I went to advance and they had a catalog for headers and y-pipe and there was a flowtech shorty with ypipe. 1 1/2" to 2 1/2", comes with an 02 bung as well.
My question is what is a stock 305 tbi cast iron manifold sizes? Just want to see how much of a difference there is.
An also if its worth getting it?
How far can you go with engine hp/tq till this is to constrictive? Just been hearing 1 3/4 to 3" is best; but i don't think that extra 1/4" would be a HUGE difference...

thanks,
Timinsk

 

flowtech's are cheap , lot's of welding slag , thin mounting flange , and the story goes on . they were the first set i installed on my first third gen. . i spent a day cleaning up welding slag & condition of Y pipe . had to use extra thick gaskets all around . they seemed to work O.K. , but i had to take a lot of extra care/work . not so with the hedmanns #68478 that i now have . just my thoughts and experince . good luck .

 

take that into consideration; thanks!

 

I actually have a pair of hedman shorties in my garage waiting to go on my 84 TA (same ones you mentioned, I think). Since you've got experience with them, mind sharing your opinion? I don't plan to use the car as a daily driver nor do I plan to take it to the strip (maybe once to see what it runs) but I'd like it to have a little "spirit" when I hit the gas. How was the install and were you satisfied with the performance? I have the hedman headers along with the y-pipe, a magnaflow cat, dynomax pipes, and a magnaflow muffler all waiting to go on the car for over a year now.

 

Go with the hooker 2055's and don't look back. I've installed two sets and they're amazing. I absolutely love the 3" y-pipe they come with. Beats the snot out of replacing my custom y-pipe every other week when I had the LTs.

 

As much as I'd love to, those shorties are way out of my budget right now. The hedman set cost like 170 or less I think. I'm sure they're not as good but for my application they seem adequate based on specs. Since I'm coming from the stock manifolds I'm sure just about anything would be a massive improvement anyway. My main concern is with fitment issues or maybe poor build quality, etc. I actually have another 84 TA that is nowhere near driveable but I'd like to get it back on the road and sell it. Might eventually transplant my current setup to that car when I have the money to do a full restore. I have quite a while before I can do that though

 

yeah my issue is budget too but ive been drooling for the hookers. im actually looking towards 2.5" rather than 3" figured theres no point except for sound, not gaining anything after.

 

I've found it's best to wait and save a bit longer and get what you really want, instead of compromising and eventually paying twice. Can't tell you how many times thats happened to me, lol...

The 2055's will also future proof your ride. So when the time comes you're throwing a hot 350 in, you'll be ready.

 

If you go with headers that have primaries bigger than 1 5/8 inch , i think you may kill a little of your low end torque. You know that with shorty headers in general, you are going to feel a little loss in low end torque, but more power up high. Which IMO, helps a lot on our cars a lot. You may feel more low end loss with a 305 than a 350. Still probably one of the best mods IMO.

 

I would save the 1 3/4 headers for your 3:73 geared , AFR headed, Stealth ram, high rpm car.LOL

 

Based on what I've read in the sticky on backpressure I have to agree that going above 2.5" for a car with less than about 400 hp is probably overkill. I wanted to do 3" all the way through but realized it wasn't necessary and it would be cheaper to do 2.5" anyway so I went that route. I'm not worried about losing a little low-end torque either. After I changed to a holley carb, edelbrock performer rpm intake manifold, and a new distributor I saw a big change on the butt dyno across the board but especially down low. I was actually shocked when I floored it for the first time after doing all that because the thing moved like a boat until then. My girlfriend yelled at me too, lol.

 

http://www.pontiacstreetperformance....p/exhaust.html