headers

[bvav22]

I know you guys are probably beat to death with posts about what headers sound best, but my dad wants to buy me headers for christmas (i have to get my own bumper ). any ways we were listening to some clips and we really like the bbk equal length shorty headers. does anyone have these? or at least heard them in person? cuase the clip sounded kick ass. we were also looking at an OR Hpipe to go along with it...

 

[wythors]

I've never known headers to make any appreciable difference in the sound of the exhaust. Equal length shorties are a bear to deal with both installation-wise and in changing spark plugs and won't make any noticable difference in power compared to unequal length shorties on a stockish engine.

 

[bvav22]

so should i get unequal length?

 

[RYC CUKR]

Changing plugs will be a pain.

I had a set of BBK unequals on my 93 and didn't really notice any sound difference over the stockers. When I swapped in an O/R x pipe and magnaflow catback the car sounded mean as hell.

 

[Flavadave4]

I have MAC equal length shortys and have no problems with the plugs, I did have a tough time tightening header bolts, went to local parts store and got a set with the allen tool and love them

 

[Deleted member 87397]

Changing plugs will be a pain.

I had a set of BBK unequals on my 93 and didn't really notice any sound difference over the stockers. When I swapped in an O/R x pipe and magnaflow catback the car sounded mean as hell.

Not so. You just have to get the right brand. If you want equal length shorties I'd go with BBK all the way. I'm running them right now and I can do a very uncomplicated plug change in under 15 minutes and they have never burned any of my plug wires (MSD multi-angle) and they take maybe half an hour longer to install than unequal shorties. Power-wise, there won't be any noticeable seat of the pants difference, and I thought when I installed them my exhaust sounded a bit more mellow at idle than with my unequals, but the real sound changer will be the O/R X or H pipe. and choice of mufflers. I don't have any sound clips, but the rest of my system is BBK O/R H pipe and MAC flowpaths. It sounds nasty when I wind it up. I don't have any sound clips, but here's a few pics of the headers installed.

http://s143.photobucket.com/albums/r133/fastfox86/Headers%20and%20Wires/

 

[90]

I can do a very uncomplicated plug change in under 15 minutes and they have never burned any of my plug wires

not that i like to go off topic, or derail a nice thread... but in these pics below if you look closely where my plugs are you will notice an ungly orange cover over my plugs... its a heat rated hoseing, the guy that owned my car befor me, said that he had replaced 3 sets of wires and plugs that he just didnt know what to do about it... so that i came up with this idea, (im sure its been done befor ?) but i am an electrician and when wires burn up i had a pritty good idea.. i know its ugly as sin, but am almost 120% sure they wont burn up ever again... i had 3 differant simular ideas... cuz we PVC thats heat rated and the 3rd invovled a little creating of my own..

again im sorry for taking this :OT: , but i thought i would share with my family on stang-net!

 

[25thmustang]

Long tubes vs shorties will give a different sound, but not equal vs regular shorties. Equal lengths with an off road H will sound good, and provide better power than stock!

 

[bvav22]

well yea i was planning on getthing the bbk off road h, probably running no cats, and there is no way the sound wont be better than the stock exhuast after that right? even with my car being pretty much stock....

 

[25thmustang]

It will sound better, even with stock mufflers.

 

[Strype]

Dude... save yourself the trouble and get UNEQUAL shorties. I had equal length on my 86 and they ate through the clutch cable's coating.

There's no noticable hp difference between the 2 either, I believe it was dynoed years ago in 5.0 Magazine at 7hp for the unequal and 8hp for the equal.

You'll have a little more room under the hood with unequal and they do sometimes make for a hard plug change if you have the stock smog stuff in the way.

 

[91ghp5.0]

Long tubes vs shorties will give a different sound, but not equal vs regular shorties. Equal lengths with an off road H will sound good, and provide better power than stock!

+1. be a man...get longtubes.

 

[niklid05]

^^^ yea what he said.

 

[bvav22]

ic ic, see i dont care about hp, i mean its headers, i just want a great sound...

btw if i remove the cats, my o2 sensor is gonna bitch isnt it?

 

[wythors]

If you're just concerned about sound, don't bother with headers at all. Get on off-road pipe, a Prochamber or a nice cat-back setup. Headers will make next to no difference in the sound of your car.

 

[bvav22]

really? what is the inlet size on stock headers? becuase it cant be 1 5/8 inlet, they look tiny.

 

[bvav22]

really? what is the inlet size on stock headers? becuase it cant be 1 5/8 inlet, they look tiny.

 

[91ghp5.0]

If you're just concerned about sound, don't bother with headers at all. Get on off-road pipe, a Prochamber or a nice cat-back setup. Headers will make next to no difference in the sound of your car.

I fail to agree. You're telling me there is no difference between un equal length shorties and longtubes?

 

[25thmustang]

Long Tubes make a big difference in sound. My dads car had shorties, Prochamber and a Mac catback, we took his catback off and I put it on mine, with long tubes and a prochamber. Under 2000 RPM or so his car was louder, but had a very similar tone, anything above 2500 and my car started to get louder, and at high RPMs the long tubes screamed over the shorties. I would NOT buy headers just for sound, they wont really help the sound much unless you do long tubes, and even then it should be quieter at lower RPMs, that you spend more time in!