Headers or No headers
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,663
Likes: 162
From: columbia city in
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 1,588
Likes: 4
From: Southlake Texas
St. Jude Donor '16,'24
Your '81 has what the factory called "stainless steel tubular exhaust headers". My guess, without some semi-major work on carb, heads, cam and mufflers/cats, your car won't "see" much improvement with aftermarket headers only. (i.e. too many restrictions upstream and down stream from the exhaust manifolds to realize any real gains on a stock engine)
(If you had had an older car with cast iron exhaust manifolds, its a little different)
(If you had had an older car with cast iron exhaust manifolds, its a little different)
Last edited by Morgdve; Aug 6, 2016 at 06:39 PM.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,356
Likes: 6,328
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
Yes
Not on an otherwise stock '81
I wouldn't do it. In order to get a seat-of-the-pants performance improvement in a car as heavy as your '81, you need to gain at least 20 hp. You will not gain 20 hp by replacing your stock tubular manifolds with headers, so you're going to spend a ton of effort, frustration, modification, and money for something that you'll notice no actual improvement from if this is the only mod you do.
Lars
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 3,736
Likes: 56
From: anchorage ak
Low cost, $1400 for decent headers and duals with mufflers.
Way worth it, awesome sound and deffinant sound gain.
My $.02 any way.
Last edited by bluedawg; Aug 7, 2016 at 12:09 AM.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 9,394
Likes: 124
Yes
Yes
Not on an otherwise stock '81
I wouldn't do it. In order to get a seat-of-the-pants performance improvement in a car as heavy as your '81, you need to gain at least 20 hp. You will not gain 20 hp by replacing your stock tubular manifolds with headers, so you're going to spend a ton of effort, frustration, modification, and money for something that you'll notice no actual improvement from if this is the only mod you do.
Lars
Yes
Not on an otherwise stock '81
I wouldn't do it. In order to get a seat-of-the-pants performance improvement in a car as heavy as your '81, you need to gain at least 20 hp. You will not gain 20 hp by replacing your stock tubular manifolds with headers, so you're going to spend a ton of effort, frustration, modification, and money for something that you'll notice no actual improvement from if this is the only mod you do.
Lars
Pro
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 505
Likes: 8
From: Houston Tx.
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 76
Likes: 3
From: Canton Michigan
Thank You everyone for your input. I have decided to leave well enough alone. It's a great touring vehicle and I'll stick with that. No need to open Pandora's box on a car that is solid right now.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,112
From: Crossville TN
Much better 'bang for the buck' if you just tune up the carb and re-curve the distributor timing for performance. This low-dollar effort will net you as much improvement as thost $1400 headers. You also need to verify that the carbs secondary throttle plates are completely vertical when the ACCELERATOR PEDAL is fully depressed (rather than exercising the throttle linkage by hand).
Last edited by 7T1vette; Aug 11, 2016 at 10:11 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 2,753
Likes: 119
From: Springfield Missouri
I agree, a lot of money for not much extra, with a stock engine. I have them with a new dual exhaust, no signficate incress in power, but I have one of the lowest HP motors out there.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,346
Likes: 160
From: new iberia la
Yes
Yes
Not on an otherwise stock '81
I wouldn't do it. In order to get a seat-of-the-pants performance improvement in a car as heavy as your '81, you need to gain at least 20 hp. You will not gain 20 hp by replacing your stock tubular manifolds with headers, so you're going to spend a ton of effort, frustration, modification, and money for something that you'll notice no actual improvement from if this is the only mod you do.
Lars
Yes
Not on an otherwise stock '81
I wouldn't do it. In order to get a seat-of-the-pants performance improvement in a car as heavy as your '81, you need to gain at least 20 hp. You will not gain 20 hp by replacing your stock tubular manifolds with headers, so you're going to spend a ton of effort, frustration, modification, and money for something that you'll notice no actual improvement from if this is the only mod you do.
Lars
I could not have said it beer
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 7,410
Likes: 949
From: Tennessee/Rhode Island
I used shorty headers for years on my 78 L-82 since I was not convinced that all the effort and time was worth LTH's. With the new L-82 355 with roller cam and AFR heads now that is a different story. Still trying to find time to install my XSPower headers that are 1 3/4 inch primaries and 3 inch collectors (actual dimensions) which should net a BIG increase in power over the shorty headers with 1 5/8 inch short primaries and 2 inch collector (stock replacement) with the AFR's and roller cam:
http://shop.huronspeedproducts.com/X...rs-c2c3hug.htm