Headers...

alex95621

New Member
Sep 6, 2004
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With a stock exhaust setup except for flowmasters that is, what headers would give me the most performance, and shorty or long tubes? and should i just go 2 and a half inch pipe with only 2 cats(not sure how many i need to be able to pass smog, have 4 of em now heh) anyways help would be appreciated. And also I want to cut the pipes after the muffler and drop it before the rear wheels, would it make it sound a lot louder or should I not even bother with it?
 
dumps will sound a lot louder (some folks get sick of it).

on a stock-ish application, i wonder if you would not be compromising some low end grunt with different headers (unless you live at 6K all the time).
 
headers

ya if i would lose low end grunt i dunno if i want new headers... my car being an automatic already has bad acceleration, my friends RS+ camaro 305 auto takes me easily off the line than I pass him but i want to get my acceleration up, thats why I'm gettin a shiftkit.
 
I have 1 5/8" unequal length headers, stock H-pipe and Flowmaster Delta Flows w/turndowns- nice low rumble at idle, sounds great when you romp on it, and has none of the dreaded resonance.
I haven't noticed any loss of torque at all- have you LOOKED at the stock headers? They are so pinched and squished up they look like some kind of intestine! :barf: I think even a stock engine is happy to be able to breathe a little!
From others I have read you won't have a very loud setup as long as you have a catted H-pipe. The stocker is 17 year old technology with the two light-off cats and the two secondary cats- if you replace it you will only need two cats and it will be less restrictive. I have 2 1/4" mufflers on my stock H-pipe, if you go with new 2 1/2" H-pipe and mufflers you may lose a tiny bit of torque- others would know better than I do if someone should chime in. I wouldn't worry about it, especially if you plan to upgrade intake/heads in the future. Hope this helps...
 
If you don't plan on heavily modding your car (beyond say 275fwhp) then a set of 1 1/2 long tube headers would be your best bet...if you can find them. Your second best bet would be a set of 1 1/2 equal or unequal length shorty headers. Neither one will hurt your bottom end, but will allow you to breath a little better up top.

A shift kit will help, but if you want to really improve your low end, get rid of your 3.08's and get a set of 3.73-4.10's in there.
 
Why not just go with an O/R h or x-pipe? They're cheaper, a lot easier to do it yourself, and I think they would give more bang-for-buck than headers. I threw a MAC O/R h-pipe on mine and noticed a BIG difference. In power AND the sound!
 
Ok, keep in mind, I have 4.10 gears already, but I just added (like 2 days ago) 1.75" BBK Ceramic LT Headers, 2.5" OR X pipe, and an American Thunder Catback with 2 chamber flows....all I can say is AWESOME.

As for 'losing power down low"...I haven't seen it, and my car pulls much quicker from 4000-6000 rpms...I can only imagine what this thing is going to be like when I get a 331 in it with a healthy cam and free breathing heads and intake.

I say get some 1 5/8" LT headers, and if you must have cats, get the 2 cat h pipe and the flowmaster cat back. Dumps do sound straight nasty, but my car with the cat back still sounds aggressive, and turns heads.

I don't know if you have an LX or GT...if it's an LX...it's my opinion tha they just don't look right without tails.

Next...get some 4.30's for that slushbox auto you have and kick the snot out of that RS Crapmaro.

Hax