Stupid Question? Heads and cam or Headers first?

Will I be loing possible power if I went with the Heads and cam with stock exhaust?

I'd personally get all the bolt-on's taken care of first, that way when you get the heads/cam you'll be making maximum power.

Originally posted by gearslammer
Will I be loing possible power if I went with the Heads and cam with stock exhaust?

Now I'm no expert, but I don't see any reason why you would lose any power at all by going with heads and cam before putting on headers. But I was wondering the same question as the heading... is it a better idea to go ahead and do the exhaust first? LT Headers, cutout, etc... and then go to the heads and cam, or would it be better to go the other way around?

I agree with demon, get the bolt-ons out of the way first.


You won't lose power with H/C but you won't gain as much as you would if you had headers.

I would get the basic (intake/exhaust) modifications taken care of before you get heads/cam. That way when you get the heads/cam you will get the most out of them. Also, you can do intake and exhaust mods without computer tuning but the heads and cam are really going to need it. Might as well save money in the long run and do intake/exhaust then heads and a cam later and have it tuned once rather than once for heads/cam and then again later when you get headers and stuff.

Thanks guy's, I like what I hear so far. How abouit the cats? High flow, stock or just a y-pipe? BTW, in MN we don't have to "worry" about emission tests.

I'm going with no cats with my long tube headers but it's just a personal preferance. Does it bother you to know your hurting the enviornment with your car? If not then having no cats will always outperform even high flow cats. If it doesnt bother you and your state doesnt test for emissions, go with an off-road y-pipe or perhaps a true dual set-up.

The other guy hit it on the head ... even on stock engine, headers don't require a tune, but it will help.

H/C will require a tune and you may as well have the headers on there already to take advantage of it ... dyno time alone can run you $75 to $100 plus a pop, not including the tuning ...

Originally posted by LS1-Maniac
I'm going with no cats with my long tube headers but it's just a personal preferance. Does it bother you to know your hurting the enviornment with your car? If not then having no cats will always outperform even high flow cats. If it doesnt bother you and your state doesnt test for emissions, go with an off-road y-pipe or perhaps a true dual set-up.

About what could I expect to pay for true duals? Any idea?

You can fab up your own true duals for around $400-$600, including mufflers, piping, x-pipe, and welding.

I agree with most everyone else, get the bolts ons done that would get the most out of the H/C, like lid, bellow, LS6 intake, LT headers, and that's mostly it, maybe a MAF sensor.