I’m currently running a set of the original Pfadt 1 3/4” headers and catted X (with the cats gutted) on my car.
It’s a SBE LS3, GM CNC ported heads, VR PD-1 cam (223/238 ~.610/.623, 118+4), with a Heartbeat blower making ~12.5 psi of max boost. I’m pretty sure that I’m leaving some power on the table with the 1 3/4” Pfadts, but I don’t have any idea how much. I bought these headers back in 2013, mainly because I had bought into that whole “Tri-Y is best for torque”, B.S. and because after some research back then, I saw they were a high quality, good fitting header set. Also, at that time, I hadn’t really intended on doing much with the Vette, so max power wasn’t the objective, but that mantra kinda got lost along the way.
But now I’m pondering whether and, if so, which header to change to? I started looking at the LG 1 7/8” Super Pros a while back, since they seem to be a good deal, but I see that nowadays, most people tout the ARH 2” as the overall HP champ, but they are the most expensive by far. I”m also looking at the Kooks 2” with the catless Y. I’m just not sure what difference they will make on a boosted LS3.
So, for those of you who have done the switch, or know of others who have gone from a 1 3/4” to either the LG 1 7/8” or the ARH or Kooks 2” on an LS3, please give me your opinion as to whether it would be worth me spending another $2k++ (I have to ship them overseas and pay 27% tax on the cost, insurance and freight) on this. Thanks.

I bought some ARH 2” headers but I won’t be putting them on until next month.

Thanks for the responses guys. Unfortunately, I will probably leave it alone for now. I would change them if I could find someone around here to buy them off me cheap, but there’s only a handful of C6s around here, and none that are modified except mine and another one that already has LGs on it. I have the smallest blower pulley that can fit on it, and I’m running Sunoco GT260 Plus for now, so I’m pretty much tapped out on boost and octane. May look into E85 in the future though, so I can add some timing. Need to concentrate on getting some traction now though. Got a new pair of M/T ET Street Rs that I’m going to test soon...

What headers are you running now? Would love to see a dyno test if you do one. I swear I saw a thread sometime back where one of the big shops tested the Pfadts vs. the ARHs and the ARH header made way more power, but I can’t remember if it was the same size primaries or not.

Did you dyno it before and/or after? What was the difference in fit and finish? Any issues with installing the Kooks?

1 7/8 lg super pros. I’m gonna do a before and after when I make the swap.

That would be great to see.
I’m anxious to see the results.

So you don’t think I would see any real gains in HP, but pick up some low end torque? Interesting. I was thinking the opposite. I could do without some low end, to be honest, although I’m sure it’s going to hook better the next time out.
I’m pretty much maxed out pulley-wise, with the smallest pulley that can fit on the blower (that’s the bane of the C6 Heartbeat) unless I switch to the 15% OD IW balancer, which I don’t see happening anytime soon. I’ve been struggling with belt slip as well, but I will cure that one way or the other, even if I have to spray Track Bite on the damn belt to make a pass. So I was thinking maybe a little less boost will help with belt slip too, by lowering the load on the blower at high RPM.
I’ll wait to see what Detoxx does. If I can’t get this setup to work, I may just pull it off and do a D1-X setup like he’s running.

Hell, every time I stomp on the gas in my car I think to myself, “man, I wish I had a real blower and 1100+whp like Unreal!’

That’s pretty shocking, but damn good to know. I feel better about my headers already.

Thanks Rodney. It would seem from your experience that the Heartbeat ain’t all it was hyped to be then?
Man, I wish I could remember the name of the ***** from Texas who talked me into buying mine...