I know extractors have been done to death on this forum, but I don't fully understand what half the terms being used actually mean!

I am looking at extractors for my EF Fairmont Ghia 4.0ltr. I'm not looking to pay a fortune for this and would like to know:

What are the benefits/disadvantages?
Is Lukey a reputable brand
How much should I expect to be paying?
Any other advice?

Last time a friend of mine had extractors placed on his car and the exhaust shop called and told him that his cat converter was stuffed and needed replacing, and if he did not pay to replace it, the warranty would be void on the extractors. Can I assume my mate was taken for a ride?

Thanks.

What are the benefits/disadvantages?
Benefits: More power and throttle response depending on what style extractors you get. More economic. Nice exhaust note.
Disadvantages: I can't think of any

Is Lukey a reputable brand?
Yes and no. Back in the day they used to be the best of the best when it came to exhaust stuff but now most people swear by Pacemaker for headers. Lukey still make good extractors but they're exhaust systems are better IMO extractors are extractors. All you should be paying for is pipe lengths, construction material and bend types.

How much should I expect to be paying?
If buying from an exhaust place... A cheap set of press bent Advance Extractors with long primary pipes you are looking at around $250. For a more expensive set of Pacemaker 4480's or 4499's you are looking at the $400 mark.
If buying off of eBay, a wreckers or second hand somewhere then you can pick a good set up for reasonably cheap. $200 at most.
Then put the fitting price on top of that, aprox. $100, if you aren't fitting them yourself.

Any other advice?
If you're planning on making the car into a 175rwkw NA car then spend the money and get a good set of extractors, they'll make a difference in the long run. But if you only want them for a little more power and nicer exhaust note then buy cheap! They'll do the job...

As for your mate with the crappy cat... Having a dead cat in your exhaust will slow the car down noticeably and probably void your warranty on your extractors like the guy said... however, it shouldnt effect your headers, only your exhaust system and mufflers...

Last edited by MoNGooSE on Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I grew up only really hearing about Genie, Lukey and Pacemaker.

The funny thing is there are good brands out there, but Pacemaker appear to be the only ones making them with common sense in mind..
1/ All they're bends are mandrel bent (some types from other brands are cheap press bent)
2/ They fit the collector pipe over the primarys, and the secondary's over the collector pipe.

Lukey are a very decent brand, justn not when it comes to there Falcon 4.0L SOHC I6 extractors.

If your tight for dosh, look around for a second hand set. Otherwise, save up and get a decent set.
I got Lukeys for my first set, then changed to pacemaker Comps and there was a very noticable difference.

Thanks heaps guys, that helps a lot.

Thanks also MoNGooSE, very informative and you've help me make my mind up - I'll probably go with second hand pacemakers.

Great Forum!

There is two disadvantages to fitting extractors.
If you are real fussy about noise under the bonnet, you will hear "extractor tick". It sorta sounds like a noisy injector.
Second disadvantage is service life. Extractors don't last anywhere near as long as a standard exhaust manifold.

Also different extractors produce different performance characteristics. Talking to davey gravey on the weekend and he messed around with two different types and picked up, IIRC, about 10kw, but I don't remember which extractors they were .

I used advanced headers for a long time, and whilst being reasonably cheap they lasted ok, sounded good and didn't hurt performance.

That's what that is! I it was a noisy lifter or injector....

Extractors are generally always good but as pointed out you often get a "pfft"/"muffled tick" that can make it sound like your engine is a bit s**t, they heat up the insides of your engine bay more, and they dont last forever.

The attention to detail in the construction of cheap extractors can also cost lots of performance. This is particularly true of the collectors. I have seen some extractors that have been cut apart where the pipes continued through the collectors and were actually touching inside (only 1/2 the gas could get through). This is not something you can tell from looking at the extractors.