Now I See Why Headers Are Such An Improvement

[CJREX]

Had my car up on the rack yesterday and finally got a chance to look at the stock exhaust.

How in the world can the LS1 exhale at all through that squished oval factory pipe?

I thought the mentioned gains of 30RWHP were optimistic, now I know better.

One thing though...

Even though the factory pipe is squished nearly flat, it appears to be the lowest point on the underside of the car.

How can even the tightest fitting headers not have clearance issues?

I sure wouldn't park on the grass with 'em!

[9t8z28]

Had my car up on the rack yesterday and finally got a chance to look at the stock exhaust.

How in the world can the LS1 exhale at all through that squished oval factory pipe?

I thought the mentioned gains of 30RWHP were optimistic, now I know better.

One thing though...

Even though the factory pipe is squished nearly flat, it appears to be the lowest point on the underside of the car.

How can even the tightest fitting headers not have clearance issues?

I sure wouldn't park on the grass with 'em!

LTH's usually do not have problems with hanging to low except for SLP headers. The issue is usually that the Y-pipe will drag on the ground or hit the bottom of the floor board.
You will not have problems parking in the grass unless it is really dry.

[JL8Jeff]

The LS1 headers fit better than the LT1 cars and ground clearance with the header itself isn't really an issue(except SLP). It's the 3" y-pipe on the driver's side that has the least amount of clearance. And if you put in dual 3" cats you lose even more.

[Mr. Luos]

30RWHP is an overestimate.

[Wesman]

30RWHP is an overestimate.

True. Its more like 30WHP going from stock headers and exhaust to long tubes and true duals, not headers alone.

[Jo Blow]

yeah the stock pipes arent the best, but you wont see vast improvments with headers unless you have better flowing heads and intake... like an ls6 intake, and a good P&P job.

[Firebirdjones]

Actually that smashed pipe on the driver side is not as bad as it looks. SLP makes a replacement Y-pipe for this reason, and I tried that on my car for giggles before the header swap. It did nothing for mine. I even installed gutted cats and tried it again,,,,but it did nothing. But you are only going from 2 1/4 inch piping to 2 1/2 inch pipe using this route.
I really didn't notice any gains until the headers and off road Y-pipe was installed. But going this route you jump to a 3 inch Y-pipe,,,not to mention switching from cast manifolds with 2 1/4 outlets to long tube headers with 1 3/4 tube and 3 inch collectors.
I gained a tenth and 1 mph after the swap. So there is a little HP there, but not enough to get excited about. Probably see more gains on a car with cam and head work.

[nhraformula]

30RWHP is an overestimate.

not unless you get a tune with it.

[rajiv1998]

30hp?? SLP claims 41hp to the wheels with their LT's and thats BEFORE a tune

[0rion]

the bottom line is headers do offer gains and they're compounding. They start paying dividends when you start doing other mods such as intake mods or a cam.