chrs1313

iTrader: (24)

you are absolutely right on a maxed out full bolt on car headers are worth only at 15rwhp at most...how do i know cause i have done it...

with stock manifolds and cats...i went 11.72 at 115mph...after my QTP headers i went 11.55 at 116mph...headers are over rated for a SI car but once you put a decent cam in there it starts to get choked up...so if you are doing i cam i would do headers also...

and the best bang for the buck has to be the ebay headers for 400 shipped with ORY pipe and they are Stainless Steel...cant beat that even if you have to massage them to get in sometimes...i mean my buddy bought brand new qtp hvmc headers and they were laying on the k member...so each have their problems...

jarednut4ever

iTrader: (14)

You think a ls6 cam with manifolds would get me close to 11's.

WS6R6

iTrader: (1)

Do you happen to be from kansas? If so I'm the black ws6 that's always down there with jeff and them and sometimes on our bikes! I just sold the ls6 cam out of my crate motor with pushrods/springs for 225 shipped w/under 10k miles on them. Personally, if you are going to swap the cam I wouldn't waste my time going with anything less than a 228R which is a very small cam these days. In fact a 228R or V2 would probably be very close to what you are looking for and you will hit high 11's.

jarednut4ever

iTrader: (14)

Ya Thats me, I race in Great Bend, SRCA dragstrip. I just want a cam that will work with the manifolds. I don't need much for 11's. Maybe 25-30 rwhp. That should put me at 11.9-12.0 at 109-110mph.

king2000z28t56

iTrader: (2)

let me tell you from experience, i have a heads cam car and i had stock manifolds on it for the longest time. threw a set of longtubes on there and my car picked up 55 hp at the tires still through a stock ls1 intake.

jarednut4ever

iTrader: (14)

Probably cause of the heads. I wouldn't imagine that a cam only car with manifolds vs long tubes putting down more then 15-20 more at the wheel unless it is a 23x-23x-6xx-6xx cam. I am going to put in a mild cam so I wouldn't think the gains would be huge. Pat G spec-d a cam for my brothers truck with maniflods and I think the specs were 218-226-561-571 on 114 lobe seperation, He gained 33 horse at the wheels with manifolds so I know it can be done. Thats was on a 2003 5.3 liter. He went from a 14.0 to a 13.5 1/4.

DadsZ28

iTrader: (1)

All you need is some negative da and you'd be knocking on the door of high 11s if you are running in 2100 da! If I can pick up as much et as your brother did I would be happy as hell! And I would do it in a heartbeat. We will see........

GMCtrk

iTrader: (23)

Longtubes and 3" ORY, and ported TB got me 28 rwhp gain over stock manifold/exhaust. This is in a stock lq9'd truck. There's a very big SOTP gain with headers up top. The downside, for me atleast, is that it always sounds like I have an exhaust leak.

jarednut4ever

iTrader: (14)

If headers do that much why do I run the same mph and et as the same cars here that have headers. I don't have cats, and they say our manifolds are as good as shortys. 500 dollars for 10 horse is just hard to swallow for me. I mean for 300 I could do nos and gain over 75-100 horse. Or a cam for around 500 and gain 30-40 horse.

Medic/Z28

iTrader: (9)

For stock manifolds, have you considered the Hotcam. People hate it because it's one of the first ones that came out, they say they are better small cams out there, but in reality its proven to produce 25-30 hp on the cam alone.

tording99Z28

iTrader: (3)

It only makes sense that as you make more and more power the stock manifolds are going to hinder you even more. To make horsepower you have to take more air in and let more exhaust out. If the manifolds are stopping the exhaust from being moved from the engine then it will cost you horsepower. If you don't have goals to make lots of HP then the stock manifolds will probably be just fine.

96gt4.6

iTrader: (5)

I 2nd all on this thread that a cammed car DIES from not having headers. As you can tell in my sig, I have a cam, with manifolds and gutted cats. I race regular with Jared at the same track, and usually pull 108-110ish MPH with my cutout lid off.

I ran a test and tune night with my cutout off as usual and trapped my normal 108-110. The D/A was similar at around 2500-3000 ft. The very next day, I ran a points class that is street legal and requires a muffling device, so I had to cap the cutout. All day the best I could muster was 107.8 MPH. I made it to 3rd round which was about 9 PM and a D/A check before the run was 2800 ft. Also, I raced with a couple of cars that had TNT'd the night before, and they were running identical times.

So, IMO, it's safe to say on a cammed/headed setup, Longtubes do offer a substantial gain. Other then that, I along with Jared just haven't seen the gain on a stock cammed/headed motor. Most of the gains we see people claiming at our track are a result of a different D/A day.