trying to pick a good header-y pipe combo
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Teching In
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trying to pick a good header-y pipe combo I have a 98 camaro ls1. All I have for upgrades are lid, magnaflow cat back and a tune. I have read a lot of the stickies and treads on headers but I have not found any that tell about the ground clearance. I would also like know what to look for in a y pipe for flow.
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The pics are a great help. I do not know if i am going with the cats or not. Is there a big difference in power with the aftermarket cats ? Most of the y pipes I have seen pics of are really low on the drivers side. But in the pics this one looks good.
My factory y-pipe hung lower than these do. Don't know how much power difference but I can feel way more throttle response and the exhaust note is deeper and more pronounced. I went with a catted y because I didn't want it to be raspy once I installed my cam. I have a magnaflow catback so it should keep it a little tame.
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Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2012
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thanks for the feed back. If you have some pics that would be great. I will be installing a new trans this winter and I would like to install the headers at the same time. I would like to install a cam next year.
ARH has said they loose no power with their cats. I have Kooks TD's but If I was going to go with a Y-pipe setup it would be ARH. Stay away from the Kooks Y-pipe....the merge sucks ***.
For the price, the TSP 1-7/8" Stainless Headers and 3" Stainless ORY is hard to beat ($725 with the gaskets and needed extensions). You aren't gaining any power or ground clearance with Kooks or ARH.
If you must have cats, I'd go ARH since it remains stainless all the way back compared to TSP, since TSP doesn't have a stainless catted Y-Pipe. As far as ARH vs Kooks, the Kooks Y merge sucks. For the money of the Kooks Headers/Catted Y, just get the ARHs.
QTP has a 1-3/4" header that looks good but they have an aluminum Y-pipe that has shitty fitment. But the plus side is it includes an awesome flowmaster merge. The TSP and ARH Y-pipe merge look pretty similar and are a step down from the Flowmaster.
EDIT: Nvm, QTP doesn't make their headers or Y-Pipe anymore, even though it's on their site still. An alternative Y-Pipe is the Mufflex 4" Y-Pipe with the flowmaster merge for Hooker headers.
If you must have cats, I'd go ARH since it remains stainless all the way back compared to TSP, since TSP doesn't have a stainless catted Y-Pipe. As far as ARH vs Kooks, the Kooks Y merge sucks. For the money of the Kooks Headers/Catted Y, just get the ARHs.
QTP has a 1-3/4" header that looks good but they have an aluminum Y-pipe that has shitty fitment. But the plus side is it includes an awesome flowmaster merge. The TSP and ARH Y-pipe merge look pretty similar and are a step down from the Flowmaster.
EDIT: Nvm, QTP doesn't make their headers or Y-Pipe anymore, even though it's on their site still. An alternative Y-Pipe is the Mufflex 4" Y-Pipe with the flowmaster merge for Hooker headers.
Last edited by JakeFusion; Nov 26, 2012 at 11:31 PM.
I really wanna see some comparisons between the TSP 1 7/8, Kook, and ARH...
I could careless about stainless steel.. If your talking about less than a 3-5hp difference between all 3 then TSP for sure.
I could careless about stainless steel.. If your talking about less than a 3-5hp difference between all 3 then TSP for sure.
I don't think it'll be much. They all look pretty much the same. The three variables that make the biggest difference:
1) Collector length
2) Primary size
3) Primary length
Because of the dimensions of the F-Body, I think they are all pretty close with only ARH offering a true merge style collector which might be worth a bit of midrange torque. Kooks has a merge style collector as well but not as aggressive, and TSP doesn't. That might be the difference at 4500RPM 5-10rwtq.
Btw look at this: 1-3/4" to 1-7/8" difference on a heads/cam car:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/dynamomet...yno-sheet.html
It's the second back-to-back comparo I have seen. Both times the 1-7/8" has murdered the 1-3/4". Remember what I said about the three variables? Since primary length and collector size are pretty much what they are, the larger diameter primary is very important.
1) Collector length
2) Primary size
3) Primary length
Because of the dimensions of the F-Body, I think they are all pretty close with only ARH offering a true merge style collector which might be worth a bit of midrange torque. Kooks has a merge style collector as well but not as aggressive, and TSP doesn't. That might be the difference at 4500RPM 5-10rwtq.
Btw look at this: 1-3/4" to 1-7/8" difference on a heads/cam car:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/dynamomet...yno-sheet.html
It's the second back-to-back comparo I have seen. Both times the 1-7/8" has murdered the 1-3/4". Remember what I said about the three variables? Since primary length and collector size are pretty much what they are, the larger diameter primary is very important.
10 Second Club
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I have TSP stainless 1 7/8. Awesome quality, have been holding up for months without issuse, awesome clearance. The ONLY problem I had was the the y pipe came with shitty u bolt clamps, so I just hada shop tuck it all up and weld it nice.
Here's a BIG thread about the BBK setup... Enjoy 
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...cs-inside.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...cs-inside.html
