Upgrading to a set of headers,

Looking for input regarding best material or manufacturer for a road race type application. Just looking for a header/off road Y that will take the heat of road racing.

Stainless, Coated, Painted . . .

 

Any of the major brands would be good, American Racing Headers are my personal favorite. Most of the better brands use stainless, so your real primary concern is fitment. Just make sure you have some good ground clearance, Kooks and ARH are pretty good for keeping the pipes off the ground.

 

I'm happy with my SSW LTs. No dragging or scraping - car sits approx 1" lower than stock. Got them on the recommendation of Sam S. No fitment issues; minor struggles with the passenger side install though.

 

That just means you put them in a 4th gen. lol

Every 4th gen header I hav ever seen is a PITA to get the pass side in.

 

eh, wasn't much different putting a set of big-tube LTs in my '79 Z28 either, just took more time than I expected. About the only thing different between the two is the AC (and all the associated computer tuning).

 

I am leaning towards Kooks.

I have a friend who's a good tuner,
he thinks coated headers hold too much heat and can lead to detonation in roadrace environment.

Seem reasonable?

 

Coatings leading to detonation? Never heard that before.

Kooks and American Racing Headers are all stainless anyway, so any coating would only be for heat purposes and not lend as much to durability. Stainless lasts a long time on it's own.

I prefer American Racing Headers. Their designs are a bit more equal length than the Kooks and they have a little longer collector merge than most brands allowing for better exhaust velocity.

-Tim

 

^^^ I agree. I have AHR 1 7/8" Headers and really like them they do get very hot though. So coating would be nice. I may play with my timing a bit after I get the AFR dialed to see if it will help my exhaust temperatures. But so far very happy with the quality, fit and performance.

 

either SS LTs or coated mild steel would be the way to go. after talking to a couple shop owners, pacesetters tuck up the best and give the best ground clearance, especially compared to kooks

i just so happened to have gotten coated pacestters when i got headers..but i'm also planning on adding a turbo or 2 later so cheap was my goal

 

I got a set of SLP stainless/JetHot coated headers on my LT1, I have 3 track days at BeaveRun on them and they have not shown any weakness. BTW Lars1361, I see you're in Pittsburgh, do you frequent the Beav'?