Not alot to chose from. What are you guys runnuing? I would like a nice set of shorty's not realy the block huggers. I would even settle for long tubes if there was more than 2 choices for $1,300 +

 

Shorties wont do much of anything. Plus the only kind they make are technically block huggers. Exotic muscle aka smooth flow headers, stainless works, and TPIS if they still make them. Just have patience and every once in a while exotic muscle has a group purchase on here for $671+shipping, otherwise they're $771+shipping. Im in the same boat, the prices on even those are redic. Miraculously however, 4 sets of used headers have been sold on here in the last two to three weeks all around $400. Im just holding out for another one later on.

 

Hedman makes much cheaper headers, they're what I have.

 

There are a lot actually, need to hunt more.

Melrose, Hedman, Hooker, Kooks, even cheaper brands Summit?


Bassini even has a set advertised.

Good headers aren't cheap and cheap headers don't last.

TJM

 

EM has a GP going on as I type.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...8-headers.html

 

The only prob is they don't offer them for the LT-1.

Like stated above I don't won't block huggers or street rod style. I would like A nice set of well made tuned shorties. I did found a set of JBA's 1815s.
Is anyone running the JBA shorties (not block huggers) If so can I get some feed back?

Are exotic muscle any better than Hooker?

 

I think that if you use the search function and search through several years of posts you will find that very few folks opt to mod with shorties. They just don't seem to do that much vs Long Tubes. If LT are too expensive then save your $$ and wait for the mod

 

I think you're looking for an answer you won't find here. Shorties do very little over the stock heads. For a true performance increase, you'll want LT's and a good set will cost you. The only time I'd go with shorties would be if you live somewhere like the Republic of California (I didn't look to see your location) and even then I'd save the cash for other mods.

 

hedmans $150-$400
good used ones are about $400, and new ones you know cost from $500- $1200

 

Are exotic muscle any better than Hooker?[/QUOTE]

em headers are very high quality,hookers for the c4 not so much.im sure youve heard of the nighmare headers can be well more times than not it is the result of a sub-standard purchase.i picked up 15rwhp and 15ftlbs when i installed my em's on a stock lt1,and the these things are down right good looking.the coating has a lifetime warranty and the flange is so thick that i doubt it will ever leak.save your dough and get the last set of headers youll ever have to buy.imo if you plan on going into the motor later on get the 1.75inch primary headers they wont make as big a number on the stock motor but you will have some room to grow.

 

To me LT headers are not money well spent hp/dollar especially on a stock motor. Yes decent headers like EM can be had for $671 but then you need to spend another 300 on cats and pipes to get it hooked up to the rest of the exhaust and add different cats because the factory ones won't work. You will be in for $1000 and gain 15hp. That is a waste of money in my opinion. I can add a hotcam to my stock LT4 for half that and gain that much hp or more if I tune it. You are better off doing a gear swap or electric water pump or higher ratio roller rockers for less money. Heck I could probably do close to all three for what it costs for long tubes and the car would be much more fun and faster than just headers.

 

I can't speak for all the shorty headers currently available for the LT1, but a shorty header with the PROPER port and collector shape will add 9 or 10 rwhp.

One of the issues I ran into when selecting my shorty headers more than 10 years ago is that most brands had a port or collector shape that would hurt airflow. The LT1 of course has a "D" port - some of the LT1 shorty headers I looked at had the top part of the cylinder head D port blocked: I.E. the top of the port on the header was lower than the top part of the port in the head. Unfortunately that is the highest flowing part of the port. So if you use a header like that, then you will not be making more power. What happens is that a lot of guys judge a header by its outside appearance and don't notice the port mismatch. Another issue on some of the shorty headers is a severely pinched collector - I saw one set that had the tubes squished to about half size.

If the header you are considering blocks the top of the cylinder head port shape, or if the collector is restrictive - keep looking.

My headers were made with an exact D port 1-5/8" tube with a nice collector by Watson, who was also making beautiful LT5 headers at the time. As far as I know the Watson LT1 shorty headers are NLA.

There is another recent thread about LT1 mods where someone posted a dyno breakdown of power gains, they showed a 10 hp gain. In back to back testing my headers showed a 9 hp gain. At the time I spent $560 on the headers, did my own installation of course. In California I cannot legally run long tube headers (the catalytic must remain in the factory stock location).

I later found out that if you are crafty you can get most of the hp gain of the good shorties by inserting a stainless steel divider in the center exhaust port of the factory cast iron manifolds. Doesn't require much, just machine a couple of grooves near the port to hold the divider. Because other than the siamese port on the factory cast iron LT1/LT4manifolds - the factory manifold is a high flow piece.

Thomas

 

for me headers were a no brainer.i plan on doing a cam and port work and want to get every ounce of potential out of those labor intensive mods.so i bought headers that may not produce big numbers now,but in the end theyll be exactly what is needed.as mentioned above the stock manifolds arent exactly restrictive so 15rwhp improvement says alot about EM,s potential.looking at hp per dollar well yeah it seems like alot to spend,but you have to look at the added hp that they will net over stock manifolds,or cheapo headers,when a cam and port work come into play.i think then the hp to dollar ratio will make more since.buy once and buy right.