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Question about headers

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Old Jul 18, 2008 | 06:08 PM
  #1  
john410312's Avatar
john410312
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Question about headers

What's the performance difference between, lets say a set of Shorty headers from a Lightning and a set of longer aftermarket headers?

I've seen a few guys selling their shorty Lightning headers after putting long headers on and was wondering why.

jb
 
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Old Jul 18, 2008 | 06:51 PM
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long tubes are suppose to give you more bottom end torque
 
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Old Jul 18, 2008 | 08:34 PM
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Yeah supposbly but i have heard some people say longtube and shorty there is not a big real difference shorty is good since it bolts up to you factory y-pipe or and there isnt so many clearance issues and gives you a bit of gain but im sure either shorty or longtube is a upgrade from stock manifolds
 
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Old Jul 18, 2008 | 09:43 PM
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From: montana of course!
Originally Posted by vols_fan22
long tubes are suppose to give you more bottom end torque



boy thats NEW ONE???????
in my mustang world and with my drag racing clowns .
we found that shorty are good for low to mid range power just a step above stock exhaust.
long tubes are good for mid to high rpm range . the size of tube depend where at in the rpm range inprovement will be.
 
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Old Jul 18, 2008 | 10:25 PM
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I like my Hedman shortys i got gains in the mid big time great acceleration !
 
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Old Jul 18, 2008 | 10:44 PM
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The lightning shortys arnt much better from the stockers. Long tubes require more work but are better in the end. I have had shorties and have long tubes on my truck now. The long tubes are like 100x better. Better sound and more power. Its all what your looking for, or want to spend, or how much work you want to do.
 
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Old Jul 19, 2008 | 08:59 AM
  #7  
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The BIG problem with shorties is that you will get next to ZERO gains if you just bolt them up to the existing Y-pipe and stock cat, you need to at least remove the stock cats and a better Y-pipe will also help. With longtubes you have no choice but replace the stock Y-pipe so the system will flow a lot better than stock.

Longtubes rule for trucks.. the low rpm boost they provide easily makes the install worth it, if you use truck specific headers you will not have any fit problems most of the time.
 
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Old Jul 19, 2008 | 05:31 PM
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Basically heres the deal: if you are replacing your headers, go with long tubes. You will eventually end up with a much better exhaust system. Ooh, and if you live in California your exhaust will end up costing you 3x what it would anywhere else.
 
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