Pacesetters are about $500 in their site... so expensive!. I was looking at Summitracing site and they offer several models starting at $130 and up to $170, full-length and shorties alike, i wonder if Conanski or any other with knowledge on this could recommend any of those. Are Hedmans any good? what about the in-house brand? Flowtech? which would be better?.

Actually found them at around $300 without the ARMOR ceramic coating: http://www.azraceplace.com/80-96-f15...rmor-coat.aspx

 

Mine is a 2WD, if that makes a difference.

 

True duals should be 2.5", a single 3" (no bigger). If you go True Duals, you need an H-pipe for the O2 sensor. Both offer (roughly) equal flow rates and scavenging, but duals need twice the mufflers, cats, etc. I was planning to do duals, but am going with a single when I get the money due to the lack of performance benefits for the expenditure.
-Mike

 

Coming from someone who has done a lot of exhausts on these trucks, a good set of shorty headers, and 2.5" duals back to a Magnaflow 2.5" dual in, single 3" out muffler and a single 3" tailpipe is the best bang for your buck. That's what will be going on my big red beast when I get the time & money.

 

Thanks for the info./advice guys. So maybe the true duals aren't so great? lol. Bottom line is I want a dual exhaust.

hivoltj, I have heard from people that shorty headers are nothing other than "beefed up manifolds". What are the pros and cons to Shorty headers vs. Long Tubes?

 

I'm sure hivoltj will chime in, an he has more experiance then me, but shortys flow a lot better (than manifolds) and smooth out the flow pattern in the exhaust, creating less turbulence and back pressure. LT's flow that much better, in part by allowing the exhaust to cool even more before hitting the collector, but are more expensive. They also are supposed to help when tuning an exhaust for low rpm's (where we make power), but I haven't found a shop that can make one of those [a properly tuned exhaust] anyway (not that it would be worth it either).
-Mike

 

Can't make what? I had a shop fab up the Y-pipe and exhaust to go with my Pacesetter Longtubes. Dropped teh truck off with open headers, and a Super 44 and magnaflow cat in a box. $120 later I had a full custom Y-pipe and exhaust turned down pst the rear axle.

 

A properly tuned exhaust, which isn't worth much unless you race. Edited above for clarity.
-Mike

 

Well, I've never messed with anything with a "tuned" exhaust. I'll tell ya what I do know.

as far as flow/hp/tq best to worst is :

Long tubes - shorties - manifolds

Long tubes make the most power everywhere. The scavenging effect by keeping the primary tubes separate until they reach the collector really helps torque. Their free-flowing non-restrictive nature helps out HP, with the right supporting parts, especially on the top end.

The only real down-sides to them are cost, fitment and PITA issues. While they will make more HP/TQ in just about every application, it comes down to $$/benefits. For 98% of us it's just not worth it on our trucks.

Shorties are a great middle ground. They give the same benefits as long tubes, only in smaller quantities. They scavenge well, but not as well as LT's. There is really no downside other than cost, and they are probably the most that any of us will need on our trucks. Routing the exhaust with shorties is super easy, and they are pretty much a bolt-on affair.

Manifolds are pretty much crap. They were designed to get the exhaust out, and be as cheap to produce as possible. Ours are basically a "log" with short primaries for each cylinder that dump into the log at a right angle, and they are very small on the inside. The outlet where it hooks to the pipe is right around 2" diameter IIRC.

For what it's worth, On my '92 "Big red beast" 5.0 truck, I run the stock shorty 1.5" primary headers from my Lightning. Along with the old Bassani Lightning X-pipe (2.5") from it, with about 2" cut out of the crossover pipe to fit the 5.0. It gave a nice little power increase over the stock junk, sounds nice, and is more than I'll ever need for a truck that will never see the high side of 4500 rpms.

Now, my Lightning on the other hand, has a set of MAC 1-3/4" primary mustang headers with a custom 3" collector that I modified. It has 3" dual mandrel-bent exhaust with an H-pipe. Now, this is not for everyone, If I had to buy/pay someone else to do my exhaust work, I'd have over a grand in this system. Some may say it's way too big for a stock Lightning engine, but I know I will be upgrading heads at some point in the future, and didn't want to do all this twice. Some people may say that the big headers are overkill, I'll lose lowend, etc. etc. I say bull****. I've had this truck for 4 years, was bone stock when I bought it. It is faster/torquier and has more low-end than it ever did stock. I'd only recommend something like that for someone wanting every last ounce of power from their motor, the hassles and expense that go along with that exhaust are not worth it for most.

 

Thank you for the info.! My truck is a daily driver and I don't need the power that badly, so I think I will go with the shorty headers. The money for LT's and the exhaust, moving the o2 sensor, etc. is just going to be too much I would imagine. I don't have tools at my disposal to do exhaust work so I will just have my local shop put everything in once I buy a set of shorty headers and a Cat.

 

"When removing bolts, if it starts to bind, go back tight and then try to back out again. Don't forget to put anti seize on the bolts when reinstalling."

Also, don't forget to wire brush and put back each bolt after getting it out and before moving to the next bolt. Keeping the tension equal during the bolt removal process helps avoid breaking bolts. Breaking of the bolt right where the threads start happens most often as the cast iron manifold seems to flex a little if the bolt you just removed isn't returned to its place before moving on to the next bolt.

The unthreaded shoulder of the manifold bolt can be rusted tight and when force is applied against the manifold that is flexed up, the bolt is kind of wedged in place. Putting back the bolt you just removed keeps the wedging from happening on the next bolt to be loosened. Once all the bolts have been loosened and put back, they will all come out easily one at a time without stress,

 

I installed pacesetter long tubes on 2wd, The build is here: 1994 F150 351w 2wd pacesetter #72c2223 long tube headers
Biggest benefit is the custom y-pipe was made by me. Never done exhaust before, and my drive for wanting it got me it.
If you only have 1 02 sensor, it will work fine in one bank. FYI, passenger side O2 bung in header impossible to install with E4OD.

If you have E4OD, you won't want dual exhaust by the transmission. Driver side would be close to trans switch and cable. Heat could do damage.

For dual exhaust, just have a dual out muffler, and have dual tail pipes. That is what I have now.

The reason so many long tubes do not fit, is more than likely old worn out motor mounts, and beat up 4x4s that have bent frame rails.

If I were to do it again, for a street vehicle, I would definitely get headers with EGR.
Shorty's should bolt up to current exhaust, 302 and 351 headers are different.