Ok so i want to get a set of headers in the near future....I am finishing my suspension and getting drag radials but the headers are next. I am trying to decide between pacesetter longtubes and mac mids....

The main reason is because I have a lowered transam and I live in colorado... the roads here suck. I have a few friends that have longtubes on their fbodies and some have had problems with scraping and one of my friends actually fucked up his collectors really bad on his LT's...

I know that the macs have been proven to give great performance and sound good but I also know that LT's will net the most power and torque. I dont want to have clearance issues so what should I go with...

keep it safe and get decent performance with the macs...

get more performance with LT's and try not to **** em up...lol


thanks for any input or opinions

 

how much are you lowered?

I don't know about pacesetter, but my qtps have great clearence. Im lowered 1 1/2 f/r.

I think any LT you choose would be ok except the SLP's. They hang lower than most.

 

Get the Pacesetter LT's. Mids aren't worth it.

 

i disagree. macs flow within a few h.p of long tubes. its been proven time and time again.

 

I got QTP's with BMR springs. Never hit the headers on anything. My ORY is a differant story.

 

i have H&R sport springs.....its about a 1.5 inch drop....

 

Its like the pacesetters arent even there. The ONLY clearence issues you should ever have are with the y pipe. And it aches me so much that i think im going to go with a TD set up. I am stock height and my *** clenches everytime i drive over something. But the headers wont drag, they tuck like they were OEM. I would go with Pacesetters bc there are a million different ypipe and TD set ups that are ready to go with them. I dont think i've seen a MAC TD kit, not that it would be a serious issue to jsut make one. I vote pacesetters.....not SLP headers, hear they drag for some reason. Plus, the installation is a BREEZE for LTs. If you've ever put headers on an LT1 car then divide the difficulty by about 1000 and thats how hard it is to install them on an ls1.

 

Most of your headers will tuck up nicely (the exception is SLP set), the Y is what's going to give you the headache, it may be worth the money to have a custom Y made, often the custom Ys can be tweaked for better clearance than the prefabbed ones (thats not to say you can't get the clearance with a prefabbed one, it just takes time)
As for what header, the macs are a good choice, as are the LTs (you may get a few more horses with the LTs, but unless it's an all out race effort, the macs will do a good job)

 

A good set of lt's wont drag. Period. You can't see the headers unless your under the car. If my collectors drug, I would have more serious problems. My Y-pipe looks like its been beat to death, that where the problems are.

 

I was going to say our Pacesetters are tucked up nicely, and the only thing that drags are the C-clamps that are on the y-pipe for that purpose, to be the point of impact (since our ORY was welded). The BMR boxed subframes we have hang lower that 99.9% of our exhaust.

 

Get the long tubes. My kooks have great clearance.

 

what i wanted to do was get the pacesetter longtubes with the catted Y from texas speed.......thats probably what i will do. i guess i just wanted some opinions

 

MY CATTED TSP Y hangs too ******* low, ive adjusted it for max clearance "3 1/2 inches woohoo!

 

Clearance on my Kooks

 

my mac mid's have plenty of clearance, its the y pipe thats getting banged up from time to time. With LT's and a lowered car, it might scrape...

 

I second the low *** TSP catted y. Its pretty quiet though, thru my borlamouth. I think i can put a nasty loud cam in it and be fine.
I just ordered a bumpstop, bc the only way i could keep from dragging over everything was to adjust it until it was rattling the body...oh well. Also...DO NOT USE THE FREKING U CLAMPS!! Invest in some band clamps. If you enjoy a leaky exhaust system that will never come apart again without the aid of a saw then go ahead a use the u clamps. Band clamps wont crimp the pipes together.

 

Get the longtubes. I had macs/ory on my car before and I had worse ground clearance than I do now with pacesetters/true duals.....and I'm lowered 1.75".

 

https://ls1tech.com/forums/dynamometer-results-comparisons/433303-edelbrock-replaced-macs-dyno-results.html

 

Don't have exact HP numbers but my dad went from a 12.80@107 with his Bassani Mid lengths to a 12.18@113 with a LS6 in take and Jet-Hot Lts and I know the intake is only worth a couple tenths so I would say that LT headers are well worth it, and will get you more power then Mid length headers.
Dads car 2000 Trans Am WS6 bolt ons + B1 cam = 370rwhp through an auto with a Yank 3500 stall.

Dan

 

how expensive are the edelbrock longtubes?