There is a difference between the stock and the HiPo.

 

I have a nice set of mid length headers that are ceramic coated inside and out if someone is interested in buying?

 

I must be the luckiest guy in the world when it comes to headers...I have never bought expensive headers other than the hooker units that are now on my 408...Before that I ran hedman,blackjack,flowtech and lots of unknown brands with very little problems at all....Even the cheapest peice of crap header will be light years better flowing than a stock manifold..It does have to fit the intended application though..When buying headers don't forget to read all the footnotes..If it says it doesn't work with auto trans or power steering then don't assume that it will..If it's designed to fit a 59 edsel chances are it won't work well on your mustang.

 

I agree. I used to have headers, now I have 289 High Performance manifolds, port-matched to the heads. The long tube headers had an advantage at 6000 rpm, but since I don't actually do 6000 rpm very often, I opted for less heat and noise for the other 99% of my driving. Never been sorry, the car still runs great.

Here's a car with iron HP manifolds and the Arvinode 2" exhaust system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnFXyLgcvLg

 

not only that but they can be installed in 15 minutes if your good

 

For me a $450 set of Headers is "high end", (That's funny ain't it!)

I have paid over $400 a few times, and generally the $400 to $500 headers ARE $250 better than their $200 counterparts.

I have found that ceramic coated Hedmans are nice headers, but when I see folks paying $800, $1,200, or more for a set of street car headers I have to scratch my head.

I don't think I'm "cheap", $1,600 for heads? I can see that, $3,000 for fuel injection? $14,000 for a custom chassis? I can see that............ $2,000 for headers I can't see that...

 

That's because you've never tried to fab headers for a C6 Corvette. Most of the newer street cars are VERY tightly constrained for space, a lot of 3D CAD design allows them to do it. But trying to get headers to fit in them requires a ton of design and precise fabrication.

 

Same here. Never had to spend crazy money on headers and never had fitment problems.

 

My opinion for a relatively stock smallblock street car, the hipo manifolds, gasket matched and cleaned up ports is the way to go. Now if you are running higher flow heads, intake, and over 550-600cfm carb, then a good set of headers will be a plus.