Emissions First — It Decides Everything Else

On this engine the legal position narrows your choices before performance does, so start here.

  • Rock Ripper header — 50 state legal, for 1995-1998 4x4 Tacoma. If you are in California, Colorado or New York, this is the header.
  • LCE Street Header Kit — 50 state legal up to 1999, single cat applications only. Fits through 2004, but the legal coverage stops at 1999.
  • California CARB-compliant converter — MagnaFlow direct fit, 1995-1999. Mandrel-bent, stainless, no cutting or welding.
  • 47-state converter — free-flow stainless, 2.5" pipe and flanges. Not legal in California, Colorado or New York.
  • Test pipe — replaces the converter entirely. Off-road and competition use only.

The Headers

The LCE Street Header Kit is a long tube design, which is where the horsepower and torque gains come from — longer primaries scavenge better than the short cast factory manifold. It ships with the new OE gaskets needed to fit it.

The Rock Ripper is built to keep you legal without giving up much: polished 1/16" stainless steel tubes into a 1/2" thick header-to-head flange, TIG welded and polished. It comes with all gaskets, hardware and full-colour installation instructions.

Putting a 2RZ or 3RZ into an older truck? The engine swap header was developed specifically for a newer RZ engine in an older Toyota Pickup or 4Runner, where nothing off the shelf lines up.

Cat-Back

The Pro Flow Exhaust System is 409 stainless tubing with a 426 stainless straight-through MagnaFlow muffler and 3/8" mild steel flanges.

The straight-through muffler is the point. It flows more than a chambered design while keeping a smooth, authoritative tone that does not attract attention — which matters on a truck you drive to work.

Hardware — the Bit That Decides Whether It Leaks

Most header complaints are hardware complaints, so it is worth getting right.

The factory manifold studs have a shoulder in the middle that can stop a header pulling down properly. Our header stud set is 10mm x 1.25 x 48mm, heat treated and plated, stronger than stock, with eight studs and eight mechanical locking nuts. Torque to 33 ft-lb, and note the short side of the stud goes into the head. It works with a stock manifold or any header. Single genuine OEM manifold studs are also available.

Use factory-style gaskets, not paper. All LCE headers are designed around the factory gasket, and the stainless OEM-style gasket lasts far longer than a traditional paper one. The street header gasket set covers the whole job — hardware, O2 sensor gaskets, 2.5" collector donut, header-to-converter gasket and head-to-header gasket.

Building your own

The 1 5/8" CNC header flange is the same flange we use building headers in-house — 1/2" thick with 1-5/8" ports and a groove cut on the head side for better weld penetration.

What We Would Fit

  • California, Colorado or New York — Rock Ripper header plus the CARB-compliant converter. Do not start anywhere else.
  • Emissions-tested elsewhere, 1995-1999 — LCE Street Header Kit with the 47-state converter.
  • Not emissions tested — Street Header Kit, test pipe, Pro Flow system.
  • RZ engine in an older truck — the engine swap header.
  • Turbo build — see the turbo page first. The header choice there is different, and getting it wrong costs you the part.

Unsure what is legal where you live? Tell us your state and model year and we will tell you what you can actually fit.

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