Ok I need some headers and a y pipe. I'm a little concerned about clearance of LTs. How much less power will I get if I go same-length shorties or mids as compared to LTs?

I don't want to run cats either but I did consider leaving my cats on there gutted (straight pipe through em to keep turbulence down) just to keep the poh-pohs away if they sniff under my car. Then I figured that I wouldnt be able to match their diameter to the aftermarket headers and y pipe. No emissions in FL

What would the best way to go be?

 

If your car isn't lowered you should be okay with long tubes, otherwise if you want to go with shorties I'd recommend going with some 94-95 style headers. Their primaries are longer than the 96-97 style. Typically I've seen shorty headers make anywhere from 15 - 25 rwhp, where as I've seen long tubes make 25 - 30 rwhp on a mostly stock car. Long tubes will also provide a larger HP/TQ gain all across the power band where as shorties make most of their power up top.

Here's some headers to "search" for on this message board:

Long tubes:
Hooker, Dynatech, FLP

Shorty:
SLP, AS&M, MAC, BBK, Hooker

 

I even scraped my hotchkis G-load brace... would the headers drop lower than that?

EDIT: Yea... It's fairly difficult maneuvering around some places here as is... decent angle on my driveway and getting out of some parking lots onto some streets is hard as hell when it dips down... doubt i'd be dropping my car because then i'd have way more problems. Anyway, it seems to be low enough stock to where it doesnt look gay like most other cars do.

 

With my FLP's I've never scraped. FLP's do tend to tuck up closer to the floor board than other long tubes though. If you're that concerned about ground clearance I'd check out AS&M headers, they are as close to long tubes as you can get and you retain ground clearance.

 

Either the AS&M's, or the 1 3/4 inch SLP headers. Coated of course!!

 

Excellent! Great help How much am I looking to spend on that and a y pipe that'll fit w/ no cats?

 

I might be getting an extra set of used AS&M's with the high flow cats sometime soon. If you decide to go that way, keep me in mind. The setup is great.

 

i need headers... i need cheap headers.... i would prefer used headers that are in good shape..... email me when you get them

 

AS&M

If my friend and I weren't morons we would've done the install a lot quicker, and next time it shoudl be a lot easier. Get the locking header bolts, as it'll save you hours and hours of work....

 

AS&M are very very quailty headers.
I had some in my possession at one point.

 

Go for RK Sport headers . Same design as AS&M but a whole lot cheaper. The only real difference is that they are only coated on the outside whereas the AS&Ms are coated both outside and inside.

 

so how much would it be to get the inside coated and would that make up the difference in price

 

I have heard that RK Sport headers looked like AS&M's, but the quality is not the same. I have never seen the two side by side so I can't attest to that.

 

Rks used to be quite a bit cheaper. But last time I checked there was only $100 difference. I'd just get the AS&Ms.

 

My roomate has the RK Sports. LEAK LEAK LEAK. And the coating is nice and rusty too.

I've seen the SLP's, and from that alone, I'd avoid them. I've also known a few local folks with sealing problems with them as well, and plug and header bolt access looks like a nightmear on them.