im running a supercharged small block, carburated, with 215cc large valve heads, the motor is built to flow well, i have a cam that works well with a blower, a 750 carb, a nice fuel pump, so im gonna be movin mixture through this thing pretty well.

my catback is an SLP Loudmouth 3", which we all know flows well.

my question is, what kind of shortie headers and Ypipe Flows the best?
im looking for collector size, primary size, ypipe size, all that, i dont want the exhaust to be the restriction.

my friend is pushing 419 rwhp with shorties by hedman i believe, im hoping to make high 11 second passes on this car just to give you an idea what im shooting for

mike

 

If you can, try to get some longtubes on it. They'll make significantly more hp that a shorty header will, especially if you're moving a volume of air with a blower motor and good heads.

As far as my shorty recomendation goes, I like the Hedmans. Mostly b/c they come with a y pipe and ball flanges instead of 3 bolt flat flanges. They're nearly identical to the Hooker 2460's in terms of primary size, length and shape. The Edelbrocks have a cheesy primary design, not a big fan.

 

long tubes would be great, but i think i would have clearance issues with a 1 inch drop on it.
im hearing so many mixed opinions, i hear people making great power with shorties, some say long tubes dont do anything until 800 horsepower
some people say shorties are good for top end long tubes are good for low end
i hear so many things i dont know who to listen to

 

Primary diameter has more to do with the HP/TQ curves than anything else. When I had my motor on the dyno we had 1 7/8" longtubes then switched to 1 5/8". It lost a couple HP but picked up about 12 lb/ft and it moved it lower in the RPM band so instead of peaking at say 4500 it peaked around 4200. Then I went from the longtubes to the shorties that are on the car and I mocked up the ypipe too so it simulated how it is on the car and it lost 9 hp and 12 tq. with no other changes. If you can fit them on there, go with the longtubes. I have done a couple sets of the hooers on lowered cars with no problems. They were with the mufflex ypipes.

 

what kind of power are you putting out? i know that the ideal size for me would be one and three-quarters, but i think only slp makes them, correct? and i heard the slp ypipe is junk. more so than header size, im concerned about the collector size and ypipe because thats where the most restriction for me is gonna be.

 

A 1 5/8 primary is more than addequate for what you are doing. The 1 3/4 primary will help a little above 5000 but you will lose some bottom end. On the street you will gain more usable performance with the 1 5/8 over the 3/4. Your hardly ever over 5000 on the street anyway and when you take it to the track you will most likely unbolt the exhaust anyway making the bigger primaries a mute point. In the stop light to stop light battles the smaller tube will help you! The shorties also make more torque. The longer tubes promote cylinder scavenging but at higher rpm's so your gains there will be again in the upper rpm range. Shorties ( I like the hedmans also) are more convenient for install and road clearance. The longer tubes can cause road clearance issues and are more visable which could lead to some unwanted attention if your not running any cats. My $0.02

 

PERFECT!

what kind of hedmans are you running? are you running their ypipe? if so is it modified? what kind of power are you putting out?

mike

 

I actually made my own shorty style headers(ball and flange connection). Hedmans as posted previously have a collector that is easier to work with but you need their y pipe also, which isn't a bad thing. At the end of the day your still going to have a portion of the exhaust being single so your "at the track" performance will suffer a bit. This is why you'll probably want to unbolt the Y pipe at the track. This again is a positive for the hedmans. With the exhaust on the street the restrictions of the single, again, will benefit you. 380 hp-450 ft.lbs. Heavy automatic car w/ no gear.

 

that works, shouldi even bother with the ypipe mod to make it bigger, should i build my own, or should i just use the hedman one and not touch it?

 

Use the headman pipe and don't touch it. Your limited for space with the frame and oilpan etc. So making yourself one is very tough. Not impossible but tough.

 

SLP seems to make the best 1 3/4" primary shortie headers for these cars. That is what i would recomend looking into.


Josh