Headman Headers?

They any good? i can get them for $120 at a local shop. How much increase in power will i see? Give me some other names/brands of quality headers for not too much $$$

I got them on my car. the long tubes that is. the fit "good", but I did have to do some dimpling to clear the left lower control arm mounts on the frame. nothing a couple wacks w/a hammer couldnt fix. other then that they are awesome. I did have some shorties for a couple weeks, then I changed my mind and sold them to someone on here. (cory)dont know how he liked them really but they did fit in no problem at all.

if you got a 305 then the shorties are prolly fine, but for a 350 dont bother. get the longtubes. these act. tuck up nicely to the floor, but you will have to have a custom ypipe made. or do the true duals like me.

good luck

chris

I have a set of Hedman shorty headers on my 305. While they do seem to fit well, the flanges are pretty thin. This allows the flanges to warp easily and will cause you plenty of headaches with blown header gaskets and exhaust leaks. Ask me how I know:( . If you don't care about that, then they are a cheap header that will get the job done. I, personally, will never go with a cheap header again. This is one of those cases where you get what you pay for.

Originally posted by bad86z28
I have a set of Hedman shorty headers on my 305. While they do seem to fit well, the flanges are pretty thin. This allows the flanges to warp easily and will cause you plenty of headaches with blown header gaskets and exhaust leaks. Ask me how I know:( . If you don't care about that, then they are a cheap header that will get the job done. I, personally, will never go with a cheap header again. This is one of those cases where you get what you pay for.

Agreed. I had more problems with the Collector gaskets blowing out than the head flange but I did still have a problem with them there.. The 3 bolt flanges on it were VERY thin and NEVER actually sealed 100%. Once I'd have them sealed kinda good, a few hard launches and they'd sound terrible.

I got a new set of SLP 1-3/4" shorty headers+ Y-pipe off of a board member of this message board. They were new but he let them go for $300. Working nicely so far, not a leak in sight but I wish I got them coated. They're brown now.

i've had a set of shorties on my third gen for 6 yrs now. they are uncoated. yes, the head flanges are thinner than other brands, but if you use good gaskets and red rtv they will seal up just fine. same with the collector flanges. they key is to not over torque the bolts. headers are naturaly louder than manifold because of the thin wall tubing, so you can expect some more exhuast noise from the engine compartment that can be confused with exhuast leaks.

headers aren't the easiest piece of exhuast to get totally sealed up. that is just the nature of the beast and what we have to live with for the hp benifits. you can't expect a set of gaskets to last 30,000 mi. it just won't happen, unless you drive the car at 1/4 throttle all the time.

There's a solution to blowing headers gaskets due to warped flanges. It's called eliminate the warped flange.

The biggest reason header gaskets (not to be confused with collector gaskets) blow out is because of the full length flange that connects all 4 primary tubes together. They expand when they get hot, then contract again when they cool down. It's the nature of metal. If you cut out the "bridges" between the tubes you will eliminate a lot of the stress on the flange and make it less likely to warp.

Make your O----OO----O look like O- -OO- -O and you'll have fewer blown gaskets. Also don't overtighten the bolts...snug them down then go maybe 1/4-1/2 turn tighter. That's all they need to seal. Locking headers bolts are also nice to keep them from working loose.....loose bolts will cause blown gaskets.

I have personaly heard "GREAT" things about these headers, and I myself aim to buy a pair down the road, but I couldn't tell you from experience.

Spend a little more and get them coated. You'll enjoy them more if you do. My first set of LT headers in my 77 Z28 were supposedly painted with high temp. paint. First pass down the strip and the car just went up in smoke. Oh great, something just went to hell is what I'm thinking. Pop the hood back in the pits and the headers were covered in a white powdery ash (started the run, they were black) and there wasn't a bit of paint left on them. So, long story short, I won't buy another set of uncoated headers for any of my cars.

Ya, but if ya can't afford $500+ on a set of freakin headers, like myself, then the Hedman's will be just fine, right? And if ya want them coated, ya could always go out and buy hi-temp engine spray paint, and do them your-self.

Hi-temp paint is not at all like ceramic coating. It doesn't protect the metal half as well, and ceramic coating won't discolor over time the way paint will (if it's applied correctly.) Paint will also flake off where ceramic won't.

Hedman headers are great for the money. I'll admit they aren't the best thing on the market, but they're MUCH more economical than higher-end headers (as in nearly the same bang for much less buck.) I run a set of coated Hedman shorties on my 355. I wanted longtubes, but they won't clear the T-56 clutch hydraulics.......

Well.. on average how much does Ceramic coating cost.. and extra 3-5 hundred, correct? You totaly think it is worht it?

coating should be around $100. maybe cheaper for shorties. if you can afford to get a custom ypipe made, go w/the longtubes. any muffler shop should be able to do this for ya for $100 or less. you can get the longtubes from summit coated for less then $200 usually.

just call summit and see what they have for the car thats coated. they might even have there own brand headers.

For a 305, shorties should be fine.. not much differance between shorties and longtubes I don't think.

Originally posted by IrocSS85
but you will have to have a custom ypipe made. or do the true duals like me.

good luck

chris

Can you get pics of your true dual setup for me?
I'd like to see how yours is routed.

I've got the longtubes on my car but I am not going to mess with the exhaust until the tranny and fuel system are finished and the car is ready to be fired up, but I do want to see how others have done thiers.

What is it w/ people wanting to see other peoples "true-dual" setup? It makes it seem as-though achieving "true-dual" exhaust is a challenge.. (lol)

Originally posted by 85_LG4
For a 305, shorties should be fine.. not much differance between shorties and longtubes I don't think.

I agree, except when your trying to get the most out of the 305. as in if your doin alot of bolt ons. (or more)

if you get the shorties, then jegs sells a ypipe for them that will bolt up to your stock exh(or aftermarket catback). but Ive heard of problems w/the pipe not lasting very long before they rust through. (the ypipe, not the headers tubes).

zepher, my true duals end at the rearend, then just dump down. so I have approx. 30"s of tube, then the muff.s, then dumps down. I have some pics of it here.

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/irocss86/lst?.dir=/exhaust&.view=t

i have traded the turboII muff.s for bullets. so I went from too quiet to too loud. for normal muff.s, you have to clearance up the floorpan under the rear seat cushions to make enough room. there is a few inches of space under the rear seat cushions. the bullets dont need any clearancing.

at normal ride height, there arent any ground clearance issues. now that I lowered the front end w/cut v6 springs, its close, but i have yet to hit anything. and I REALLY lowered the front. too much really.

Is there "noticeable" diff. between shorties/longies?
So "is" it hard to achieve true-dual setup on a Camaro?
What exactly are Bullets? Aren't they just mufflers, but are round and long, opposed to being short, but wide.. correct?

bullets are like oldschool cherry bombs. but w/better sound. they are hollow in the middle. as in you can look right through them. like I said, they are pretty loud. theres usually 15plus horsepower to be had w/longtubes over shorties. depends on how "built " it is. the more powerful the eng is, the bigger the diff. is.
duals are not hard to do, you just need to find a shop that will do it. and do a good job of it so they dont hang down low. mine is very tucked up and out of the way.

Bullets get very annoying on a daily driven car. They are usually very loud at idle and just obnoxious (don't know if I spelled that right??) when you're on the expressway. I would check with the cops and see what kind of noise you're allowed to make or you might be getting tickets for your bullets.

i've had the hedman shorties and hedman y-pipe on my car for 6 yrs now, and neither has rusted through.

Aren't cherry-bombs nice? Or are they obnoxious also?
BTW 97WS6.. good spelling on "obnoxious";)

Long tube headman on mine...with duals.... they POP alot... but work...

I looking to get super comp1 3/4...one day... should pickup 15-20 with them....

BTW 97WS6.. good spelling on "obnoxious"

Still not sure if I spelled it correctly, but seeing that it's 4:00 AM I don't really care.

Don't get me wrong, a bullet is like nothing else when you stab the loud pedal, but you get alot of cabin noise, not to mention every cop within 3 miles will be on your @$$.

I had a pair of flowmaster mufflers on my 77 Z28 that were the single chamber racing mufflers (30 series maybe?) with a 45 degree dump on the mufflers themselves that were pointed kinda between the ground and the sides of the car (sounds like a good idea when you're 17). In sand or the rain you would see dust/water jetting from the sides of the car. That idea lasted about a month and then it just go old, especially when you take your girl out and you can't hear what she's yelling at you about (maybe that was a good thing?). Cruising down the street at night, or through the parking lot at work was always a trip cause it would set off car alarms 30 feet around it.

Originally posted by 97WS6SCharged
I had a pair of flowmaster mufflers on my 77 Z28 that were the single chamber racing mufflers (30 series maybe?) with a 45 degree dump on the mufflers themselves that were pointed kinda between the ground and the sides of the car (sounds like a good idea when you're 17). In sand or the rain you would see dust/water jetting from the sides of the car. That idea lasted about a month and then it just go old, especially when you take your girl out and you can't hear what she's yelling at you about (maybe that was a good thing?). Cruising down the street at night, or through the parking lot at work was always a trip cause it would set off car alarms 30 feet around it.

Haha, I did the same thing with my '78 Nova 4dr. Car looks like hell, but it sounds pretty cool :cool:

Would bullets make my Camaro sound like that Challenger from
2-Slow 2-Gay, or not quite?