Just purchased my late father’s 1979 L82. The seller said the previous owner made some modification (cam, carb, headers and exhaust). Any idea what headers these are. These flow masters are the only thing that look remotely close but there is no bracket on these and the welds are different (https://www.ecklerscorvette.com/1957-1974-corvette-flowmaster-shorty-headers-stainless-327-and-350-25-347921-1.html). Any help identifying would be greatly appreciated!

 

Fairly inexperienced so any help identifying any other mods would be super helpful. Was told all the smog and emissions control parts were removed. Does that really have any meaningful benefits to performance?

 

It all depends on the "knowledge" of the person who cannibalized your car and what they removed and just how they did it. The A.I.R. pump is gone and someone covered up the holes for the A.I.R. system on the headers.

Removing the emission equipment from the Corvette "just for performance" is frequently the cause of a loss of power from the engine. I have a C4 Corvette that has a SB in it and that engine has an EGR valve that is removed by many as they assume it is a power looser. When you remove the EGR the engine suddenly needs more octane to run normally and will run hotter than usual.

Many people seem to think that any emissions equipment on the car means a loss of power and that is simply not true. Removing the catalytic converter on older Corvettes will allow the engine to breath better and make power. The newer catalytic converters can flow so much better they don't cost you a lot of Hp.

Keeping the emissions system operating is important to me as some newer Corvettes seem to run better with them. My C4 has a newer catalytic and everything is nice and clean. The C4 Corvette can get 30 mpg on the highways and runs great. My C3 came with nothing but a A.I.R. pump and PCV for emissions and I never saw the A.I.R. pump that came on my C3.

There has to be information on what your car came with from the factory for emissions. With this list you could check off each removal and verify that it was done properly.

Where you live will have a lot to do with what can be removed from an engine and still be allowed on the streets of the United States. I live in a state where they still do emissions testing on the newer cars. My 1988 is now too old for them to requires emissions testing but we do have Portable Emissions Testing Stations that are put on highways to measure the output of each car on the road that passes the station.

 

Appreciate the insight. Any idea on the headers? Manufacturer? Style/type?

 

Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your dad, but congratulations on the ‘79.

Those headers kind of look like the factory 1981 Corvette exhaust manifolds with the tubes removed.



If they’re not I would look all over them. A lot of times header manufacturers put a metal tag somewhere on them. Good luck with the search!

 

Appreciate the condolences. You’re spot on I think - you can see the marks from where the tubes were removed. No tags on them. Really appreciate the help!

 

Those do look like stock headers. Don’t forget also guys low compression motors need a little back pressure.
I lost my dad last year and there’s not a day that goes by I don’t think about him. So sorry for your loss. If you think about how so many of your friends lost there dad early on and you had those extra years I’ve always felt blessed for the time I did have.