Is it worth it to go to either a stepped header or 1-7/8 or should I just go with the standard 1-3/4 and be done with it?

I want to make the most power out of it. The car is getting a aftercooled vortech,probably 8-9 lbs, its an a4.

wasn't sure if i should ask this in the FI forum or not.

car is mostly stock but will have an aggressive cam for a blower. looking for at least 500 to the wheel when its all said and done.

 

I would get the biggest headers I could find/afford.

I am running 1.875/2.000 step headers from Kooks that have 3.5 collectors.

I would run 1.875 full length headers, but I would run 1.75/1.875 step headers at a minimum if I was buying the stuff all new.

 

i'd like to see a graph showing how much more power a 1-7/8 would make over a 1-3/4 on the same car.

My tuner suggested a stepped header as you did, but the cost of a stepped header didn't make sense enough for me to do it.

Hooker 1-3/4 coated headers it is, along with their offroad pipe and Magnaflow exhaust.

 

One of my advisors for my setup runs NMRA and those guys consistently have gone faster with bigger headers, they now run 2.000/2.125 step headers on 306ci engines.

 

that's cool. for me to get stepped headers or step up to t1-7/8 it would have cost me like an extra 1000 or so, just wasn't worth it to me for a few extra hp.

If ya got slips from a guy running 1-3/4 then going with a 1-7/8 I'd like to see that. Maybe down the road I'll switch for now I'm fine.

Believe me if I had a money tree I'd would get all the good **** done.

My car's not an all out drag car like yours. I really can't see THAT much of a difference on a basic starter level combination that I will have. Maybe if I was pushing more boost, had heads, built bottom end yada yada then yes.