HP difference between headers ???

[98Z28importslayer]

I know everybody wonders this question when they look at headers ... Is it really worth paying double the money for LTs ??? What do you guys think the hp diffrence on a stock ls1 car with pacesetters LTs vs Kooks LTs, Hooker LTs or any other expensive LT headers???

[rapter34]

woops i thought you ment over stock my bad. yeah its only like 5hp

[mark21742]

I know everybody wonders this question when they look at headers ... Is it really worth paying double the money for LTs ??? What do you guys think the hp diffrence on a stock ls1 car with pacesetters LTs vs Kooks LTs, Hooker LTs or any other expensive LT headers???

hp should be close between most of the lt headers..most of the time the more you pay the longer they will last....I got the pacesetters and love them

[1fastcamarosss11]

pacesetter are 1 3/4, and kooks are 1 7/8ths. i few ponies there but mostly for bigger cubes to me.

i say 5-15 if you have bigger cubes. 1-5 if stock cubes.

[Hot Black Trans-Am]

Kooks = no rust! That's worth it alone.

[1fastcamarosss11]

Kooks = no rust! That's worth it alone.

stainless to, on ebay for 200.00 or so.

[Hot Black Trans-Am]

stainless to, on ebay for 200.00 or so.

I saw that. I may give them a try if I still have enough left after the rear end swap is done. I wonder if they are decent quality or not.

[QtrWhore]

dunno about ebay headers...i will stick with kooks, or or arh headers myself..aboid SLP at all costs as they sit way too damn low

[Mr. Luos]

stainless to, on ebay for 200.00 or so.

MUCH different material.


Kooks are worth it, if you can drop the $$ for them.

[jonj601]

anyone here anything about american racing headers?

[mark21742]

stainless to, on ebay for 200.00 or so.

I figured I try them. $24 for stainless steel headers and $15 shipping for one of my honda motors.....it actually looks, fits and works great....even I was suprised

[570SX]

MUCH different material.
Kooks are worth it, if you can drop the $$ for them.

not that i'm one to bash on quality parts, but being a 240 owner, i also pride myself on being cheap. every one of those that i've seen that are actually stainless steel are standard 304/304L stainless with fully mandrel bent tubes, not just a bunch of mandrel bends welded together into the right shapes. so they're made on a super-expensive mandrel machine. granted, it's somewhere in korea or something, where they don't know what a chevy is, and maybe made by some 8-year-old. the welding is also always top-notch, robitically TIG-welded usually. my last ebay exhaust was actually of better quality than my last name-brand, $600 exhaust.

every one of those ebay knock-offs i've had has worked well, but most need a little modification to work. a hole needs to get relocated 1/8" over to the side, or the flange needs to get cut off and rewelded clocked 30*. once i had to make a custom bracket even. such things have never bothered me since the price is so low you couldn't touch the real deal for the cost of the knock-off, even if you took it to a shop for any necessary mods. so $200, plus maybe another $100 at a good shop than can weld stainless with stainless filler rod (make sure they use stainless fill rod, or it will rust and get holes eaten into it by the sulfuric acid in the exhaust).

i say do it, make any slight mods necessary, and show everybody up. FWIW, i've been rocking my knock-off $400 LSD for over a year and a half and it's one of the best upgrades on the car. FYI, the cheapest name-brand LSD for my car is $900, and the one this knock-off is a copy of (Quaife) is $1000-$1200.

[98Z28importslayer]

pacesetter are 1 3/4, and kooks are 1 7/8ths. i few ponies there but mostly for bigger cubes to me.

i say 5-15 if you have bigger cubes. 1-5 if stock cubes.

do the 1 7/8 headers give you much of any gains inless your pushing more then like 500-600hp on stock cubes or a 383 ?

[Mr. Luos]

You can get Kooks with the 1 3/4" primaries.
Much preferred for most cars.

[01ws6er]

stainless to, on ebay for 200.00 or so.

I saw that. I may give them a try if I still have enough left after the rear end swap is done. I wonder if they are decent quality or not.

Yes they are, with a few exceptions...Air/egr fittings must be modified to fit or just completely tuned out and either block off the tubes or have them welded shut. I'll post pics when I'm not getttin ready for work...

[570SX]

haha, air and egr. haha.

weld, or you could get stainless plugs for some decent coin.

question for you guys, while we're on the headers topic. i have 1+5/8" primaries on my LTs. ultimately i plan for a bare minimum of 400whp N/A, probably more like 440-450. if i go insane i might look for 500whp. always N/A, and i don't care about low end. at what point are those primaries going to hold me back? right now i have 3" pipes with collector silencers (that work SUPER well, BTW), 3" Y and straight out the back as one 3" pipe, no cats no mufflers. still well under racetrack dB rules, no mufflers.

[WS6ICK2K]

I have heard that the 1 7/8 make you lose low end torque, compared to the 1 3/4 for a stock displacement LS1. Is this true?

[570SX]

yes, to some extent. i'd bet it's not a big deal. any time you go bigger/badder/meaner you're going to lose low end, but that's probably one of those things your butt dyno is lying to you about. kinda like when you change out an intake and you feel like your car is way faster, but they dyno says you only gained 5hp. it's mostly your imagination telling you that you spent your money wisely.

that said, if you don't plan to make massive power, skip on 'em, i say. matching all your parts will give you the best power wherever you're trying to make that power. which all comes back to this: have a plan before you start buying parts. if you plan to make 500whp, go for the 1+7/8". if you're looking for 400whp, go smaller. but plan ahead and buy the parts that fit into your plan so you don't end up buying different headers later (i.e. wasting money).