Headers on a stock engine worth it or not?

[The Shape]

I have heard that you gain a little , but have also heard you loose torque? Any personal experiences.

 

[CRASH7772]

I have heard that you gain a little , but have also heard you loose torque? Any personal experiences.

If you ran a 1 1/2" equal or un-equal you might gain some but anything larger is not worth it. Spend your money else where if you want improvements.

 

[stock 92 gt]

at least get some shorties.......

 

[Mavrick]

I've read a lot of opinoins, stating that the 1 5/8" arn't really worth much on a stock mustang, other than sound quality.

I opted for 1.5" longtubes as i got a killer deal on them. Although the previous owner of my car swears that he felt a HUGE noticeable difference from the stock exhaust, and 1 5/8" mac headers with offroad h pipe.

 

[HISSIN50]

i read an article on headers awhile back, and IIRC, the stockers were not a bottleneck till ~270 hp.

 

[notchback]

my old notch went 13.20's w/ complete stock motor.

just 1 5/8" LT's , off road H , and 4.10's

so i thought it was worth it....

 

[302GT]

I put some shorties on mine and it seems like I lost a little on the bottom but gained up top.I had a bad tps though so that may have been it.

 

[shonoff]

I just put on bbk 1 5/8" shorties on my 93 auto.Noticed a tiny bit of torque loss,and 3000 rpm plus seems the same.For the cost---$160.00 for headers,$60.00 for locking bolts, (mine kept backing out,even lost one) $20.00 for felpro gaskets (paper gaskets melted to flange and blown out within 1 week)it is definitly not worth it for any power gains.The only reason I got headers was cause the ball & socket connection on my stockers was warped/bent/junk and would not seal.On the plus they do look alot better.

 

[grrrrrrr]

Check out my sig. I dynoed 215 and 279 (and that was with a dirty MAS, which was just cleaned, my SOTP dyno says ) with mac unequal shorties, mac o/r h-pipe and a bcam... none of those is responsible for all the power by themselves, so I had to gain something from each... in my opinion, it's worth it...

 

[Curse]

I think they are a good place to start. The first mod to my stang was an exhaust and headers, don't know if it really helped but I got it out of the way

 

[65ShelbyClone]

One of my first mods was a set of 1 5/8 Flowtech unequal shorties. They seemed to hurt torque more than help power. The stockers wont lose bolts either. Looking back I think an O/R crossover pipe would have been better.

 

[SamSnyder]

I took the time to track down a good hardware store that had loose grade 8 socket head bolts that I used for the headers, cost me something like $10-12. I spent another $6 for a good ball-end allen wrench to put them on without wrench-hassle. I spent another $2.50 for Locktite red, and got the cheapest felpro header gaskets Pep Boys had for around $15. I got used Mac 1-5/8 unequal shorties for $100. I had no major installation problems, the locktite worked perfectly, the gaskets have not blown out, and the shorties have not rusted through for 75,000 miles. I love the sound, did not notice any loss of torque and would always replace the stockers again. I would add however, that the shorties came after the flowmasters and went in and at the same time as the 2-1/2 inch catalytic converter h-pipe. But I say, go for it. Look in any Mustang mag -- what is THE MOST COMMON MOD? Exhaust. Why? Because it both boosts performance plus gives you that satisfying sound. Face facts, the sound is what you're gonna notice on the street, not the HP or torque. You simply can't get hurt. Do it up.

 

[Sicarius428]

Get an intake first. Headers are nice but you won't really notice anything untill you get a better way for air to get into the engine.
Kevin

 

[cleanLX]

"I" would not do shorties on a stock motor where street driving was the primary purpose.
"I" would not do shorties on a stock motor unless racing class rules dictated.

I would do LT's on a stock motor, and regardless of what iirc or whom ever states, LT's on a stock motor help power across the board... at least the dyno and track showed so on my stocker.

 

[1990Coupe]

I have BBK shorties, and when my old car was stock, i didnt notice much of anything. If your doing mods, go with gears unless you get a deal on a set of used headers that cant be passed up

 

[dastang2]

you gotta start somewhere, might as well be the exhaust since it serves more than one purpose. it looks good, sounds better and gives more power. i would do it. but don't stop there intake would be next and cam as well.

 

[darthcual]

Just remember all the parts in your engine work together like a team. If you want to see power gains headers alone will do very little because once exhaust goes to your h pipe, cats, and mufflers and tailpipes at the end you've still got back pressure. So going w/ an xpipe hi flo cats or no cats and a hiflo muffler along w/ headers will make you see the hp and torque gains.

DC

 

[cleanLX]

I would not do an X pipe... unless it's for sound.
most of the nmra guys have gone back to H, and nascar has too.

 

[mustangramair]

I put mine on because i knew i was doing future mods and i would need them anyway. They make it sound better, they also might give you minimal hp.

 

[BaXTeR3221]

I dont think they will give you much by themselves, you'll get more out of an offroad h since thats more of a restriction. Shorties will probably help you get more out of future mods, since as said above, everything works as a team.