Got LE2 heads and the LE1 HL on the way. I will have all the mods that Lloyd recommends for best performance in the neighborhood of 380-400 RWHP.

I currently have RK sport mid-tubes headers which are near identical to Arizona speed and marine headers. These headers are 1.75" primaries with 2.5" collectors with no catalytic converter. Most all long tube headers are 1.75" primaries with 3" collectors.

After the head and cam install I expect to lose a few horses to the mid-tube headers but I hope it wont be much. The reason I chose the Mid-tube headers is I wanted maximum ground clearance and the ability to bolt up my catalytic converter when I want. Currently I can switch between the cat when I don't want to smell the exhaust and the bullet muffler for performance in 15 minutes.

Who wants to guess my amount of HP loss with my headers and who wants to try to convince me to get long tube headers.

 

how hard would it be to slap on cats with longtubes? i can't see it being that hard....

 

covince you NO...
Put the damn things on and smile!! YES

 

you dont need them.

i have a 383 with stock ported heads and pace setter mids. i had long tubes and got rid of them...too much of a pain dealing with them. i'd leave it how it is and just deal with only 15 hp gains instead of 20.

 

It is tricky, but can be done, the LT1 floorpans differ from the LS1s. You need a smaller sized cat such as the Pypes mini-cat and for the drivers side, you will not be able to run the cat in the ideal spot of right after the header.

 

but can be done to pass emisisons?

 

So by giving up 5 HP, I can have maximum ground clearance and never bang a pipe, use my bullet muffler or a catalytic converter and not have to spend more money on headers or do any fabbing.

Well I havent been convinced yet.

 

the way i look at it is go big or go home.... pay a lil extra cash and do it right the first time with top of the line products. aka longtubes...... unless u are worried about terrible roads/ scraping i would go the longtube route.....in the llong run it will pay off..... i have a basiclly stock LT1 and im getting longtubes with true duals...... but hey thats just my .02 cents. do w/e u want..... a car is personal dont let neone sway ur mind....just get ideas form others..... and personalize them

 

Yeah i agree with go big or go home, but I try to compromise a bit.

I do hit rough roads from time to time and it can be a bit unpleasant driving the convertible on long vacations with the top down and smelling open exhaust. I can bolt my cat on in less than 15 minutes and the wife is happier as well as the smell being gone.

I am not hearing anyone tell me that my mids are going to be a major performance killer, so that is good news.

 

I went 11.50s with 1 5/8 shorties last year...I have since switched to Kooks LTs and I dropped almost 3 tenths on the dyno 1/4 pass and picked up 2 mph...BUT you have the bigger 1 3/4" tubes so I would just leave it alone...I'm sure Injuneer (Fred) may chime in about his buddy who ran very well with the ASM headers...

I think Kooks have the best ground clearance out there and I've scraped a few times in my non-lowered car...Leave it as it is and have fun...

--Alan

 

>not hard at all Kooks Y pipe with Magnaflow cats and their stepped 1 3/4"- 1 7/8" long tubes
http://www.kookscustomheaders.com/pr...20-%20Y%20Pipe

 

Yeah, I put mine on there only for visual purposes, my car only has to pass the "plug in" test, not the sniffer.