Are headers beneficial?
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 5,121
Likes: 75
From: somewhere in TX
Are headers beneficial? On a stock 97 lt1 with 74k and a magnaflow catback gutted cats,obd1 conversion and 3:73's are headers a worthwhile upgrade. I am kinda hung on a decision. I am probably not going to do any heads or cam for the next year or two. I was kicking around a set of 1.6 rr to juice it up a hair for now. please drop opinions or flame me.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 5,121
Likes: 75
From: somewhere in TX
If you still got'em pm me. My GF cleaned out the toy money with her birthday last month. But this month's paycheck arrives next friday. It's a good thing were are not married and don't live together my car would be jealous she might get more attention. Dammm I knew there was a reason I stayed single.
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,593
Likes: 267
From: Halfway back on the Highway to Hell...again!
The most important thing for an engine is to breathe. As said above. headers are worth every penny. And don't skimp...you get what you pay for and definately get some type of good coating, preferrably JETHOT.
Think of it this way...Try running 2 miles breathing through a straw.
Does a brown bear **** in the woods????
Of course headers will help you, it doesnt matter if you have a stock car or a highly modded one. Now the only question is going to be whether you want longtubes or shorties.
Of course headers will help you, it doesnt matter if you have a stock car or a highly modded one. Now the only question is going to be whether you want longtubes or shorties.
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TECH Apprentice
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Joined: Jan 2005
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From: Las Vegas.. back in san jose..
Get headers for sure...and go longtubes...well worth it..dont get too impatient an deals look in the for sale section u can find a good set of jet hots or something like that.... 
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Nov 2001
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From: I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S
Originally Posted by Snow Dog
1.6 rr's are a waste compared to headers. just make sure its a quality header with 1-3/4 primary tubes.
On a pure bolt-on car, cam only, and even heads/cam (stock cubes), Mac's will do just fine...Now if you go with a radical H/C combo, extra cubes, and/or FI, then yeah, using larger primaries like 1 3/4 will only help.
I'm not saying 1 3/4 are bad (heck, they're great on the right application). But what I'm trying to say is that a good 1 5/8 set-up will be more than enough for a nice solid street or street/strip car...
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
From: Mesa, Az
I used to recommend headers to everyone as I picked up 5 mph with my macs on my last car, however I have gained .4 mph in the quarter with the addition of LT's and deletion of cats on my WS6! What a joke! I put down good power at the dyno. Then again I never dyno'd before the LT's. Have to say they were a big *** waste of money in my case. JMO. Hit and miss I guess. Btw, I have been to the track numerous times since adding the LT's so it was not a matter of weather conditions.
If you ever see a pair of stock manifolds off a car, you'll thank your self for doing headers. 1.6 rockers arent a bad mod after headers, mainly a good time to get rid of tired old stock valve springs for some fresh ones.
Yeah check the boards for headers i got some Jet Hot LTs with about 10k on them for $300 shipped off of this board. They will definately help. I dont know why you would want to go with shorties though. I mean if you are going to be doing all that work you might as well go all out. The modding never stops with these cars. LTs sound better IMO anyways.
i say 1-3/4 primaries because there is not a single drawback to using them if you go with a quality header. fit will be the same. plug access will still be fine and they still suck to put in. price will be the difference, but thats because most quality headers are 1-3/4 and they all cost about the same. cheaper headers will use the smaller primary typically. thats with any application not just lt1 fbody. i wouldn't want to do it twice nor would i want to leave any power on the table because i simply chose 1-5/8 versus 1-3/4. thats if the power level gets up there. no telling since he didnt say. i dont like recommending crap parts or parts that arent needed. your correct 1-5/8 are perfectly fine in most cases, but 1-3/4 will only be better and not hurt. 2-3/4 y pipes work very well too eventhough most people will say get a 3in y.
no matter what you do. do it right the first time using quality parts and you wont go wrong.
no matter what you do. do it right the first time using quality parts and you wont go wrong.
