Equal length vs. shorty's

EN7 · Mar 21, 2006

What's the difference? I'm planning on stroking 5.0 to a 331 N/A, what would be best?

mred03gt · Mar 21, 2006

Go for the shorties. A buddy of mine has equal length and they are always in the way of something. His a/c line gets cooked and his third plug boot as well. I like having the room to work. Good luck.

Scott

final5-0 · Mar 21, 2006

If I was gonna go shortys, I'd not do equals

Why go to the expense of the stroker and not go LT's

Grady

dstanggt50 · Mar 21, 2006

I had a spark plug wire burning problem w/my mac equals, why I switched to full lengths, I would either do full lenghts, or unequals.

SeventyMach1 · Mar 21, 2006

I think there's some confusion in here .....

There are 2 types of shorty headers. Equal & unequal length.

Then there are long tube headers.

As for the shorties, equal length ones are supposed to show a tad more power, but they're still not worth the trouble. They're supposedly tougher to install. So if you go with shorty headers, it might pay to go unequal. But as Grady said, after doing the stroker, I don't see a reason NOT to do LT's.

VibrantRedGT · Mar 21, 2006

You won't see/feel much difference between unequals vs. equals. For a 331 long tubes are the way to go for sure.

Methodical · Mar 22, 2006

Are the LTs emission legal? This is something to think about if you have emissions (i.e. the visual test). I don't know-just a thought.

final5-0 · Mar 22, 2006

Methodical said:
Are the LTs emission legal? This is something to think about if you have emissions (i.e. the visual test). I don't know-just a thought.

A very good point Al

Before doing my current combo, I stopped by the place that I have do my personal inspections, and oil changes for the work truck to see what they had to say.

They said in my area, if you follow the letter of the law, LT's are not legal.
however
They also said, this subject comes up so often, the practice is:
if all emissions equipment is in place
and
the car passes the test on the roller's

LT's will not fail the car

Again, this is in my local part of the woods

Grady

BaXTeR3221 · Mar 23, 2006

Like the others said, i dont think the equal lengths are worth the trouble. The gains would be minimal and if your going through the hassle of installing them you might as well go straight to longtubes.

EN7 · Apr 13, 2006

If I went with long tubes, wouldn't I have to swap out my x pipe?

final5-0 · Apr 13, 2006

EN7 said:
If I went with long tubes, wouldn't I have to swap out my x pipe?

Yes you will

but

LT's do give a noticable gain over shortys

With the extra cubes ... you want the LT's

Just sell your pipe to offset the cost to switch

Grady

TrickStang37 · Apr 13, 2006

I lost all my dyno data, but basically the shorties made a tiny bit more low end <3400rpm AND top end >4800rpm while the equal lengths made a tiny bit more from 3400-4800 but on average from 3000-5400 they were the same. as for the longtubes, i made the same exact power with the equal lengths vs the longtubes except the longtubes made about 30 rwtq more at 3000rpm but that advantage was gone by 4200rpm or so and hp was the same after.

GRGT1994 · Apr 13, 2006

TrickStang37 said:
I lost all my dyno data, but basically the shorties made a tiny bit more low end <3400rpm AND top end >4800rpm while the equal lengths made a tiny bit more from 3400-4800 but on average from 3000-5400 they were the same. as for the longtubes, i made the same exact power with the equal lengths vs the longtubes except the longtubes made about 30 rwtq more at 3000rpm but that advantage was gone by 4200rpm or so and hp was the same after.

That perfectly illustrates the stereotype for each class of header. Thanks for the data.

final5-0 · Apr 13, 2006

Torque down low is a nice thing for a street car

Grady

TrickStang37 · Apr 13, 2006

GRGT1994 said:
That perfectly illustrates the stereotype for each class of header. Thanks for the data.

i didnt really get it, was that a bash?? i dont own that car anymore (sold it last month) and the computer i had with all my data and racing formulas and such crashed and everything was lost.

SWYZ721 · Apr 13, 2006

How much do you have to lift the engine for longtubes?

My passenger side equals have burned through the padding on some sort of line, would it be worth the $300 to switch to un-equals?

SeventyMach1 · Apr 13, 2006

SWYZ721 said:
would it be worth the $300 to switch to un-equals?

I didn't pay near that for my un-equals! My BBK's were $179.88 from Summit. The ceramic version of the same headers are $100 more, though.

If you currently have the equals and are wanting/needing to upgrade ... I say go LT's.

The BBK LT's are $279.88. Again .... $100 more for the ceramic ones.

SWYZ721 · Apr 13, 2006

SeventyMach1 said:
The BBK LT's are $279.88. Again .... $100 more for the ceramic ones.

right, but what else do I need?

A new mid-pipe, how much does those cost? 02 extenders? I don't have the MIL eliminators and I am not getting a CEL, would I need one with LTs?

Don't I also compromise ground clearance, if I wanted to lower the car?

The price adds up quick.

Do you think it's worth it?

SeventyMach1 · Apr 13, 2006

SWYZ721 said:
A new mid-pipe, how much does those cost?

Last time I inquired ... they cost a little less than regular mid-pipes.

02 extenders?

Yep. EDIT: I guess you can re-route them.

I don't have the MIL eliminators and I am not getting a CEL, would I need one with LTs?

Unless you swapped to a 4.6 .... you will never need them.

Don't I also compromise ground clearance, if I wanted to lower the car?

Yep. A little. Maybe someone who has lowered their car and has LT's will also chime in to give their first hand experience.

SWYZ721 · Apr 13, 2006

Because you need extenders, then the distance of the 02 has changed, definately a no-no, how does this affect the computer and driveability?

Equal length vs. shorty's

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