Do anyone regrate putting headers on their car and why if so

**Street Fighter** · 03-29-2011, 10:58 AM

I'm not talking about a brand of header but headers themselves.I want to but I just don't want to have the problems I have with my other cars that have headers on them.The leaks, the dragging of the exhaust on speed bumps, check engine lights coming on ect. The car is not lowered, want the headers, but not the problems that I might have. As of now there is no leaks no worry about high spots,or dragging of the exhaust.Talk me in to it.have had the money to do it for years but each time I start to order them I think of how good it is to be worry free when I drive the TA.

***SMWS6TA*** · 03-29-2011, 11:23 AM

We'll I have no regrets, I see more pros then cons with the LT headers. But some of the issues you talked about I can talk about. Yes you know all the problems when you get to LT headers, but I think it depends on the brand. SLP is know to be much lower then the others. Pacesetter seems to hug up nice. Hooker & Ebay I have no experience with so I won't comment on. I also believe what the problem is really the ORY. That seem to always have the most problems with speed bumps and scrapes. The one spot that hits is always from the drivers side that bends and merges into one pipe. At that spot is where it seems to hit the most. I think if I re-address the exhaust again I will run true duals or have that section widen out but flatten a bit like an oval to see if it gives some clearance. Clearance is always an issue for mine because it is also lowered then stock height, I measure out at the top of the wheel well at 26" for the front and 26.5" for the rear off the ground.

The other issues a tune fixes them.

Now you can get Mids and Shorties but will receive very minimal gains.

**bstuby** · 03-29-2011, 02:39 PM

I can honestly say that I do not regret my headers at all. If you take the time and do it right, it wont leak. I used copper rtv and band clamps and havent had a prob with them at all. Now the y pipe is a diff story as stated above. My car is not lowered, and its not the speed bumps I have probs with, its rail road tracks. They always seem to get me for some reason. Doesnt matte how slow I go I still scrape.

And I have had nothing but compliments since I put the headers on. It really wakes the car up compared to manifolds. When your inside it sound like a "old muscle car" haha qutoe from the fiancee

**98TransAmWs-6** · 03-29-2011, 02:53 PM

The only regret I have is not putting motor mounts on at the same time. I know that was so dumb of me. Once I get these motor mounts on I'll be regret free.

**JunkyardZ** · 03-29-2011, 03:35 PM

Yeah, I love the sound with headers and with future plans of ls6 swap I'm glad I did them. My y-pipe hits the floorboard on hard launches and sometimes scrapes but so far no damage. I'm with 98TransAmWs-6, I have no idea why I was so concerned about saving money and reusing the old motor mounts, had I did them I don't think the y pipe would hit the floor.

**sjsingle1** · 03-29-2011, 04:04 PM

no regrets here

**Demon_Z28** · 03-29-2011, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by 98TransAmWs-6

The only regret I have is not putting motor mounts on at the same time. I know that was so dumb of me. Once I get these motor mounts on I'll be regret free.

same here... only regret lol, cause I tried t put motor mounts on afterwards... FML... I have to pull the damn headers off again lol

**My00Z28** · 03-29-2011, 04:49 PM

No regrets at all I'm new to the LT's put them on Saturday. I got a set of Ebay headers and really for the price I LOVE THEM! I went to a shop and got a custom ORY-pipe made for them. I did the motor mounts at the same time and had no clearance problems at all. the car sounds CRAZY and I love it. I have scraped once cause I hit a bump in the road a little to fast testing out the car but other than that no other problems. Got a tune from FROST, deleted the EGR & AIR which cleaned up everything real nice... 100% worth every penny I spent!!!

**Z28Thunder** · 03-29-2011, 04:56 PM

No regrets period. Heck the F-bodys should have come with better flowing exhaust manifolds to begin with.

**MeGoFast** · 03-29-2011, 04:56 PM

The only sliver of regret I have is ground clearance because mine is lowered some. I was majorly impressed with a set of kook's and the no loss of clearance when mounted to an f-body on a lift. If I was to do it over I just may have a set of them instead of dynamaxx. I luv the sound of headered or u can just turn up the radio. Now go break out that credit card and help our economy.

**blackSS01** · 03-29-2011, 05:01 PM

Hooker headers here (8 years or so) No regrets period! No leaks (Use the stock MLS gasket and throw all the aftermarket away), no banging, no nothing! Amazing deal and sound! Do it and do not look back!

**blackbird0230** · 03-29-2011, 09:28 PM

I regret not running cats just because of the smell I get when I warm it up in the mornings. I swear it could kill a baby tiger in .00010 seconds

**My00Z28** · 03-29-2011, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by blackbird0230

I regret not running cats just because of the smell I get when I warm it up in the mornings. I swear it could kill a baby tiger in .00010 seconds

Mine really doesn't smell that bad at all for not having cats...?

**blackbird0230** · 03-30-2011, 05:52 AM

Originally Posted by My00Z28

Mine really doesn't smell that bad at all for not having cats...?

Idk mine smells pretty bad

***SMWS6TA*** · 03-30-2011, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by blackbird0230

I regret not running cats just because of the smell I get when I warm it up in the mornings. I swear it could kill a baby tiger in .00010 seconds

It must be an higher altitude/colder climate thing. I have no cats and I smell nothing. Never had.

**INMY01TA** · 03-31-2011, 05:01 PM

I like the gas fumes.

**gnomee** · 03-31-2011, 05:05 PM

I have SLP LT's on my 98 formula. No leaks at all. I've had headers with leaks on my old Camaro and it sucked. The fix for that is to get a quality header with a 1/2"-1" thick flange. No leaks will ever happen IMHO.

Now if you go with LT's I don't think you can avoid them hanging low no matter the brand. That is something that just comes with it.

CEL won't be an issue unless you remove the cats and don't tune them out or install Simulators.

Some LS1's are picky though and the stock O/2s don't run well. I'm not sure if its the car or the header brand. My SLP's work great with stock O/2's and have no issues. I've seen cars with other brands have issues and have to switch to the Bosch 1311(Whatever they are) to get the light to stop coming on.

The smell is probably to each his own. When I first put the LT's on I'd already been running no cats for a year or two and nothing changed. I parked the Formula in 2008 when I bought my vette and I JUST started driving it again two weeks ago to quit putting daily driver miles on the vette. I spent the first week thinking I had a gas leak, exhaust leak something. I finally realized it was because the cats were not on there and I was not used to smelling "un-clean" exhaust. I'm used to it now and would vote its just from removing the cats.

**Faught** · 03-31-2011, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by 98TransAmWs-6

The only regret I have is not putting motor mounts on at the same time. I know that was so dumb of me. Once I get these motor mounts on I'll be regret free.

^ +1

**KMdef9** · 03-31-2011, 09:36 PM

I've heard of people regretting buying cheap headers instead of expensive ones...

Think I also read somewhere someone regretted not getting 1 7/8 vs 1 3/4.

?

**0rion** · 03-31-2011, 09:53 PM

most of your concerns can be taken care of by a quality header and a quality install. I'm at stock height and have never bottomed out the headers. I also don't hit bumps doing 50 either. SLP headers hang lower than most all others so those guys will usually bottom out before other brands.
Have a quality install done and there should be no leaks. These cars use MLS gaskets from the factory instead of the paper gaskets (again...goes back to the quality install) and you should never have a header leak with a good header.