1981 - 1982 Owners !!
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Team Owner
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From: Exiled to Richmond, VA - Finally sold my house in Murfreesboro, TN ?? Corner of "Bumf*&k and 'You've got a purdy mouth'."
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St. Jude Donor '06-'10, '13
1981 - 1982 Owners !!
I am working on a new exhaust system for my 1980. I may be using the manifolds that come from a 1982, and similar to the 1981's.
They are the tubular shorty headers with the AIR pipes built in.
My question is this:
Since these are very similar to headers, do you have problems with them leaking? Do you blow out exhaust gaskets, have cracks in them, have too much noise?
Let me know if you've had ANY problems with your stock exhaust headers.
Thanks !!
They are the tubular shorty headers with the AIR pipes built in.
My question is this:
Since these are very similar to headers, do you have problems with them leaking? Do you blow out exhaust gaskets, have cracks in them, have too much noise?
Let me know if you've had ANY problems with your stock exhaust headers.
Thanks !!
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2001
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From: GA
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (BSeery)
Mine is an 81 and it has the air tubes welded in or did should I say. But they were cracked when I got it. I still think I have a small leak but that will be fixed shortly with Dynomax Headers :D
Safety Car
Joined: May 2001
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From: Surrey
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (BSeery)
I've removed the AIR pipes on my '81 & filled the holes with weld. I don't have any problems with the manifolds at all, but reckon the flow could be improved on (smooth out the welds on the inside).
:cheers:
:cheers:
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
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Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (UKPaul)
The 81-82 shorty headers are restrictive. They're small and there's a lot of welding flash on the inside. If you clean up the head side and the collector area w/ a die grinder you can improve them somewhat. Be careful though, they're welded from the inside and if you completely grind away the weld they will probably leak or fall apart.
If you keep the air tubes, grind them flush w/ the header on the inside.
If you keep the air tubes, grind them flush w/ the header on the inside.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
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From: Exiled to Richmond, VA - Finally sold my house in Murfreesboro, TN ?? Corner of "Bumf*&k and 'You've got a purdy mouth'."
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St. Jude Donor '06-'10, '13
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (Twinnie)
The 81-82 shorty headers are restrictive. They're small and there's a lot of welding flash on the inside.
If you keep the air tubes, grind them flush w/ the header on the inside.
If you keep the air tubes, grind them flush w/ the header on the inside.
I can go with these cast units by Sanderson Headers:
at $395 for the set. And I don't think they will work with my angle plug heads.
Or better yet would be these shorties
at $375 dollars for thermal coated, then I still have to add the AIR pipes somehow.
So, I either go shorty headers (expensive for what you get), full length headers (very expensive) or with the stock 1982's which I have sitting in my garage (free). The big thing is that I need the AIR pipes and they must fit angle plug heads. Not many out there that do so, and are a quality piece. I am looking into getting some headers for the '88 Corvette (angle plug, don't know if they used AIR) or finding a way to rig AIR pipes on to regular headers.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (BSeery)
Have you considered just eliminating the AIR tubes altogether, and just running *one* AIR valve back to your catalytic converter? That way it appears as though you have a full AIR system (which you really do, actually.) The AIR system only pumps air into the headers for a few minutes during startup; after that, the air is pumped strictly into the cat, and into the air cleaner during deceleration. The '80-'82 AIR valves are pretty much the same I believe - you can eliminate the SECOND valve, and just run a hose straight from the first valve right to the cat. That way you maintain your emissions, but just eliminate the stupid AIR tubes on your headers. Then you can go buy the $200 ceramic coated long tube headers from Dynomax and be done with it.
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Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
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From: Exiled to Richmond, VA - Finally sold my house in Murfreesboro, TN ?? Corner of "Bumf*&k and 'You've got a purdy mouth'."
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St. Jude Donor '06-'10, '13
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (Ken73)
Have you considered just eliminating the AIR tubes altogether, and just running *one* AIR valve back to your catalytic converter?
If they are smart enough to know the difference is the real question.
Safety Car
Joined: May 2001
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From: Surrey
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (BSeery)
My '81 had the cat replaced with a length of pipe, but I still felt a nice power increase by replacing the remains of the stock system with duals (I still run the stock manifolds but cost prevented me from fitting Headers when I fitted the duals). If $$ is a problem why not use the stock manifolds with AIR & dual 2 1/2" pipes & then fit Headers at a later date (with duals already fitted it would just be a case of tying them into the existing exhaust system). You could view it as an experiment - you'll be able to tell us all exactly what improvements Headers will give over stock manifolds :yesnod:
:cheers:
:cheers:
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2001
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From: York PA
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (BSeery)
My '81 is developing a leak right where all 4 tubes come together on both sides. Other than that I have no problems at all with them. The 82 manifolds have a bigger collector on them I believe. Also I think I heard somewhere that you might be able to you '84-'85 manifolds and they flow alot better.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
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From: Exiled to Richmond, VA - Finally sold my house in Murfreesboro, TN ?? Corner of "Bumf*&k and 'You've got a purdy mouth'."
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St. Jude Donor '06-'10, '13
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (Twinnie)
Yes, the 84&85 manifolds are about the same. They will bolt right up.
Left: 84&85 manifold, right blockhugger (hedman?)
Marck
[Modified by Twinnie, 1:08 PM 10/8/2002]
Left: 84&85 manifold, right blockhugger (hedman?)
Marck
[Modified by Twinnie, 1:08 PM 10/8/2002]
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 29,745
Likes: 3
From: Exiled to Richmond, VA - Finally sold my house in Murfreesboro, TN ?? Corner of "Bumf*&k and 'You've got a purdy mouth'."
CI 6-7-8 Veteran
CI-VIII Burnout Champ
St. Jude Donor '06-'10, '13
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (Twinnie)
They're slightly different but should fit. The later heads have D-port exhaust.
I don't have pics of those.
Marck
I don't have pics of those.
Marck
Abby Normal
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 53,452
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From: Press "2" for English
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (BSeery)
bryan, i don't believe the headers from the '81-'82 are worth the time or effort, and i doubt they would flow noticably more than what came on your car. they just plain suck. they are real small primaries and, if you notice, the inner two ports go to the inside of the collector unlike a more standard shorty header. this means the exhaust gases exiting these ports slam straight into a 45-60* angle cut tube as soon as it exits the port. aside from the weight savings, i don't know why the general bothered. i think if you spend the time and money to install those your going to be disappointed with the results.
i am currently running summit shorty specials with no AIR. i should have AIR for smog but just between you, me and the forum, i don't.
i am currently running summit shorty specials with no AIR. i should have AIR for smog but just between you, me and the forum, i don't.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (BSeery)
The '84 manifolds aren't any different than the '88-up manifolds other than the AIR tube configuration. (The passenger side has an EGR tube, since the L98 heads did not incorporate the exhaust passages.) The have the exact same appearance and aren't any better.
Like I said, best bet would be to eliminate the AIR tubes, leave the AIR pump and *one* of the valves in that goes to the cat. It will *appear* stock (other than the headers themselves of course) since it has the pump and tubes going places. Some newer vehicles didn't even have an AIR pump, much less tubes or valves. They'll be hard pressed to prove you wrong unless they've got a REALLY thick book that claims your car was supposed to have tubes on the headers. (Even then, the pump and AIR valve still being there should be enough to pass you.) If you really want to dig a bit deeper, you can "gut" the AIR pump so it's not dragging horsepower, but it'd still be there for visual inspections.
Like I said, best bet would be to eliminate the AIR tubes, leave the AIR pump and *one* of the valves in that goes to the cat. It will *appear* stock (other than the headers themselves of course) since it has the pump and tubes going places. Some newer vehicles didn't even have an AIR pump, much less tubes or valves. They'll be hard pressed to prove you wrong unless they've got a REALLY thick book that claims your car was supposed to have tubes on the headers. (Even then, the pump and AIR valve still being there should be enough to pass you.) If you really want to dig a bit deeper, you can "gut" the AIR pump so it's not dragging horsepower, but it'd still be there for visual inspections.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Sealy Texas
Cruise-In III Veteran
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (BSeery)
BTW, I wouldn't bother checking with the state. I can guarantee they'll say "no" - it's just a CYA measure on their part. If they said "yes" and it didn't work... well.. you get the idea. Worst case, take some AIR tubes and glue them on the headers.. :lol:
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2001
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From: Living in the Hartland
Re: 1981 - 1982 Owners !! (Ken73)
BTW, I wouldn't bother checking with the state. I can guarantee they'll say "no" - it's just a CYA measure on their part. If they said "yes" and it didn't work... well.. you get the idea. Worst case, take some AIR tubes and glue them on the headers.. :lol:
[Modified by Fevre, 3:55 PM 10/8/2002]