Hey guys, tossing around some ideas, but wanted some feedback by those who already done this. I am thinking of putting headers and an exhaust with out a muffler to increase my performance levels. I don't have a ton of $$ to throw at it right now, but an custom exhaust 3' cat-back and a set of headers will only run me about $400. What have you guys experienced? Has it noticeably increased power or just slightly? I guess I am making sure it would be $$ well spent for some extra ponies. So it would be Hedeman headers, custom 3" exhaust no muffler, and an open K&N fro Jegs for the 460. Input? Thanks!

 

headers and exhaust are the best upgrade to do first in my opinion. noticible power increase and header to y-pipe to 3 inch single back pipe is best in my opinion. Cat and muffler choice are up to you

 

I'll prolly keep the factory cat as they are EXPENSIVE, but remove the muffler altogether and straight pipe it. Thanks for the input. headers will definitely be on the list too.

 

While I can't comment as to the headers as I have not had the opportunity (or the money) to do the upgrade myself, I can tell you taking the muffler out won't make much of a difference in anything other than volume. The cat on the other hand opens up the top end IMMENSELY. While it may not be in your budget range right now, i would definitely plan on someday upgrading to a high-flow cat.

 

Do you have a distributor? Ignition system upgrade, gap stretch, increased base timing advance. You didn't post year! FullSizeBronco.com - 78 - 96 Ford Bronco offroad club, forums, tech, installs Combo performance & MPG increase. About $200. My 302 gets 22mpg @65mph/ 18mpg @80mph. 87 octane. Stock gap & base time, .044/10BTDC. Now .056/16BTDC.

 

Well now I don't know what to do because I have been told just the opposite...that the cat is big and there fore provides plenty of noise reduction while the muffle is the most restrictive part of the whole exhaust. i will have to look into this further or wait for more input I guess?

 

It's a '96 460 EFI, not a 302.

 

96' 460 should beSEFI shouldn't it?. If you have a distributor, you can do it! Even I-6's.

 

I have factory manifolds into a y-pipe,from there I used a single 3'' pipe to a high flow cat. Then on to a single Flowmaster 50 muffler. Exits behind rear wheel. Mileage may have gone up one mile per gallon to a whopping 11 mpg highway. Biggest improvement was in the driveability in the lower rpm range.
If you can get headers and a exhaust for $400.00 I think that is worth a try, but my exhaust guy feels if you install headers, use a high flow cat and muffler to maximize your efforts. I live in SoCal too and there are a lot of smog legal cats out there.

 

Headers make a BIG difference, even shorties with the 460.........A slight hill up my driveway that the truck used to just sit there on before the headers, now the truck will dead idle in gear up that hill......on the freeway at 60mph, hills that it used to down shift in cruise control to maintain speed on it no longer needs to. MPG has slightly increased as well. Bump your base timing up to 12 degrees as well.

 

I understand what you mean by the cat being large, but at the same time, my truck had 120,000 miles on the original cat. Being my dad's work truck for the first 110,000 miles (farm truck pulling wagons, trailers, and tanks through the field) it averaged around 5-6 mpg most of its life or worse (slow speed, 4x4 through mud, etc) so I figured the cat has tried to catalyze between 15,000 and 20,000 gallons of fuel in its life time. Although I could still see light when looking through my cat when I got it off, I couldn't believe the difference it made by taking it out, aka, it doesn't flow that well.

 

i dont see the point of keeping the stock cat if you're putting on headers its just like doing half the job since it is so restrictive. i will say on my set up with out the muffler it revs higher faster, but with a muffler it pulls harder at the lower rpms.

 

hello, I have 2 F250 460EFI's gutted the cat on both and run glass packs/cherry bombs, there was a tire smoking/chirping increase in power, and acceleration however you will set off car alarms of parked cars as you cruise by,you know what they say about loud pipes, they save lives because they will hear you coming,a cool thing about glasspacks is that you can shut them up when passing the law on the road (if noise is a factor in your area), simply by letting go of the gas pedal and let it coast by. the issue with this is finding an extension to mate with your stock exhaust that has the o2 sensor bolted in to it, I recommend hedman headers #89510 from Summit racing, which go for 269.00 and a fresh O2 sensor (make sure of it being a 3 or 4 wire sensor)and a 3 inch glass pack to go behind the headers, F#ck the restrictive cat and emissions garbage.

 

DITiT - I used my original cat after headers and exhaust upgrades. Could see through it and no combs broke. You think it's still just way to restrictive? Should I look for a hi-flow?

 

The stock cat is WAY restrictive. I drove my truck for 2 years with JUST the Y-pipe and cat. It was so quite, no one knew I had no exhaust on the truck.