headers

[herelizerd]

98 trans am rebuild. Long tube or short tube headers?. Pros and cons for each!

[35th-ANV-SS]

Get long tube headers. Shorties offer no power gains really and are not worth the time or money to install. If you can afford it, get Kooks or ARH.

[pajeff02]

^^ LT's are the way to go for our cars.

[herelizerd]

What about clearance issues and over heating also I've heard about needing o2 extenders and other things any info on this

[pajeff02]

To install my Kooks, I had to nip the very corner of a flange on the body with my die grinder - maybe 1/8". O2 senders should be replaced around 75,000 miles anyway. With LT's, you want to install Bosch P/N 13111 senders which come with a nice long harness - no extensions required. Our car has MSD plug wires and the boot can be bent into shape for added clearance. I also installed a set of DEI wire sleeves for added insurance and used Stage 8 locking header bolts. I have had zero issues with the headers, senders or anything since installation a couple of years ago.

[Too Fast]

No problems with my Hookers either. LT FTW. Short tube for the $$$ loss! I had to do a small nip on my K-member for header clearance, no issue.

Jeff, how did you get your car to run with no spark plugs? Diesel conversion? I don't see any in the first picture ha ha.

[pajeff02]

I noticed that too after I posted the pic -- must be I grabbed the wrong one from Photobucket.

[RONS98TA]

To install my Kooks, I had to nip the very corner of a flange on the body with my die grinder - maybe 1/8". O2 senders should be replaced around 75,000 miles anyway. With LT's, you want to install Bosch P/N 13111 senders which come with a nice long harness - no extensions required. Our car has MSD plug wires and the boot can be bent into shape for added clearance. I also installed a set of DEI wire sleeves for added insurance and used Stage 8 locking header bolts. I have had zero issues with the headers, senders or anything since installation a couple of years ago.

DAMN!! I think the bottom of your car is cleaner then the top of mine!!! LOL Those kooks look really nice. I think i'm gonna change mine out soon. I bought a set of FLP headers and Y about 10 yrs ago. Time to upgrade.

[RONS98TA]

Btw, I have no overheating issue's or problems with my long tube headers. In fact, I thought it would actually make the car run cooler due to the fact there is less restriction of the exhaust, which should in turn cause less heat. Never had a clearance issue either, and for a while my car was lowered 3 inches! The Y would rub on SOME speed bumps that were really huge, but that's it.

[35th-ANV-SS]

One of the perks of having your own lift.

[pajeff02]

The problem with headers is radiant heat -- a lot more surface area to shed exhaust heat to everything else around it both in the engine bay and under the car. That's why on performance applications they oftentimes wrap the headers. Keeping the exhaust heat inside the header also speeds the flow of gases out the back of the car.

[herelizerd]

I have also read that with long tube headers you need egr block off plates? I also cut the cats off the car a while back how does this come into play with doing o2 extenders

[SMWS6TA]

OP, I move it to external section because this is the area that deals with bolt on's like this. No harm....Just letting you know.

EGR Plates - dependson the headers you get. Some come with EGR tubes while others do not. Honestly you'll want to delete the EGR and cap off the intake. One less head ache to deal with. It will throw a code but that can be easily tuned out. You'll want a tune at some point because of the rear O2's will be deleted if you get LT headers. Frost mail order tunes are the way to go. Not expensive and it's worth it. I as well as many others here have his tune and will swear by it.

One more thing you need to know how emmisions are test in your state. Visual, probe, both, etc. I know some members live in VA here, they should be able to chime in on this.

[98TransAmWs-6]

OP, I move it to external section because this is the area that deals with bolt on's like this. No harm....Just letting you know.

EGR Plates - dependson the headers you get. Some come with EGR tubes while others do not. Honestly you'll want to delete the EGR and cap off the intake. One less head ache to deal with. It will throw a code but that can be easily tuned out. You'll want a tune at some point because of the rear O2's will be deleted if you get LT headers. Frost mail order tunes are the way to go. Not expensive and it's worth it. I as well as many others here have his tune and will swear by it.

One more thing you need to know how emmisions are test in your state. Visual, probe, both, etc. I know some members live in VA here, they should be able to chime in on this.

Roanoke VA doesn't have emissions (as far as I know anyway) only the counties of Fairfax, Stafford, Prince William, Alexandria, and Manassas. Even if they did in VA there shouldn't be any visual just a OBDII scan but there is a cat requirement up here where I live in Fairfax. For the OP though I would get race style headers without egr and air tubes. I have Kooks but previously had OBX and I would say save up the extra cash and get Kooks, they are worth every penny. You will still need either O2 extensions or longer O2 Sensors regardless of having cats since those are for the upstream sensors before the cats. The other sensors are after the cats. Si ce you cut yours off I would get an ORY (cattless y pipe aka off road y pipe) since you don't have emissions in Roanoke.

[motorhead584]

I have the Texas speed long tubes. No fitment issues (although doing them on jack stands is a bitch) and they seem to be a quality stainless steel header. Great customer service from those guys to. I had an issue with the O2 sensor housing threads on one of the collectors, called Texas speed and they sent out a new header right away no questions asked and I sent the damaged one back at no cost to me. While your in there I would do the motor mounts. I installed the prothane mounts with no issues. I also had the rear sensors tuned out using Frost's mail order tune and blocked off the AIR system with block-off plates, no codes after the tune. Don't forget new header gaskets and good luck to you!

[Too Fast]

Yes change the motor mounts. I can tell mine are getting weak by the way my shifter moves, especially in 1st gear. Not looking forward to changing them now.

Also, before you put in your new O2 sensors, run the old ones in the new headers for a week or two, sometimes new headers have an internal coating that fouls O2s. I haven't personally had this happen, but some others here have.

[SMWS6TA]

Yes change the motor mounts. I can tell mine are getting weak by the way my shifter moves, especially in 1st gear. Not looking forward to changing them now.

Also, before you put in your new O2 sensors, run the old ones in the new headers for a week or two, sometimes new headers have an internal coating that fouls O2s. I haven't personally had this happen, but some others here have.

and if you have a shop weld up the ORY or pipes make sure they disconnect the sensors. They can short them out.

[OhTwo]

Kooks here and agree on long tubes of some sort. I didn't have to do any cutting or grinding but car had to be high to get driver's side in from the bottom. Probably much easier if you have access to a lift which I didn't. I reused my O2 sensors with no problems but put my headers on with about 10,000-15,000 miles on my car.

[Too Fast]

Yes I'm feeling guilty. Still have my OE O2 sensors, now with 130k. B1S1 is throwing an intermittent slow response/no response, telling be to get off my ass and change both sensors.

[pajeff02]

I need to swap them out on our Suburban this year - it has just over 90,000 on it now.