Longtubes or Shorty Headers?

[rugster]

Im getting headers but I dont know which to get. Is it true that with longtubes you cant drop the transmission without removing the headers? Is that true with all cases? If I cant drop the tranny, Im thinking of leaning towards shorty headers....

discuss...

 

[97speedster]

My opinion is stick with the shorties. Long tubes will only give you 2 to 3 more horsepower over the shorties and you also have to buy O2 extenders and new intermediate pipe not to sure on the transmission part but I can find out.

 

[DBMSTNG]

there is a set of longtubes that don't need to be removed for pulling the trans. i can't remember which ones tho. may have been hooker.

lontubes
pros: more hp and tq. sound
cons: hang low, clearance may be a concern. especially on lowered cars. emmisions, if you have emmisions testing this could be an issue. the cats are pushed farther back with longtubes making them less effective.

shortys
pros: works with regular mid pipes. plug and play. no clearance issues.
cons: usually cost. and they make a few less ponies than longtubes.

 

[DropTopPony]

I have shorts because of emissions and the ground clearance...i would have swapped to some Bassani mid lenths but they don't have them for Auto's...

 

[san~man]

Hooker LTs (there are also a few more) do not require removal to drop the trans.

 

['13_ImpactBlue_GT]

What about Kooks?

 

[Bluffing024]

+1 for shorties. Would suck to go through all that work and hit a speed bump a little too hard and dent up your LTs.

 

['03GTinFLA]

Your mid pipe will hit before your LT's. At least with Mac LT's. Shorties don't make crap for HP or TQ. LT's make a noticeable SOTP difference. One of the better N/A mods IMHO. Ever wonder why any race vehicle of any sort have LT's and not shorties. Unless your worried about emissions testing, don't bother with the minimal gains that shorties will give you.

 

[Bluffing024]

From what everyone has said the gains from shorties to LTs are minimal..more, but not much more.

 

[mustangkid05]

yea im thinking about picking up some shortys, how hard is the install? compared to an h-pipe install

 

[rugster]

well the reason I am doing this mod is because I have a leak in the stock manifold, so as much as I would like the big gains of longtubes...its not that important to me. I just want to make sure the tranny could be dropped if i decided to go with longtubes. Ebay has some stainless longtubes for like 375 bucks, made by a company called "CAM." Does anyone have any feedback on those?

 

[streetstang03]

LTs or nothing. shorties are a waste of time and money on our cars.

 

[65fastback2+2]

LT's for N/A or NOS

ST's for FI

 

[blackfang]

My opinion is stick with the shorties. Long tubes will only give you 2 to 3 more horsepower over the shorties and you also have to buy O2 extenders and new intermediate pipe not to sure on the transmission part but I can find out.

You may be right on the "peak" numbers, but throughout the powerband, LT's are 15-20+ hp more.

Hooker/Flowtech LT's allow you to drop the trans without removing a header. I think SLP or Kooks do too, but not sure.

Both are a pain to install, but overall the LT is a better header in most applications.

 

[96GTstang46]

+1 for LT's.. I got flowtechs cuz i knew that you could still drop the tranny and everyone that i talked to said that LT's were alot better for sound, and power over the shortys.. BUT thats just IMO.
Plus when i got done.. the power difference over stock was neck breakin. Still one of the best power mods i have felt... was good for at least 15-20hp and it sure felt like it!!!!!!