All - just wanted to leave this here for discussion and future reference. With the abundance of time some people have working from home, just providing some content for people browsing pleasure!

Long story short - I decided to place an order with John at Hytech Exhaust in Irvine California for their s2000 headers which they are starting to build in April 2020. These are freaking expensive!
Some details and my rationale below - thoughts, comments, discussions from those who may know more or have different priorities welcome!

Longer story: I have had my 03 GPW s2000 since 2011 or 2012 (can't remember). It is my second S with the first being purchased in 2009 - I have been daily driving an s2000 for over 10 years. After putting little $ into the car for the first few years (due to graduating college, grad school, generally broke) I then moved to NYC and drove the car for less than 1500 miles for ~4 years (it sat in a garage in PA) before bucking up and bringing the car into NYC in 2019 (parking is not cheap).

In the summer of 2019 I put a lot into the car by getting a full paint job, all new ap2 bumpers, CR lip, new fenders (all OEM from HardtopGuy), new soft top installed by (2poor2mod), splitters from S-Factor, and getting Billman's blessing on the mechanical soundness of the car (new TCT, valve adjustment, the works) - in 2019/20 I have meet and got help from alot of the VIP s2ki guys! I truly love the car and all forms of the s2000 and plan to have it for life (if I'm lucky). Happy to say at 85k miles the car both drives and looks like it has 5k miles on it. Not a cheap refresh as I have spared little expense but I justify it because I did little to nothing to the car for years.

Now on to the Hytech header decision. I won't list all other aftermarket things but I was looking to clean up the engine bay and get some headers. After much research and asking around I came to the conclusion that in terms of HP per $, headers are just about as bad as its gets, second to only an ASM tow hook I did however just buy new J's 70RS exhaust so I was looking at some options such as Ballade, URGE, J's, or a few others were my top choices. After a lack of focus due to COVID-19 I put it off but recently, just in case I got lucky, I emailed John at Hytech a few weeks ago after initially reaching out many many months ago and he told me that that the long awaited production is going to happen soon.

These bad boys are going to run $1,799 + a test pipe for $250 - sheww. The test pipe is needed because the header runs longer than normal but it does mates to stock exhaust point. I am one of 3 confirmed orders as of April 1, 2020 and John is planning on making ~6 in this run (maybe more later). I knew there were going to be top $ but I am justifying these for a few reasons.

1) They are rare and I like that. I am always intrigued by rare OEM and after market parts for the car and since these are rarely discussed or seen, I jumped on the opportunity to own a rare piece
2) Hand made in the USA. Of course I like the JDM parts but I think supporting the local/US economy, especially in these COVID times we are seeing now is important to me. This is the main reason why I am willing to spend so much on these.
3) Performance. Even though headers do little, I am hoping these produce a few HP after a tune. I know it will be marginal compared to OEM and the other top headers I listed above.
4) Quality. I am sure all top headers are well built but Hytech has an excellent reputation for quality pieces.

Overall I am slowly building my dream car which is well balanced, mostly OEM, reliable, and clean. I will put less than 5k miles a year on the car and maybe take it to the track if I ever have time. I will be starting a larger family in the coming years so the S will be a second car one day but I don't plan on letting her go!

 

Add me to that list. I have one being made for my eventual supercharged car.

 

Considering what John and Hytech did to the b series header market, I have no doubt that these will be the best header for the s2000.

 

the quality of the hytech heater is amazing! they are very anal about all their work and you will not be disappointed. top notch for sure!

 

I have been reading up on header options myself, and went through the official header/exhaust thread.
While the Hytech header does have good gains, it is reportedly VERY loud. That being said, I am also very interested to hear/see this pan out.

 

I have the hytech headers on my S2000, the full exhaust actually and it's simply fantastic. it looks, sounds and performs so much better than anything else I have seen.

 

I traded up from the Js racing header to the Hytech many years ago and I must say I was not disappointed! I also was running the Js 70RS with the Hytech and had it tuned by Jeff Evans. I was happy to meet my goal wheel hp # at a decent 235hp/176tq (I don’t remember exactly), so I say go for it! It will be on the louder side, just want to be transparent, but the sounds is vicious!

 

would you be so kind as to post a sound clip? I’m very curious and I’ve only ever read about the header. Thank you in advance!

 

From what I've seen the Hytech header looks amazingly well put together but the actual performance isn't any better than the OEM header + test pipe. I get some are willing and able to buy it simply for the name and more power to you if that's the case, but am I missing something as far as the performance?

 

To determine if the header is a placebo get dyno numbers before and after fitting. Same day preferably. Everyone (me included) can be inclined to justify expensive things without test data. Darn Rolex really doesn't keep any better time than my Seiko but you know you want one!

-- Chuck