I bought ceramic coated Hooker headers and they are now rusted a lot and I also bought ceramic Patriot headers for my road runner and they still look like new. I recommend Patriot for price and quality!

 

that link seems to be side exhaust headers.

 

And "uncoated". That's why they are cheaper than the $500 units.

 

OOPS! I was on a phone before and didn't read thoroughly that the top half is identical. My bad!

 

Shorty headers offer flow improvements over the rams horn manifold but zero in the way of pulse scavenging that the long tube headers supplies.
Now if you are going to a shorty into a 2" exhaust......that's fine as the exhaust doesn't flow anyway......even on a stock engine.....but as others have stated, it is a bad investment as you start to modify as the shorties quickly run out of flow and usually a larger cam is utilized, larger cams have more overlap and they love long tube headers to help them scavenge the cylinders between combustion events. This is 100% fact. So on a stock 350.....I would install long tube headers......the rub is that they are just about as easy to tie in to the exhaust as the shorty is as the shorty outlet is in a bad spot to try and weld, cut, fab......where a s the long tube collector is wide open at the bottom and can be tied in rather easy with the right bends, chop saw, welder.
Also....if you are completely stuck running shorties......on a healthy engine.....I recommend 3" outlet and downpipe....tied into whatever exhaust you are running.
No argument from me....just facts and and some been there, done that.......you can run the shorties and they will be fine.....I just never would in a Vette.
Also......with as tight as our engine compartments are, I would only go ceramic coated.......the tubes go from about 600 degrees to 200+.........a big plus on these cars.

Jebby

 

Well written ^^^^^^^^^.

 

Check out Sanderson Headers website.
They manufacture the highest quality headers I’ve seen and have been in business for over 50 years.
They ceramic coat all their headers inside and out, use thicker tubing and flanges than anyone else, and their welds are flawless.
They have several dyno run graphs on line so you can compare the difference between their short tube and long tube headers on the same engine.
One thing to consider with a long tube header, will be ground clearance.
If you plan to lower your car or have lowered it the ground clearance will be reduced.
I originally purchased a set of short tube headers for my 454, however, when I decided to build a 496 for my 73 it quickly became apparent that the short tube headers would not work for my engine modifications and I went to a long tube header.

 

I used Sanderson before this latest disaster. Actually toured their factory and brought a set back home with me. Excellent made in America quality.
Went with Stan's Tri-Y this time. Also made in America quality.

 

I will share one experience......I had a 76' L-48 here that ran like a slug. It had a 2101 performer, 1406 Edelbrock carb, stock cam, rams horns into a 2.5" exhaust with turbos......it ran ok but would not turn the tires over on ice.
I installed a pair of Dynomax headers, Resealed the intake with the 1204 fel pro gasket, set the timing for 36 degrees total, and set idle screws, checked step up springs, etc.....when I was done, it would scratch all the way through first gear and bark second.......the owner was astounded. Now part of this was the tuning......but a major piece of it was the long tube headers.....they boost torque production down low at 2000 rpm too.....as well as flow upstairs.
Now some may laugh about the spinning tires thing, but for about 75% of C3 owners.....this is an important part of owning one, if it can't turn the damn tires over, it is pretty embarassing.....
Was this car fast? Not really.....about low 15's......against a stock 16.0.....but that is huge for not cracking the engine apart save for the intake.

Jebby

 

this is what i wanted to avoid, its a rabbit hole that i prefer not to travel down. just wanted a little gain that 185hp motor hurts my soul.

 

you have a point i must agree, i truly wanted to clean up the engine compartment thanks i may start to look into that real soon

 

Rabbit hole my *** , it's a SINK hole , lol , I have to remind myself the Vette is just a cruiser as I own a drag car/street car that would make my Vette look like it was sitting still , being a shop owner makes it easy to get carried away , on my Vette while replacing the rusted core support I decided to install a cam that was equivalent to the L82 cam that was removed by a previous owner for a stock passenger car cam (ugghh ) then because I new it smoked a little after it been sitting on first start up I bought some Promaxx 183 cc aluminum cylinder heads when they went on sale for 780.00 a pair delivered to the door , then decided the factory manifold needed an upgrade to a Edelbrock 2101 , so it is hard to stop sometimes

 

jebbysan that is precisely what i am trying to accomplish. just a little scratch.....not trying to buy new tires every 6 months. thanks

 

Those shorty’s ended up fitting terrible today like Jebby mentioned ,guess I should have asked about fitment on here first ? lol , I’m going to break my new cam in with the factory manifold, then switch over to side exit headers ( made a thread about them a month ago) with glass packs and 1969 side exhaust covers .. good luck on the exhaust and sorry for the bad advice

 

Smog pump gone; good.
A properly working EGR system also good.

They don’t and can’t “choke” anything; they only work at partial throttle, not WOT.

EGR is the original “displacement on demand” technology and mostly just improves highway cruise fuel economy.

 

Nice choice! If they were stainless for their mild steel price, they would be hard to resist.

 

listen to this man!

 

The single best explanation of why EVERY Corvette needs long tube headers.

I was going to post something technical and mostly unintelligible; this is better.



Adam