Headers vs. Manifolds

dz01

Member
Mar 31, 2005
274
10
19
Massachusetts
I recently picked up a 68 with 289 and 4-spd toploader. The car is in excellent condition, but there are a few things I plan to do one of which is the exhaust. It currently has OEM exhaust manifolds with an original exhaust system from a 67-69 Shelby (resonators and transverse muffler). The motor is more or less stock outside of a .40 over bore, slightly beefy cam and high compression heads.

I'm on the fence whether to buy a good set of ceramic tri-y headers or install hipo manifolds. I know if I use the hipo manifolds I will need to replace my clutch equalizer with one from a hipo. I've been told the hipo manifolds are pretty good and don't pump out as much heat.

I plan to do 2.25" exhaust with likely the Flow Master Deltas (not sure if the 40s or 50s yet) which seem a little more on the less obnoxious side. I have the regular Flow Master 40s on my fox and they are pretty loud.

Any thoughts on headers vs. manifolds? How about exhaust size and mufflers? I know all this really comes down to preference, I'd just rather only do this once.

Thanks!
 
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What are your end goals? You should only ever go with headers if you need to in order to hit whatever power goal you are going for.....they add a LOT of heat to engine bay.

I'm really looking for better sound right now. The car is pretty very quiet minus a little chop from the cam. Extra hp is an added benefit. I wish I knew what headers + 2.25" exhaust + H-pipe + and decent mufflers would get me vs. the same set up with HIPO manifolds.
 
 

Thanks! Unfortunately, just as confused :oops:
 
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Thanks! Unfortunately, just as confused :oops:

Sorry. LoL

I did see a couple more threads on this topic. What I gleaned from it all was that the HP difference between the HiPo cast iron pieces and actual shorty headers, was negligible. The other thing that I gathered is that the Cast iron pieces were less ass pain (install and forget about em) and long tubes were more trouble than most people think it's worth.

Read through what you can find. Use the search function here and on Google and ask questions.

Sooner or later @horse sence will see this too. He might have some input.
 
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Sound is better with shorties/manifolds if you ask me...longtubes tend to add more rasp to an engine...whereas manifolds are mellower...guess it depends on whether you like rasp or not, I made longtubes for mine...but the rasp is a necessary by product I would rather not have....not really comparable though, I have a v6, which is already raspier than a v8.