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I have an 89 f250 351w. I getting ready to replace the exhaust system. I'm wondering what kind of headers have the best gains in hp & tq, do you think short are better then long tube? Also I want to put true duals, no cats, 2.5" pipes, and not sure what kind of muffler. Do you think this is a good idea? Also my exhaust manifold has copper tubes going to them, what do I do about them when I go to put on the headers?
those tubes are your A.I.R. pipes, which you will need to keep if you live in a state where you have to smog the truck. therefore, you'll have to find a set of headers that have provisions for them.
Removing the AIR tubes would probably mean not passing a vehicle smog or even a visual check of the emissions system; which means parking the truck until the infraction was remedied ; not a good thing. When you have a nice truck its a shame to not be able to drive it!
what do you use the truck for? Long tubes will produce more torque but tend to not fit to well. some times needing tubes either bent or dented to clear frame and other things. plus long tubes hang below the frame which isnt good in my book. Shorties just move the power up the rpm range a little but personlly its not noticeable. gibson,jba,edelbrock,bbk and bassini all make great shorties. I would run a bassini Y pipe with Hiflow cats. then go 2.5" from the cat thru muffler of choice then have it split into duals if you want that look. or if you stick with single you can run 3" from the cat out. Flowmaster and magnaflow are nice equipment and sound good to.
check out ebay for that Y pipe its reasonably priced
well yes and no. dual pipes are ok if your running a hi hp motor that needs to breath. duals also are great for hi rpm use. while a single exhaust will help produce better torque low in the rpm range. if you run duals a crossover is a must and you cant go to big of pipe because it would flow to well. 2"-2.5 being max.