which brand(s) is the best one in terms of reliability for our v6 s197s? which nets the most hp? which are better, shorties or long tubes? differances between chrome, titanium, ceramic, etc.?

 

Stock flow pretty well. On this car (this is arguable), the restriction is the crappy cats, and the stock muffler. In general, LT's show greater gains than shorties, but its more about how the power band changes. I've noticed from driving cars with LT's (and studying dyno graphs - they do have their uses, lol), it moves the peak HP up, but you loose a tad on the bottom end power (TQ). MAC is considered the lowest quality, but people do run them fine, they are known for fitment issues but if you are a gearhead/shop, it can be dealt with.

JBA's seem to be good quailty/reliablity. They are pretty much the standard.

Stainless Works makes the highest quality, and the LT's they make for the 4.0 are outright awesome. However, they are expensive!

Powerwise, ceramic, etc, theres not power gain. I've always gone with stainless steel, as I can care less if people think the headers under my engine look good or not. But to some, asethics are important. Ceramic coating is worthless, it gets burned off in no time at all.

 

interesting......wasn't aware of that. its such a big price difference also!

do you know if there are any issues with the higher exterior heat generated by the stainless? like surrounding wires/hoses melting or something? thanks.

 

yea i've seen the stainless works prices, they're like in the 800-1200 price range lol. so with long tubes you gain peak hp, but lose torque? how significant is the loss? shorties are straightfoward basically? and coating has nothing to do with durability, only looks? cause i read over time stainless steel or chrome starts to go blue or black, something like that.

 

i could care less on color myself but the important feature of ceramic is that it contains the exhaust heat much better than bare stainless. but if the sh*t falls off over time as rygen stated, then i would just go with stainless shorties from JBA. much cheaper and more practical for a DD street car.

 

Well a reputable shop told me that it will burn off, along with some fox body guys at the track and some S197 guys. Though I did a deeper dive on the subject, and there is some ceramic coated headers that are holding up without burning off, but I couldn't find consistancy in my research. Supposedly, JBA's claims theirs will not burn off. It also supposedly helps extract heat from the engine, similar to thermal wrap. I think the jury is out on this one still...

..for me, I never found it worth the extra cost. But would be cool to get some experienced people to chime in here.

 

i dont see the worth of the extra cost also, especially for a N/A car looking for a lil better sound and a lil bump in power.

 

ima go with jba shorties then, seeing that my car is a daily driver. thanks fellas.

 

report back on your experience with the headers. i plan for them after an alum/DS.

 

i have jbs fitment was perfect and it sounds alot nice power id say i picked up 5 to 10 maybe but the sound was what i was after defintily a louder then manifolds give them time to break in and and you will notice a difference in ur exhaust note and tone