I am going to go with a SLP or Bassini catted X to go along with my Borla Stingers, I want to finish the exhaust with headers. However the price tag that goes along with LT Header installation rules them out, I hear that the shorties are a more "do it yourself job", is this true? also the does the HP gain with shorties justify them? Also i have an auto tranny so is there clearence problems with LT's and/or shorties?

 

If your gonna get headers I would get the LT's, if they are out of the picture than dont worry about shorties. From what I've heard, shorties dont add much more power over stock. And I think there might be ground clearance if you get LT's, thats if your car is lowered. If the LT's are out which you stated, than why would it matter if there is clearance? Just askin because you said they are out.
Longtubes or stock, or mid-length, but I dont hear about that many people having mid-length headers. Go long or go home.

 

shorties aren't worth the time or money. if you don't have emissions in your state, just get the LTs. i'm not even bothering with new headers since LTs won't pass emissions.

 

Yeah i live in New York state so technically LT's are not emmisions legal. However Dan04cobra told me that he lives in Mass and they are worse than new york, so if you have a catted midpipe they wont bother you, but idk i dont like havin shady stuff on my car and then find out that some a$$hole wont pass me, that would = big trouble. I asked about clearence b/c i herd from someone that the automatic transmission poses clearence problems with LT headers. If i got LT's i would have to put them on myself, no way i am puttin out 500-1000 $$ to have some guy install them.

 

When I shopped for LT's, I couldn't find any off-the-shelf parts that fit my AOD trany. When shopping, be sure to specify that you have AOD... and many sales staff don't know for sure. I demanded that it be written on my invoice "fits AOD transmission", and that made more than one salesperson go check.... and every time it DIDN'T fit. Only option I found was to have custom LT's built... and THAT'S expensive!

I'm in CA, and most cops know that ALL LT's are illegal here. Unless you have serious boost mods, you won't get much power from ANY headers. Regardless, I like my BBK "tuned length" shorty headers. They look cool, sound cool, and don't look too illegal:

http://www.brothersperformance.com/shop/mustang/4.6-gt-bbk-shorty-headers-(96-04).html

 

thanks jacrockett, did u install the headers yourself? if so about how long did it take and on a scale of 1-10 how hard was it