Ok, so I am trying to decide what headers I want to go with and I know that the general concensus is that shorties are bad. So I am open to just about all suggestions when it comes to headers. Heres the rub:

I need to retain all the emission hookups and still want to run cats.

Now my question is if I get either LTs or say Mids what is the best way to integrate cats into the system...get an ory with the hook ups and just cut and weld the cats back into it or is that just an all around bad idea? Also I had been considering MAC midlengths but don't know if these will hook up to the stock Y pipe (or if the y can be shortened while still retaining the cats to fit the mids). Any ideas? Or what did you do to retain cats?

 

to retain cats? well honestly dude this is my first question does your state have a visual inspection? cause you are OBDII which means they usually just plug in the tool and scan it, and if they do that and only that then i'd say ditch the cats all together, they only restrict flow and really are only necesary if they have visual inspections at emissions.

personally, i got my long tubes welded straight to the Y pipe and to the muffler cause i know i will only have to go thru the plug and play test no sniffer or visual where i went last time!

 

actually they got wind of o2 sims so now there is a visual on obd2 cars. started earlier this year. kooks makes a catted y as well as headers with egr taps.

 

what state is that in?

and i still have my front o2's just no rear o2's or EGR or AIR

 

The issue really has more to do with what the cops ibn your area will do and how tuff is your inspection station?

Honestly, I've never run into any inspection station that gave me a problem for the type of header I run. At one point I had MAc shorties ( hollow cat ). I now have Jethot LTs with the emmisions fittings, and I have a mufflex Y pipe with cats. Just so if I get pulled over I don't have to go through the hassle of not having cats on the car. My car is loud, I've had cops come up to the car and first thing they do is look under the car. Now if a cop wants to get technical. Well then I might have issues? As long as I passed the visual and sniffer test they put the stickers on the car.

As far as what's legal:

Legally, there is no way to run LT headers. Gov. regs. state you cannot alter the location, so even putting cats in the Y-pipe is technically Illegal. Now that said, I've never heard of anyone failing due to relocated cats.

The only way to have headers and stay 100% legal is to get a set that are CARB certified. The only ones I'm sure of are the Edelbrock TES headers and Hooker shorties.

SLP may be carb cert. I'm really not sure?

MAC makes very nice header kits, " my opinion" Mac probably make a few more HP then the other kits. But they aren't CARB certified. And again, probably no one is going to check for the CARB certified tag on the headers when you go for inspection.

 

yea that is true, if a cop really did want to take a look then i guess you might be in some trouble, but my car isn't really that loud at all compared to what it used to be, i had just a y pipe after the stock cats cut off so it didnt even have a muffler or anything, now that i installed my long tubes i just have the 3" Y into a 80 series flowmaster and it sounds pretty friggin sweet actually, no drone or bothering humbs or anything. car is quiet until you really put your foot into it, which is totally what i wanted

 

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

Those have AIR and EGR accomodations. As for cats, check with a few local shops. I'm in NY where they're pretty strict and all of the shops I've been to have said that as long as a cat is there, it doesn't matter if it's been moved. Before my engine took a **** on me, I was planning on doing those with a high flow cat from Magnaflow.

 

Well as far as what state...thats the hard part. Right now I am in texas with no emissions at all...great! However, I'm military and prone to moving every few years so I don't know where I will be 2 years from now and could very well end up somewhere with very strict emissions.

So basically you guys are saying the only way to stay completely legal in the event I move to a strict state is to get shorties that are carb certified correct? Or are there any mid-lengths that use the stock y pipe or have you modify the stock y without actually moving the cats themselves? At least that way I might not be carb but I wouldn't be moving any exhaust components, so that would probably swing under visual / sniffer / obdII inspections.

The only CARB certified Ive found so far are:

1) hooker super comps
2) edelbrock TES
3) BBK...i think is carb

Of the above which ones are the better headers? What types of gains would I see by switching from the stock manifolds to shorties / mids / longs. Also I would be getting a mail order tune at the same time. I was guessing something close to 10rwhp from the tune (give or take...dont know how much if any the 1.6RR will affect that). Finally if the only thing I can end up switching to is shorties from the stock is this worth spending the $500 on or are the gains so minimal that it would be better spent elsewhere on other mods? My criteria for being worth it is seat of the pants improvement (from the headers including the mail order tune).

Sorry for all the questions but I am still new to this stuff and trying to figure it out. Thanks!

 

1) hooker super comps
2) edelbrock TES
3) BBK...i think is carb
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hooker all the way, i have had hooker headers on many cars (not the formula yet though) and have never been disappointed. BBK has a solid rep for its numerous other products, so i wouldnt count any strikes against them, but i have a negative predisposition to Edelbrock. i have never had any edelbrock component perform as expected and the have caused nothing but issues. but the edelbrock thing is just my personal opinion and experiance.

 

Well all a cop would have to do is walk by ur car with ur stinky ***. Damn that things just smells like pure exhaust fumes lol.

 

Ok so I have 1 vote for the hookers / BBK...anyone else want to weigh in. Also what types of gains could be expected by going from stock manifolds to shorties (retaining stock y pipe with dual cats)....10-15rwhp?

 

you can use mids.....and bbk and hooker are both good...alot of bottom end diff

 

who makes mids that will hook up without having to move the cats?

 

Ive been looking around at mids and the best Ive came up with is that I would have to get cats welded into the ory to maintain any semblance of legality. I talked to MAC and this what they said was my only option. Does anyone else make mids that have catted ys or bolt up directly to stock y?

I would prefer mids or longs but if I am cutting and welding in the cats to the stock location I would basically be cutting into the headers themselves, or move the cats which means not legal any longer. Guess it means its looking like shorties.

Change...I found that pacesetter makes mid tubes that bolt directly to stock manifold / convertor. How much better would the pacesetter mids be than the shorties I have listed?

Anyone else have any other ideas? Or have a suggestion if I have to go with shorties what brand / type (BBK, hooker, Edelbrock, dynamax, or suggest others)?

 

AS&M mids with a random tech y from thunder racing. Ran that set up many years, passed the sniffer when I lived where it was required and made decent power with it before I went long tubes.

 

I have some Hooker's that are still in amazing shape only 10k on them and ceramic coated. LMK

 

right now i have the bbk's with cats. but i think they were gutted though. im getting LT's anyway later on but they came with the car and looks good and no leaks.