You longtube guys with "no clearance problems" must not live near any speed bumps?

I only have an aftermarket Y pipe and I scrape bottom over plenty of speed bumps.

As for Shorties vs Longtubes.... Longtubes make more TQ AND HP. Shorties do not make more TQ.

 

with a basic bolt on car you can run a 3" cat back exhaust without much restriction. the TOTL is acctually a very free flowing exhaust, so i wouldn't think you'd need to change it. if you upgrade to heads/cam you may find the 3" catback a bit (emphisize BIT) restrictive (according to some). it has also been said that you wont' be taking full advantage of the flow of the long tubes if you use a standard 3" catback, but this is arguable on a bolt on car.

whether SLP makes the "best shorties"...is very arguable. i have heard good and bad things about every header on the market. some one is always having problems with fitment, leaks, warped flanges (common) and other things. askin which is best is like askin what is the best soda? everyone has their opinion.

i'm assuming you know the basic visual difference between long tubes and shorties, if not check out those pics. there is also what is called a midlength header, in which the collector is extended farther down resulting in better flow. those AS&M's are emissions legal and are a good compromise between the power of longtubes and the clearance/emissions capabilities of shorties.

 

dose anyone have true dyno results ON THE SAME CAR with the differance between L/T's and shorties

and with the only differance being the headers nothing else

 

wow, thanks for the info, I accually didnt know how they looked different.
I live in Alberta, so emissions is not of concern as long as it doesnt create a trail of smoke behind my car. but speed bumps are for sure, in my grand am the air dam would hit some of them.
I like the SLP ones, mostly cause of the name, but the hooker LT's are starting to look good now that i know what the differeneces are. But with SLP from what I understand the TOTL should be good enough, saving me some money. and I dont really plan on cam right now. Thanks for all the help everyone.
and a dyno wiht shorties and LT's on the same car would be pretty cool, do they exist?

 

ive never seen any and everyone seems to just go by what everybody else assumes

 

i have yet to drag my long tubes on speed bumps but i avoid them if possible also. or i at least miss them with one tire. i have scraped the driver side header a couple times backing out of my driveway but it is rather steep.

 

some more info for you:
tpis also makes long tubes for the lt1's. i tried lookin at their web page but it was down. i beleive they were $700 w/ 02 bungs and ceramic coated, and they sold a y-pipe to mate to a 3" cat back for $190

the most cost effective LT headers are the Dynatechs. there are many guys running them and theyseem to be very good quality, and economically priced. LS1 speed sells the dynatechs also, including standard 1 3/4" primaries AND 1 3/4 to 1 7/8" stepped primaries.

some small points about installing the headers, if you plan to use non-emissions equiped headers you'll have to block off the egr. search for this and you should find info..

hope this helps...

 

Short tubes - Cost less, some are emissions certified and all make about the same power. Long tubes - Cost more, more power, not emissions legal. As you said emissions are not a concern, go long tube.

 

im interested also.any links?

 

i need emissions. wich ones are legal and of those ones how hard are they to put in?

 

On a mostly stock car, you'll lose low end torque with Long Tubes. But they do make more horsepower in the long run.

 

Get the SLPs I have them and love them. If my car were a drag car and I needed every horse I could squeeze I would have gone with the hookers. After seeing them on my friends car the extra 5-10 horse I might have gained over midlengths didn't seem worth it. They run very close to the AC box and steering shaft (his tap the shaft). I also don't like the way you can see them hanging under the car. Maybe I'm just picky. I think with a bolt-on car the Slp, AS@M, RK's would be fine. Check out the lt1 shootout High Tech had a couple of issues back. The fastest car their had eldebrock shorties. I had always considered those a waste because of the dinky primaries. By the way I also run the TOTL and no cat. I get alot of compliments on the sound.

I just noticed you had a 96. Make sure to get the 94-95 style headers. The 96 versions are a pain.

 

wich shorties are made the best. which ones have the best design, are thier any major differences in all the shorties? whose are the easiest to install

 

Pretty close. I also installed new pipes from the y-pipe back to the rear of the car. Custom 3" exhaust using 2 magnaflow mufflers on each side of the car. It just sounds awesome with the flps. My old combo with the edelbrock headers made around 480 rwhp. It basically picked up power and torque everywhere above 3500 rpm. Did lose a little low end torque below 3000 rpm. It hasn't been tuned yet either, it's basically stock tuning.

 

I have bbk's. They seem good to me. I wish I had coated them though. I was thinking about long tubes myself. Try the new jet-hots. They just came out, but they wont have emissions legal ones until the end of february. They are a little over $500 for coated. You will still need a y-pipe though too. However, I think i am not getting the full benefits of my headers due to flowmaster and a 2 inch y-pipe. However, I am gonna do a 3 inch dynomouth setup out of the headers with a randomtech cat. Shorties are easier to work with. I changed my spark plugs in 45 minutes. I am gonna take my headers off and get them coated in a couple of weeks. GET COATED HEADERS NO MATTER WHAT KIND YOU CHOOSE!!!!!!!!!! They give off too much heat. I'm talking from experience. Good luck to you in your choice. Thanks, Michael