ACRsnake,
I've got over 1000 miles on my ACRX Headers. I'm using the ACRX supplied single cat, both oxygen sensors and stock mufflers. I had mine coated Jet Hot black, mainly for the looks of the black pipes.
I've described my first impressions in the "New Products & Suppliers" section of the forum. In a nutshell here is what I've experienced so for.
No check engine lights. Running the stock pcm, but will upgrade to the Mopar hi-po unit as soon as I can get the car to the dealer.
The sound is improved, but only louder if you're really on the gas. At cruising speeds, it is actually quieter at 70 mph than stock (from inside the car with the windows up). From 1000 rpm to 3000 rpm the motor has less felt vibration...something I was not expecting. It is a very smooth feel. When you're on it, it really sings, has more of a Lambo sound than the original sound. There is a video of my car on a drive by for the BBG Infineon run about a month ago. My car flashed the lights just before I revved the motor as we drove by the video camera.
My wife and I drove over 350 miles on the Norcal club's Downieville run a couple of weekends ago. She claimed that she could not hear a difference from the stock noise levels when cruising....which is a good thing for long trips when "talking" is required
From a power standpoint, it does have more wheelspin when on it in second gear at speeds over 60 mph. I'm going to try to get to the drags at Infineon tomorrow night..I'll see what my trap speeds look like. It pulls well down low and hard up top. When I install the Mopar PCM, I think it will be even more dramatic with the higher available redline.
Regarding the debate on whether steel is better than stainless steel, I stand by my previous comments. I don't know of any high performance car or truck using steel exhausts. 304 is a higher grade of stainless over the 409 grade. 409 will get surface rust just like steel (but it does not rot away like steel). Before starting my own company about 10 years ago, I worked for a very large equipment company that had about 3 billion dollars worth of equipment. Everything from pickup trucks to D8 Dozers. Even 10 years ago, everything started to go to stainless for the exhaust systems. If you think a Viper vibrates and has a tough life, look at construction equipment that is used as rentals. By having access to all maintanence data, we could easily see trends of failures. Cracked stainless steel exhaust systems were not one that sticks out. Bad bearings, hydraulic pumps, brake wear, pcm failures, etc could easily be tracked and trends proven to the manufacturers. When you own 300 of one vehicle or tractor, problem trends are very easy to track and prove.
You won't be disappointed with the ACRX units.
Cheers,
George