I am looking into getting Longtubes in the near future. Originally I was going to save up and get some KOOKS, however, there just seems to be too many good deals for the pacesetters.

My question is....are the kooks really worth the extra money? I mean we are talking roughly 400 dollars extra. I could buy 2 sets of pacesetters for the cost of the kooks lol. (Roughly, im not using exact numbers )

Should I just get the pacesetters?

 

pacesetters are fine....imop they arent worth the kooks arent worth it

 

Lot of guys like the pacesetters. I have them on my car. When I get the cash I will be switching to Kooks/QTP's. There isn't a comparison IMO.

 

Kooks/QTP/Stainless Works will outlive the life of your car. I'd go stainless steel. Pacesetters will eventually rust like all mild/aluminized steel does. How soon and where at on the header all depends on geographical location and driving conditions. There is virtually no HP difference between them all BTW.

Pacesetters = Budget LTs + Extra Mod Money

Kooks/QTP = Last set you'll ever buy.

 

That is the main difference. Kooks are stainless and P-setters are not.

 

Check out Speed Engineering, tell them you want group-purchase price on the Kooks LT's. I got my 1-7/8 kooks for 7% off w/ free shipping.
















......only about $300 more than pacesetters...

 

I don' t know that I' d entirely agree there is not going to be any difference in power. I can' t prove anything between Pacesetters and Kooks, but, I can say my QTP HVMCs were worth more than 5 horse and 11 lbs/tq that my standard QTP collectors, with no other changes. But, it was a different day, different conditions. Same dyno, but, maybe it was just warmed up better than with the standard collector run. Who knows. Sheet, maybe I just want to justify I spend more money for the QTPs.LOL.

 

I was gonna get the Kooks, but then I would not have been able to get as many parts, kinda the same reason I didn't get a F.A.S.T. intake...

Pacesetters are sitting at the shop now, waiting for Project: Chuck Norris to get underway

 

Hmmm...

I don't know if I should just hold off for now and get Kooks in the future. I need LCAs first anyways.

 

I have Kooks on my GTO and I love them, quality and fit are great. Mine was a different decision though since there were no budget headers for the GTO when I got mine, just Kooks, SW, and Dynatech. If you don't drive in all weather, mainly salty winter, you won't really have much of an issue, just get them ceramic coated and they should last. I am glad now that I did go with stainless since I plan on keeping the car a long time.

 

Which still isn't THAT BAD IMO... I'll get ahold of them in a year or so when I finally crack open the motor

 

Kooks are about as good as you're ever going to get IMO. I've got a set of coated Hooker 1 3/4" headers now and I'm scraping every penny together I can in order to get the Kooks. As far as I'm concerned Hooker headers are much better than Pacesetters and I'm still trying to upgrade. Ultimately it may boil down to your budget but I know I'd have been better off waiting until I could afford the Kooks instead of buying headers twice like I'm doing now.

 

my advice would be if you decide to go stainless steel, get kooks LT's if you are running a y-pipe/catback exhaust setup but if you go true duals get QTP's. you will net more power with QTP's over kooks because QTP's have the high velocity merge collectors, but their y-pipe is a piece of garbage and has terrible ground clearance - and is insanely expensive, too!

i'd go:

stainless:
QTP w/true duals
kooks w/y-pipe and catback

mild steel:
pacesetters with y-pipe
edelbrock's w/true duals

(pacesetters are known to have great ground clearance with their y-pipe and they offer a catted y-pipe, making them ideal for catback applications. however, i would choose edelbrock's for true duals. edelbrock's are stepped and will make more power than the pacesetters...but i would not go for them with a catback because they only offer an ORY and personally, i need cats to pass emissions. if you don't need cats, i'd consider edelbrock's, too. hope this isn't too confusing.)

 

If you have the money, go with Kooks. That way you will have more money down the road when you wan to mod, instead of having to replace your rusted Pacesetters. JMO...

 

 

Yea...well I think I am just going to wait it out. I will get kooks and a true dual setup in the future. I will probably be able to scrap the money together from my tax return alone, so that should be good!

 

okay, all these posts and threads of pacesetters and kooks. how bout we compare the hp gains they put out. all i hear is kook/qtp but i have never seen how much more hp they put out over pacesetters. if kooks/qtp puts out 15hp more than pacesetters i would look into it.

 

I have a buddy that has some pacesetters, they seem ok, but just look kinda cheap. I didn't install them but he has no issues. I'm sure they will go to **** one day.

I think my Kooks were worth every penny though.

 

Partial to Pacesetter. Your call. Dont think that there is that much differance except the life of the headers. Are you going to keep the car forever??

 

This is about the best reply you could listen to.
I bought Stainless Works when they were $200 less than Kooks but I hear they are the same price now.
I originally ordered QTP's but when I called to check on them after 5 weeks they hadnt ordered the material yet and werent going to for another weeks or so. I cancelled and bought SW same day. Of course they had to be built as well but as least they didnt tell their "Vette line was more important right now". True story.
Get what you can afford but just know that if your going to keep the car the pacesetters are going to get ugly after a while. If you cant afford new Stainless Steel then look for a used set. You can find used headers all the time.[/CENTER]