miata header

anyone had any experience with the bosal miata header good,bad or indifferent.what is the best recommendation

My '94 came with a Bosal. It cracked open at the 4-1 pipe junction once, and I had to weld it back shut. I have no idea how old it is, but other than that there have been no problems. I have no idea if it functions as a power adder or not.

Racing Beat makes a really nice header for the miatas. Nice thick flanges and beautiful SS tubing

Having owned multiple miata, I have had several headers. I am aware of a moss header that I purchased and installed on one car that is still being used on another miata. It has needed some welding at a junction but is otherwise still working. My wife's '92 has a coated Jackson Racing header still functioning quite well and my personal '92 has an ebay stainless header.
You will get some benefit out of any header but I dont know that you benefit from purchasing the name brand. As I recall, the ebay header was less than $100 plus $15 shipping. You cannot beat that deal!

Every time I take a Jackson Racing header off a car, it's cracked. The RB units don't seem to have that problem. Never seen a Bosal in person or one of the eBay units, so I can't comment there.

If a $100 header doesn't actually provide any benefit, it's not a great deal. You won't necessarily gain anything from a header on a Miata.

Disclaimer - Flyin' Miata sells the Racing Beat header. I've owned JR and RB headers for my own cars.

I've seen some of the cheap ebay headers up close (at least the stuff you get over here in the UK) and I'd rather buy a used JDM header (easy to find over here) or something like an RB. I've had quite a lot of RB kit on my RX7s and it seems to be well made.

I just picked up one of those NOPI 1.8 headers for $69. It is very thin but should last a couple of summers. It will eventually crack.

I put a cheap steel eBay header on my 99 to get rid of the CA emissions. It needed a big hammer to not rub on the footwell. Is it the greatest thing ever? No, but it is a fairly decent looking part with thick flanges. I don't think that I paid more then $125 shipped.

canoe

Not to thread jack but I will anyways, does getting a ceramic coating on a stock miata exhaust manifold/header have any benifits? (A buddy can get it done for the cost of consumables...)

edit: I'm going to thread jack because this thread is OLD!

Up through '97 and after 2001 the Miata had a pretty good stock exhaust manifold (header). '99 and '00 got screwed with a log manifold and putting a header on those does show a boost in power. You can even use a manifold off a 2001+ Miata as I did on my '99.

Even a couple horse power can help a Miata but is that worth the cost? I went with a Racing Beat header on my '94 but only after I supercharged it and replaced all the other exhaust too. I wouldn't replace a header on a stock Miata (except for 99 and 00) unless I had money to burn.

The stock head shield does a good job of keeping heat out of the engine bay but it can never hurt to ceramic coat a header...but not sure it is worth the effort. If it is already off, sure, do it. You won't see any power though, just possibly slightly cooler under hood temps.