Okay, I'll admit it, I sold them before I knew I'd be doing this LQ4 thing. I'd like to keep from killing the back pocket with this swap. I know everyone says shorties are no better than the good stock exhaust manifolds. The Hawks/SS Works long tubes are very nice, but I'd want them ceramic coated, so coated LT headers alone will almost double the cost of the swap. So, are shorties that much of a killer? Will 1-5/8" primaries be at least as good as the current 2055's on the current 350? Will my hopes and dreams of improving ET by half a second with the LSx swap go unfulfilled if I use shorties? If I vote for Obama, will I still have to make my mortgage payments?

I feel you. I'm in the same boat, the Hawks longtubes would put me over my budget by a long shot. It's shorties for me, and the plan is to have enough balls in the motor alone to for-go any shortcomings with the shorty headers.

Not an ls1, but might give you an idea

The first test was done with a 389 Tri-Power with 9:1 compression. Here's the results.
Stock exhaust manifolds (no ceramic coating) - 347 hp @ 5300 rpm & 395 lb ft tq @ 4350 rpm.
Hedman shorty headers ( no coating) - 342 hp @ 5300 rpm & 386 lb tq @ 4350 rpm.
Hedman long - tube headers (ceramic coated) - 367 hp @ 5400 rpm & 407 lb ft tq @ 4350 rpm.
Performance Years Ram Air manifolds ( no coating ) - 355 hp @ 5300 rpm & 400 lb ft tq @ 4400 rpm.
The second test was done on a 455 , .030 over, 9:1 compression, 6X heads, 228-degree cam.
This test wasn't done with a set of factory logs.
Hedman shorties - 424 hp @ 5300 rpm & 470 lb ft tq @ 4250 rpm.
Hedman long- tube headers - 443 hp @ 5400 rpm & 479 lb ft tq @ 4300 rpm.
Performance Years Ram Air manifolds - 421 hp @ 5300 rpm & 470 lb ft tq @ 4250 rpm.
RARE Ram Air manifolds (no coating but came gasket matched with internal porting from the factory) -
423 hp @ 5300 rpm & 471 lb ft tq @ 4300 rpm.