Same old question, but for me new technology may be a new answer. Rebuilt stock 5.8l and thinking about headers. Old days leaked and crazy noise. If yes, what brand. Thanks.

 

When I had my 93 with a 5.8 I put on a set of short headers ran about a week through them away,started to melt the heater,ac box,came close to setting truck on fire,never again

 

I have ceramic coated, shorties, BBK's I like them, changed the trucks attitude, I used summit copper exhaust gaskets, no leaks, and bolts have not loosened, I check every oil change, throw the bolts(3/4") and gaskets away that come with them, and get 1" bolts, and a good gasket set. biggest issue you may have is old bolt breakage, from rust, depending on where you live, soak them for about a week, before you start.

 

The shorty BBK's that torq'ta is talking about above are very nice pieces. If you can swing the money for them, I recommend them. If you can't justify that much money, the Pacesetter shorty headers fit very well and are very cheap. If you order the Summit Racing brand headers, they send you Pacesetters.

If you are planning to redo your exhaust anyway, there is more to gain with long tube headers. Hedman's fit pretty good, and are fairly inexpensive.

I think the biggest thing is to get good bolts and good gaskets. Any of the generic bolts and gaskets that these headers come with are absolute garbage. I went through all kinds of different bolts and gaskets before finding a configuration that works great. Percy's aluminum gaskets and their split lock header bolts. The aluminum gaskets are reusable, which I have confirmed as I've had my headers off a couple times, and I haven't had to do anything to the bolts after tightening them the first time and tightening down the set screw for the split lock. Great pieces.

 

I used hooker 6912HKR. Passenger frame requires cutting and firewall needs beating. PITA to me.

 

I have a set of these hanging on my wall in the garage. Only place they belong as far as I'm concerned. Things are paper thin. Fit is awful. I bent mine to get them away from the frame on the passenger side. Drivers side collector was directly over the front driveshaft pinion yoke. Couldn't bend it far enough away from the pinion to not get destroyed. Wouldn't recommend these to anyone.

 

After comparing JBA and BBK ceramic shorty headers I installed the JBAs. They both make quality headers. The reason I went with JBA:
1. I wanted to keep my EGR valve in place. JBA uses the correct thread for the pipe. BBK does not. There's another whole thread on this.
2. JBAs have sealing flanges around their ports. I felt these would offer an additional advantage and I think they do. I did have to get replacements for the first ones I received as one of the holes on one of the ports was drilled slightly out of spec. Whatever you buy check everything out carefully before you start bolting up.
3. I thought the JBAs were a hair better finished.

Davey is absolutely correct re gaskets and bolts. I went with a REMFLEX gasket and Stage 8 bolts. The bolts are really fun to put on but I'm glad I did. The REMFLEX are "spongy" so I think that helps seal around the ports. Everything is good and not going anywhere. You will need a special shorty header plug removal wrench tool - TRICKFLOW from Summit to get the cylinder #4 plug out next time from underneath. Don't try this job without removing the inner fender liners. You will also need a 7/16" angled wrench. You will not be able to torque the bolts up so practice your torque guesswork on a nut in a vise.

Its made a huge difference on my truck, although I had loose bolts and leaks at the back of my stock manifolds. Truck sounds and drives great.

 

I Thank You All for the response but will leave my 92 Flareside with stock headers.