My Hooker Super Comp Longtubes were just delivered and I'll be putting them on most likely in the next week or 2. I'm going to be re-using the factory exhaust, but will have the cats cut off and extensions w/ flanges welded in place to bolt up to the headers. I'm just curious as to what kind of gain I'll get with these headers? and if any of you are running the same headers and have any dyno/track numbers to show? Just want to get an idea of how the car will run before the cam goes in, Thanks.

 

lemme get this straight, you are gonna run long tubes without cats, in the Dallas metro area?

<gasp>

First, the emissions testing will kick you in the ***...

Second, get your earplugs in bulk. The interior resonance will be deafening.

Third, you will be poluting the air, and I just don't dig that. The cat's won't suck enough power to make the polution worth it.

Finally, any shop in their right mind would never remove cats... because the fines from the EPA are staggering.

 

YOU GOT IT! I'll be running no cats along with a thousand other people with vettes, f-bodies, mustangs, ect. in this area. Why must you act like I'm the first person who's doing this?

2nd, get earplugs? Why are you acting like nobody has installed longtubes before? Many people on the board run longtubes and from what I hear, they love them.

3rd, you don't have to "dig" me polluting the air. Go tell the rest of the board members who aren't running cats that either.

You have successfully not answered any of my questions in my post. Thank you.

 

I disagree. Especially with the stock Exhaust.

 

You should be able to expect a pretty nice gain. Prolly around 15RWHP or maybe 10RWHP total. I figure later the gains will be even better when you put a custom exhaust on later. Its gonna run well. Since you also have a 95 you already have the heated O2 sensors which is a definate plus.

Make sure you also clean off all of the old gasket material with the new install. If you are getting your Hookers coated be sure to add the AIR provisions and O2 bungs before you do so. Good luck and you can PM me for any questions you may have too.

Nathan Plemmons is also I good guy to look for with Hooker questions.

 

Thanks for the info. don't people usually see an average drop of .3-.4 in the 1/4 after the addition of LT's? 10-15 rwhp just seems a little low, but maybe I'm wrong. I was thinking more around 20 rwhp? Did you have yours dynoed? Anybody else have any numbers?

Thanks.

 

I have not had a dyno. Really I'm just being on the conservative side with my estimates. It funny around here somtimes these threads become a silly fight about stuff so I figured I would stay conservative with my estimates. I have heard of people picking up 'round 20RWHP but that was usually not through the stock exhaust. The more internal mods you have the more they will help too. Its all relative.

Although I would probably need to add the LT-1 exhaust is a very good exhaust in stock form. Its not like a huge restriction or anything.

 

If it's running through stock mufflers the long tubes will actually be very quiet. Looks like you list "bullet" mufflers in your sig. It's likely gonna be pretty loud. Loud doesn't always equal resonance though so you'll just have to try it and see.

Gotta agree with Bogus to an extent. If you're gonna run a car in an emissions required area without cats, you're asking for trouble. Most of the people who do not comply do so because they know they can get away with it. My beef with the emissions testing is the inconsistency and the loopholes. For example I can tune my car perfectly and put bullet cats on it. It can pass the sniffer test and put out less pollutants than it did when it came from the factory, BUT since it doesn't have an EO number on it, I fail. Meanwhile some hoopty cadillac can come in and just barely squeak by on the emissions test, putting out 10 times more junk than mine does, but it passes because it still uses OEM equipment.

My argument is not with emissions, my argument is the standard by which it is judged. If they want to be serious about it than you should have to pass a tailpipe sniffer test for all the varying conditions. If you pass, you pass. It shouldn't matter how you do so. The fact that an OBDII car can pass perfectly just because the computer sees everything correctly is a complete joke. Get a clue and make the tests legitimate and make everybody play by the same rules and I'll gladly bring my car into compliance. Until then I'll just use a rake instead of a leaf blower and save on emissions that way.

 

IF you are running the factory system with mufflers, IMO it will sound great. That is what I am running. LT and no cats. I will eventually add cats back on to pass inspection. It is considerably louder then the manifolds and cats but there is no resonence, it seems to be a deeper tone.

 

LT1/4's don't pick up quite as much as the L98's, maybe you were expecting gains similar to those?

I agree with 15 rwhp. that's about a 20 chp gain? That's pretty good for a bolton methinks.

As far as removing cats my opinion varies... and you do alot of driving you should leave them on.
In my case, my Vette sees about 600 or 700 miles a year as a 'nice weather car.' I see no problem with removing the cats on mine.
On my daily driver which see's about 15,000 miles a year, the pollution control equipment should be on and in perfect working order (and is).

 

I'm afraid that my long tubes with the Borla cat back won't be loud enough and I'm already planning to cut off my mufflers in the spring. I'd like to get some bullet cats at some point, I'm sure it's just a matter of time until emissions reaches out and touches us all.

 

You are wanting to go deaf aren't you? IMHO it's way too loud to run headers and no mufflers.

 

90 percent of the time the car will be used for autocrossing with the other 10% of the time putting around on the ten minute drive to and from work looking for trouble. I've always been a big fan of straight pipes and godawful loud cars. gotta have it loud! This is probably a phase I'll grow out of someday when I grow up.

 

Originally Posted by bogus

Second, get your earplugs in bulk. The interior resonance will be deafening.


At one time, I had stock exhaust including cats and resonators and just added straight through SLPs and the resonance WAS deafening. The car was not nearly as modified then either. Now I'm running longtubes through a full, stock LT4 system, except for cats and it sounds good. I have some 3" cats I'm going to install in place of the resonator ASAP. I too believe that we all need to do our part to keep the air clean so we can all enjoy our hobby for a long time. You'd be surprised how good a significantly modified engine sounds thru the stock system. I have a pair of Corsa mufflers that I may add later but was really curious what it would sound like, as is, with the recent breathing improvements, Stage III heads, fully ported intake and LT headers. It's not loud enough to be objectionable to anyone but whether at idle, cruising or WOT there's no doubt that you're listening to a seriously modified engine. I like it!

 

You are so very welcome.

Oh, and thank you, and the other morons who feel they must **** up the air we breathe for a lousy 5 hp.

 

GUYS YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE!

LOL

 

In that case have you listend to the sound file on my web page of my car running open headers? I forgot exactly why I had the exhaust off of it but I just couldn't resist to fire it up and make a recording. Unfortunately my recording media didn't capture the bass note, but you get the idea.

http://www.wku.edu/~nathan.plemons/s...en_headers.mp3

 

You have nailed the problem, the inconsistancy, that is CARB.

But EO numbers don't effect the rest of the country... what bothers me is the lack of a federal mandate for testing... and compliance. How FL can get away with it (yea, I know, they have "cleaner" air, but those gases have to go somewhere), and how the polution problem is viewed as a local problem, not a national issue. Seems somehow unfair...

If every jurisdiction had simple sniff tests and visual inspections, then I think the national air quality, nay, the global air quality, would improve dramatically.

I am not professing that CARB is needed or required in its present beaurocratic mess of an existance. It needs to be revamped to address changes in technology... specifically, aftermarket technologies.

For example, if I wanted to run long tubes with high flow cats, just because they relocated the factory cats, I am illegal. however, if I was allowed to run this, under the onus of having to pass a sniff every year, then so be it, I would. It would be a fair exchange....

I believe that daily driven cars must be emissions legal. It is our CIVIC duty to make sure we are not making the environment any worse than it already is.

 

for the same effect, stand next to a NASCAR cup car...

 

A top fuel dragster is nice too. Quite possibly the loudest thing I've ever heard in my life. If you've never seen a true top fuel car run it's certainly worth going at least once.