Headers - Long or Short?

88GTStreetRod · Mar 2, 2004

What type of headers (Long or Short) sounds the best and provides the best performance with H-Pipe?

I currently have FMS unequal lenght headers with H-Pipe

hllon4whls · Mar 2, 2004

88GTStreetRod said:
What type of headers (Long or Short) sounds the best and provides the best performance with H-Pipe?

I currently have FMS unequal lenght headers with H-Pipe

In ascending order of performance.

Unequal Length
Equal Length
Long Tubes

IMO and this is subjective, the LT's sound the best.

BTW 1 5/8's are about right for a street 5.0. 1 3/4 or bigger for a high rpm motor (6500-7000 often).

ECU5.0 · Mar 2, 2004

i need to get some long tubes....but gotta save my money for a cam and heads right now...but i will be getting some probably by the end of summer

GMstomper · Mar 2, 2004

Long tubes are a pain in the rear....just a warning. They are a headache to install. Have to prop the motor up to get them in from underneath. And have fun if starter ever craps out. A job that might take an hour turns into about 4 hours. And if you do go with long tubes make sure you buy a brand that has all 4 tubes connected to eachother where they meet the head. MAC LT headers do not (at least they didnt 3yrs ago when I got mine) and have a tendency to get bent out of shape during shipping. Makes for a hell of a time trying to get a seal at the heads if they are bent up even a little. Just my 2 cents

hllon4whls · Mar 3, 2004

GMstomper said:
Long tubes are a pain in the rear....just a warning. They are a headache to install. Have to prop the motor up to get them in from underneath. And have fun if starter ever craps out. A job that might take an hour turns into about 4 hours. And if you do go with long tubes make sure you buy a brand that has all 4 tubes connected to eachother where they meet the head. MAC LT headers do not (at least they didnt 3yrs ago when I got mine) and have a tendency to get bent out of shape during shipping. Makes for a hell of a time trying to get a seal at the heads if they are bent up even a little. Just my 2 cents

It is a pain to put my headers on, the passenger side goes from under the car. I can get the starter on and off with out problems.

N8Miller · Mar 3, 2004

GMstomper said:
Long tubes are a pain in the rear....just a warning. They are a headache to install. Have to prop the motor up to get them in from underneath. And have fun if starter ever craps out. A job that might take an hour turns into about 4 hours. And if you do go with long tubes make sure you buy a brand that has all 4 tubes connected to eachother where they meet the head. MAC LT headers do not (at least they didnt 3yrs ago when I got mine) and have a tendency to get bent out of shape during shipping. Makes for a hell of a time trying to get a seal at the heads if they are bent up even a little. Just my 2 cents

im going to be doing a long tube swap here shortly. i know that they are a 4 hour job----i bet 2-3 with the help of friends

did you get a starter heat shield? btw, Mac headers are supposed to be the worst. I got BBKs, they seem nice.

jrtcarter · Mar 3, 2004

I had ceramic coated BBK equal length shorties on a '91 GT. Easy to install, good sound and good looks. Car was totalled by a "FORMER" friend of mine. Bought an '88 LX coupe and installed long tubes, they were a bitch to install and I wish I never bought them. IMO, if you mostly use the car for the street and not the track I would go with the equal length shorties.

85_SS_302_Coupe · Mar 3, 2004

LT installs do suck, but get this. When i did mine, i stupidly put them in from the top...yea that's right. So in the middle of trying to get the driver's side pipe in, i felt stupid so i actually read the instructions and whadya know, it says go in through the bottom, which then took about 5 minutes to get it in. I think i was trying to go in through the top because that's how i do shorties, maybe it was just habit or something. After all that, i really dont think it was that hard of a job, just a lot of unbolting things to move them out of your way.

If you have the time, a few good things can come out of having to jack up your motor, like installing new motor mounts if you still have old ones. Also depending on how much of a project you're in for, you could just unbolt the motor from the trany and throw in a cam and replace the rear main seal if it's leakin (like they always do). I try to kill as many 'problems' as i can while i'm in the neighborhood.

ka0tyk · Mar 3, 2004

basically it all comes down to "waves"... when your exhaust port opens up, there are "waves" made by the exhaust into the tubes of your header... one side is a PUSHING force, and then there is the PULL on the other side of it... which helps the exhaust move along its way out of the header. the longer the tube, the more "push/pull" created by the exhaust waves, which helps the exhaust flow better... which is the reason why longtubes work so well... of course you do lose some low end torque because they flow a little too well for low rpm driving, but the performance gain in torque and hp in the high end rpms makes up for it.

longtubes do require a bit more "effort" to install them. but its not something you need to be sooo worried about. just take a weekend and do it. its nothing crazy, nothing huge needs to be removed, its a simple bolton. also long tubes can be easily wrapped with header wrap to keep under the hood temperatures down, where as equal length shorties create more heat under the hood.

N8Miller · Mar 3, 2004

ka0tyk said:
. also long tubes can be easily wrapped with header wrap to keep under the hood temperatures down, where as equal length shorties create more heat under the hood.

well, that would explain the excessive heat under my hood.....

GMstomper · Mar 3, 2004

N8Miller said:
im going to be doing a long tube swap here shortly. i know that they are a 4 hour job----i bet 2-3 with the help of friends

did you get a starter heat shield? btw, Mac headers are supposed to be the worst. I got BBKs, they seem nice.

I know and they will be coming out now that I am starting to put my baby back into good shape. If BBK had longtubes that would fit an auto when I got mine I deffinately would have bought them instead. But at the time MAC was my only choice for LT's with an AOD.

85_SS_302_Coupe · Mar 3, 2004

Wow i just dont get it with all the MAC bashing lately? My headers went on like butter after i wised up and did it right, and they rock the heck out after 3k rpm. The only con i have about their stuff is actually one of the convenient things, the fact that they're bolt together. This makes installation super easy, but you've gotta keep the bolts tight. I didnt have locking washers when i did my install, but i'm sure this would solve the problem.

Headers - Long or Short?

88GTStreetRod

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ECU5.0

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GMstomper

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N8Miller

I need NOS....make it 2 of the big ones

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it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

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I need NOS....make it 2 of the big ones

GMstomper

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it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

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