WhiteKnight '01

Soon it will be time to upgrade my car again. Its current power level is insufficient, I'm hoping to hit 350WHP and be content there. The single largest power adder that I am aware of is headers. But I have many question about headers.

1. Too large of a cat-back exhaust some people say will cause a loss in low end torque. Wouldn't headers do the same thing? Lose low end torque but increase mid-range toruqe? If so how much am I losing on the low end and how much am I gaining in the mid and upper range?

2. Ground clearance. My car is on stock springs, not lowered or anything. But I hear with long tubes you lose some ground clearance. How much of an issue will this be? Only when going over speed bumps? how bad is it?

3. What are some good sets of headers and what diameter should I go with? I plan on swapping out my muffler to reduce rasp once I get the headers installed.

4. A tune is required to make the car run properly after installing headers, right? How much does a tune cost? After the tune and headers, how much HP will I expect to pick up?

5. Is gas mileage increased or decreased?

6. If I take these to a shop, how much would a shop charge to install headers?

Any additional information will be appreciated. Thanks.

Blk98Vert

iTrader: (2)

1. No it wont, you can run a 4 inch system on a stock motor and be fine.

2. Clearance will be fine, dont worry about it.

3. 1 7/8 TSP will be the best value followed by 1 3/4 BBK

4. Yes, around $250 and expect to be around 350 or 360

5. Gas mileage should be increased as long as you keep your foot out of it

6. Varies, call around. Id do it yourself though

WhiteKnight '01

What is TSP?

Blk98Vert

iTrader: (2)

Texas Speed and Performance

NIUhuskies

iTrader: (4)

TSP has a helpful staff also, so as a first time buyer they will help you out with any issues that come up

hiram007

iTrader: (19)

Going through the same thing with my brothers 2000 SS and I went through the same thing about 9 years ago. Like everyone says, go with TSP, those guys are great no matter what your experience level is. To answer your questions:

1. No

2. Clearance wasnt too bad for me at stock height but then again the roads around here are all flat. Going into speed bumps or parkings lots was all a matter of getting the angle of entry right. Becomes second nature afterwards. Scraping comes with the territory but occasionally.

3. 1 3/4 seems to be the preferred size with pacesetters being the cheapest in price (ok quality). As stated above you can go bigger with no issues. I had some hooker LT's and they were great. Havent had any experience with the other brands. Ceramic or SS is the way to go.

4. Yes, around 350 or so seems about right with a tune (fwhp)

5. Thats all on you

6. Cost me $250 but that was 8 years ago.

02CamZ28

iTrader: (30)

I have pacesetters lts and have been pleased with them. Personally if you have the money id get tsp lts. I believe they are 1 7/8 collectors

sokr915

iTrader: (3)

I suggest looking into the BBK, i just installed them. Its really easy to do, they fit like a glove. You can also do a frost tune for $150. The car feels significantly more powerful.

WhiteKnight '01

Obviously you want to go with Stainless Steel headers, that should last the life of the vehicle with no rusting out issues. Is the ceramic coating recommended too? I think I hear that will reduce heat.

hiram007

iTrader: (19)

Ceramic coating is definitely recommended. I had a 96 ws6 with painted headers and a 99 ws6 with ceramic coated headers. HUGE DIFFERENCE IN UNDERHOOD TEMPS. My opinion, if your on a budget, get ceramic, will last a long time (except the collectors, they usually go first). If you have the funds go SS. If your budget is such that you can't get at least ceramic, then you either shouldn't be getting headers or save your pennies till you can get ceramic.

WhiteKnight '01

Is there much of a difference between the brands? Seems like TSP, PaceSetters, and Hookers are the preferred brands. Is performance the same through all of them? Reliability issues? Price mostly the same too?

hiram007

iTrader: (19)

Performance wise there's not too much of a difference between LT's of any brand, TSP and Hooker will be a little better quality than Pacesetters but they are all good. As long as your LT's are ceramic or better you'll be ok with reliabilty. Pricewise, TSP, Hooker, Pacesetter is the order from most to least expensive.

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

id take a look at ARH LTs. top not from what ive been told many times.

JUSTINSWS6

If you plan on over 400 rwhp get some type of 2.5 or bigger true dual. Steer clear off slp headers! I never hear good about them. Tsp headers are a good they where a bitch to get on the driver side of my friends car and we where on a lift too.

WhiteKnight '01

350WHP is my goal right now. This still has to be my DD with good reliability and good MPG's.

AmarilloWS6

iTrader: (3)

1. I never noticed a loss in low end torque, BUT I don't have anything to prove that besides my butt

2. I'm on stock springs and you won't find a town with more dips on the road than mine and I'm fine.

3. This is where it's mostly preference. I honestly took a chance and went with the Stainless Steel eBay headers and they fit perfect and don't bang or rub anything at all (I did poly motor mounts at the same time though), I'm super pleased with them. I would also go with the Texas Speed headers, they just didn't have them in stock when I ordered mine. Great guys there too. If you have the money a lot of guys will recommend Kooks also.

4. The car will run "properly" per say, but not at it's full potential and will get worse gas mileage. I drove my car to Texas Speed to get mine tuned because I only live an hour from them and they charged me $225, but that's not for a dyno tune as I didn't feel it necessary for just headers. They were super nice guys and showed me and my buddy around their brand new facility after my car was tuned. BTW the tune was great, the car runs awesome!

5. My gas mileage is about the same, never really noticed a difference. A4 btw.

6. I don't know because I wanted to do this by myself. It took me from 7:30 am to 2:30 am. So 19 hours with only 1 break to go buy oil real fast. BUT I was doing motor mounts at the same time which adds some time. A lot of guys on here tackle this project in a weekend or a week since theirs aren't daily drivers, mine's a daily driver though so I only had 1 day to compete the install.

Any additional information will be appreciated:
1. Most guys will tell you on here to do plugs and motor mounts while the headers are already out. The reason they tell you to do motor mounts is because the old ones could be worn out causing your exhaust to bang your floorboard while you drive. The reason they tell you to change the plugs is just because they're very easy to get to with everything out, I changed mine when I first bought the car while the factory exhaust was in so I didn't change mine while I had them out.
2. If your headers don't slide in on the driver side don't grind the engine like most people do, just unbolt your steering linkage by the 2 bolts and they'll slide right in.
3.DON'T use the paper gaskets for the headers. Just re-use or buy new factory gaskets. I re-used mine and they've been fine.
4.ENJOY!

UGOTWS6D

I went with the ARH LT's with the catted y-pipe. Great set up that is all SS and ground clearance is not an issue with them on the stock springs. Went with the 1 3/4" which is all you need with a stock cube engine. Not sure about gas mileage b/c I had a cam put in at the same time. ARH is probably one of the best overall systems you can get if you're willing to spend the coin. Have mine going into a GMMG. Don't see where you need to run the biggest catback you can. This may be wrong and if so I'm sure someone will correct me but I remember someone explaining to me that if you run too big of a setup for what you really need then you just end up losing backpressure and can lose power. And yes you will need a tune. Dyno tune ran me $150. In the long run its just up to you as to what you want to spend, but I think you get what you pay for.

BoricuaHec01

I'm going to be in the header market soon too. Was gonna get Pacesetters but decided to spend the extra hundred bucks on the TSP's cause now they come stainless, followed by a required tune which will be 500 bucks for me

WhiteKnight '01

So by keeping my SLP LM cat-back there is a chance I will lose back pressure and thus some torque?

BoricuaHec01

^ No but I heard it's be real raspy without a catted y, but that's just what I heard.