darnit they put out some good fitting air tube headers by the look of it and still way less expensive than ARH or Kooks. I wouldn't worry about it if that is what you're after. They're pipes and not exactly NOT going to work right?
I don’t understand what you mean by air tube headers? can you explain?
Factory exhausts had the A.I.R. Injection system. These arw the two crack pipes sticking up off the exhaust to either side if the engine. When the car started there was a big pump in the driver side nose which would push clean air into the exhaust foe the first few minutes of operation. This fresh air added to the cats allowed them to come up to temperature more quickly as part of the emissions system. Some owners still use this system on their modified cars. My Z06 already had these parts long removed and gone when I got it. My daily was the same. Yet some owners will also want the tubes for the 'appearance' of emissions compliance where they will connect it all to their pump but install five dollsr blocking plates to make the system not functional, or maybe that was already the case but now they're keeping the bad gas in. Who knows? There was an early and a late factory placement for these on the pipes and so there are adapter accordion pipes also available. With the rise of the EPA cracking down on tuners, vendors and the market in general for not following emissions compliance we may see more of these. Yet a healthy market remains for so-called 'off road' use which is most of the aftermarket where the pipes are nor desired. From personal experience I have seen those pipes on a very solid steel header set rot off. Welding over the hole leaves a weak spot, and unsightly too. So it remains an interesting topic.
I agree that I am also seeing and hearing negatives about TPS, but I dont think you can claim that everyone knows about them being made in china.
You are they only one saying that. You are one guy on the internet. But I do appreciate the pics, and info. I would also like to hear from anyone that can back this up.
I ordered a set with cats, and ceramic coating. And for the price you CAN NOT find another system for less $$$ with cats, an actual non stamped x pipe. Unless you want a cheap ebay system for $300, which I would never trust. I also noticed after I ordered my TPS headers, they do NOT have O2 bungs in the x pipe. I was going to have a fab shop install bungs, but thats an extra expense.
Trying to find proper cats and weld them into another system is just going to be a HUGE hassle, and or a huge expense. Might as well get ARH's but then they are not ceramic coated. Whats that, another $500 or so? So in my opinion there are NO good options for a catted system at a reasonable price. Im ready to cancel my order and slap on some shortys for now! I was really looking for that extra HP too.
Last edited by SilverBulletVette; Mar 11, 2023 at 11:20 AM.
To clarify... TSP is Texas Speed & Performance. They offer typically solid products and good customer service.
TPS Motorsports is a different vendor entirely and these are their pipes above.
I did have Texas Speed pipes whoch came on the car. Perfectly good quality. But i wanted larger primaries with the larger displacement engine. I don't think 1-7/8" primaries would offer much improvement on stock displacements. But the Texas Speed where they merge into the collector does hsng slightly lower. They went center high (dragged) on a very high angle exit from the local emissions shop when I first registered the car. Now being on coilovers and with 3/8" shorter engine mounts I sought an exhaust with tighter clearances. And TPS Motorsports does offer that.
I bought the TPS 1 7/8” coated headers without catalytic converters on sale early December 2022, still have not installed so maybe I’ll look at them closer.
Was planning on using block off plates on the air tubes.
The reason I went with these over Speed Engineering was to not have to cut off the flanges from the stock H pipe and clamp or have welded to speed engineering X pipe, plus they are coated.
So on your set the air tubes are clogged with welding spatter and TPS wouldn’t give you a replacement set?
I pulled the wrap back to get a partial shot of the tps pipea with ceramic coat and get the mircometer on the collector and flange.
Tps collector wall thickness with ceramic is 2.02mm and flange is 9.60.
Speed collector varied slightly from 1.42 to 1.53 and the flange is 9.55mm.
The Speed pipes overall between primaries and mid pipes are far lighter in hand than tps. Not knowing the specific alloys used and not calculating the wall thickness / diameter / length to calculate mass leave me unable to presume whether lighter weight or heavier is better in this case. I don't have a scale or I would weigh them. At best it would be an inaccurate bathroom scale if I did.
Above are the tps pipes. No merge collector. Welded fine. Ceramkc coat looks great. Though I did not expect an orange peel finish to it. I expected a more even finish like Cerakote or powder coating would provide. If you look at the air pipe... This is of interest to many who might be interested in this set specifically due to the air pipe... That looks like packing foam in there right? But there is no foam in the box anywhere. I randomly pressed it. Nope! That is welding spall. It is solid metal firmly connected to the walls of the air tube. It defeats all purpose of the air tube even if tps did not include an air block off plate with their kit. And with unexpected metal vume there, guess where the lipe will corrode and begin to wesr first from different heaf cycle effects? I know this form experience with another brand. Those pipes fail and create a weak point in the primaries. Granted, this takes a decade to occur mind you!
The Speed only needs three pictures. It has some mild surface rust around the flange. It may just be related to the welding done. I'll see what can be removed before install or not. The pipes have a smootg polished stsinless look. The merge spike is prominent.
Best of all.... what was delivered came rapidly and is exactly what was ordered. I call that basic solid customer service and am a happy customer.
Edit: For whatit is worth or not, when looking at O2 placement it appears the Tps pipes would be primarily fed by #5 in this example and the Speed set would read #3 cylinder more.
Budget Headers: Speed Engineering or tps?
