Will a header make a stock 2.5l louder?

[alpine951]

I am buying a 2004 2.5S for a college commuter. Its got 60k miles on it and has the stock exhaust manifold. The vin is outside the range for the recall but I called a Nissan dealer and they said it had an ecu reprogram and a power valve done. I want to get rid of the stock manifold because of the precat issue. I plan to grab a header off ebay. I know my daughter may not like any louder exhaust. Will thgis be louder with the stock exhaust and main cat still on the car?

[StormzUSMC]

yes, but honestly with a 2.5 no that much...she can deal with it, plus may get better gas mileage and/or passing power depends how heavy her foot is lol

[alpine951]

Thanks. ANother question.... All the headers on ebay appear to be polished. Without the stock heat shield this is goimng to be an obvious alteration when it comes to Massachusetts emmissions testing. I don't know if they pop the hood or not but just might especiially if noise level is louder. Does the polish degrade fast or ever or are there headers that are not polished like these?

[StormzUSMC]

they will turn a brownish purple over time...i know nothing of emissions as im in minnesota...the headers will hold up with the car, they wont get much salt/water on them

[alpine951]

Guess I will check the classifieds for a used one that is already lost its shine. Can the new ones that are all shiny be painted?

[knight634]

No, it actually sounds a lil meaner and cleaner under the hood. I have the DC Sports Racing Header 4-2-1 Setup and love it. My set was silver had it for about 5 years already and it hasnt rusted I keep it pretty clean (while cool of course!). It slowly is losing a lil color around the joints, but I am in the Texas area, no sand in the air. And make sure you have new gaskets not used, or you will have a raspy noise at high RPM..