Let's take this for example... Shorty headers. Everybody is against them.. I've even heard one person quote that the factory manifolds are as just as good as shorty headers. First of all, that's pretty dang illogical. I will agree however, that if you get the cheapest set of shorty's then yes, you will gain very little. What about the ever praised JBA? You know that they make a set of equal length shorty heads and there dyno proved that on a mild bolt on 3v, it pick up 12-18 Hp... It's on their website.. What about BBK's set of equal length headers....dyno proven to pick up 10-13 extra Hp on a stock application.

What I want to know is.. where is the dyno proven paper that proves that there is NO gain what-so-ever with shorty's. I've seen nothing but dyno proven gains with shorty's.. I agree though that longtubes are better, but with people like me who have dropped their Stang.. Ground clearance becomes an issue and they would rather opt for shorty's

 

I keep wondering why LT's are better than Shorties. Anyone know?

 

My BBK's have no clearance issues. i bottomed out going over a hump in someones driveway, then checked under the car and i scraped the frame bc it is lower than the LT's. the reason i went LT's instead of shorty's is bc it was only like 100 more bucks and if i'm gonna change it it might as well be LT's. and on the dyno i picked up 20 hp w/ the LT's and o/r x-pipe and the guy that installed and dyno'd it said that was pretty good. he has dyno'd s197's w/ shorty's and they picked up around 5hp. so of course a company is gonna advertise on THEIR website of 12-18 hp, i mean i seen on tv where they dyno'd a car before and after installing roush axle backs and it picked up 16 rwhp w/ just AB's, but you know what i dont believe it. dont believe stuff that a company claims about their product, trust people that have actually used and dyno'd it themselves and who dont have monetary investments in a product's ability to sell.
just

 

looking at dynos on the companys website isnt really an accurate way to seek the truth. Shorties have gains but they do not usually have them in the peak RPMS range i believe, so when they make a quote of 10 HP gained, it could be at the 2500 rpm range and then if you look around 5700-6200, there is a 3-5 hp difference maybe.

Companies dont take 1 car throw it on the dyno, then put a part on, dyno it again and call it a day.....they test 100s of cars, hell they can take a 05 mustang dyno it and a month later take another 05 mustang with the shorties and dyno that slap them together and say hey look, we got XX gains.....Car B might have had 7 hp more to begin with though. Also they tend to tack on other things like a tune and then use that graph, well a tuned car already will pick up 15 Hp lets say so the 3 HP picked up is dyno error more or less.

Its like this with all parts, remember they are trying to get money from you. There are companies out there that are better than others but there is always a ton of money put into marketing.

Shorties will get some gains, just not as much as LTs.......to get the best gains for either setup, proper tuning and other supporting mods are needed.

 

About your screen name, have you actually beat a GTO in a legitimate 1/4 mile race ?

 

From the people on here and other forums that installed shorty headers. The most commmon comment was that the small gain of3 to 5 hp compared to cost and trouble to installmade themnot worthbuying.Now if you are already lowered, the long tubes will rub on some installations.Some haveinstalled the shorty headers for looksand some installedcoated headers that is said to help with some of the underhood heat. ....But overall.... the gainsdo not add up to the cost and trouble.

 

I love my BBK 'tuned length' headers. Definately gave me a big gain in torque which I believe is because it limited the free flow created by CMDPs and SLP loudmouths, and helped scavenging which the system wasn't doing...

Anyways, shorties are much better than stock manifolds because shorties have primary tubes and collectors meant for scavengingwhile manifolds are just a bunch of pipes for the gas to go into.

 

That's because Shortys no workey... In general.
I'm no expert in the subject but some folks on this board are...
Modaddict has a thread in the 4.6 section about that issue.
Very interesting, the dude knows is sh#t.
Long tubes on a stock motor with only CAI/Tune isn't a huge gain either.
Untill you start to push close to400 ponnies, headers aren't imperative.
And yes, OEM ones flow pretty good.

Go to that section, the guys have Dynos etc...

 

ANyone got a link to this thread about the headers???

 

Yes, several times..... Let me guess you like them or own one of them???? True, if they are modded well, it's a hell of a car.....
The races that I've had with them??? 14.9 in the quarter was the best that he could do that night. I did a 14 flat stock down to the stock oil.. Ohhhh well. I won't even get to the street brawls that I've had with them... highway and stoplight to stoplight.