I was at the muffler shop and i've seen some guy was gettin flow techs installed on his 89 s10 he gave me an idea, plus i read the reviews obout flow tech headers, many chevy people say that they work great on their TBI trucks, but Ford put them down, i am thinkin to install them next month, they aren't expepnsive and i can get them in my town at the performance store, they have them all the time there, do u think they will work better then my stock exhaust manifolds? and actually improve the flow plus the sound, and plus i wonna add a 3 inch exhaust pipe too. Should i do it?

 

Better than stock manifolds, but not better than other more expensive choices available.

 

They will increase flow dramatically over the stock manifolds, unfortunately the Y pipe they supply is a poor design; almost as poor as the stock Y pipe. The flowtech Y pipe is also only 2.5", so if you do get the flowtechs, get the exhaust shop to hack it right by the passenger collector and run a 3" pipe from there.

 

I heard they leak pretty badly from a cheap design. I'd do a search and see what comes up.

 

Flowtech's and thier Y pipe are fine for a small engine not making over 300hp. Thier headers are cheap enough but the Y pipe can run upwards of $160. If anyone has bothered to cut thier factory Y pipe into small peices especially an LG4 peice and compare it to a FTY there would be no comparison to factory Y's ever made again. But again your looking at over $200 for the flowtech peices and there are much better options out there for slightly more that dont use standard collectors and come with larger primary tubes so your engine can grow without the headers being the restriction in the future. As far as leaks go it's all about the prep and the type of gaskets used. If the heads are clean and you use dead soft aluminum gaskets all around and dont over tq them you will be fine for many years.

 

I agree 100% but this is hard if not impossible to do with the flowtechs.


The flanges are thin and warp easy and the collectors don't line up with the y-pipe causing flange delfection with a minimal amount of torque applied to the bolts. I know some people have had luck with these heads but I will never buy nor recomend flowtechs to anyone. I hate them that much. I wasted so mush time and money on these things to gain almost nothing in the end. Another $150 doesn't seem so expensive now to get a set that doesn't have these issues. Refer to this thread for additional info and pics.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...owtech+headers

 

I have them they work ok. I haven't had any leaks yet. I used stock exhaust gaskets

 

I have the Flowtech headers and Y-Pipe. Good for the price. Spark plug access isnt the best, and that last bolt on the passenger side is a pain. My Y-pipe blew out the gaskets a couple times when I first got it, but now after some use and doubling up on the gaskets it dosent give me any problems.

Im satisfied with them.

 

i put them on a buddies car 3 years ago and we had no issues whatsoever, i've had more problems with my long tubes with fitment/ stuff lining up then the flowtechs. they're cheap and work great with TBI type setups or anything that needs more flow but isn't a high HP motor.

 

You can say that again! Spark plugs on the PS are a royal PITA with these headers. I had problems getting the last 3 bolts in the PS. Funny because the DS just sliped right on in and bolted up in less then 10 minutes.

 

I believe the passenger side was supposed to be installed from underneath. Mine fit nicely one I got pissed off and hammered the hell out of my ac condenser box. Now I have a blower that keeps my under hood temps cool. I actually noticed a different with that effect. I had my old analog temp gauge disconnected and just laying in the bay until I get a fitting to install it into my new intake and I can tell a difference.

 

Just go back that statment up a bit. Here a cutup from my birds LG4 Y pipe. The pics kinda suck $20 camera. The ID on the big end of the pipe is just a hair over two inches. If you cut into the pipe thers another pipe that even smaller 1 7/8 to be exact. At least the FTY is 2.5 OD pipe for what it worth.

 

Opps. #1

 

#2

 

Well, I have seen some of the Flowtech truck headers and they are totally different quality than their thirdgen headers. The truck headers were at least as good as my Hooker 2055s, if not better. The flanges were actually thicker than my Hookers. Unfortunately, the thirdgen headers suffer from very thin flanges and the collector flanges easly bend if you overtighten your ypipe.