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Hi guys, I currently have a set of hooker shorty headers on my car. I have a few mods on the car and i keep getting an exhaust "tick" which i believe is from the y-pipe falling apart again. I have tried to tighten every bolt i can but i am sorta using this as an excuse to get new headers.
I'd love to do long tubes because i'd like to get better flow and possibly more power, however ive been told that my car "doesn't make enough power for long tubes" which i've never heard before. I'm just looking for recommendations of whether i should do a new set of shorties or if i can do long tubes without them hurting my power or engine.
short and simple:
- tube diameter should match horsepower production.
- long tubes give you a broader powerband, typically a bigger torque peak and even better mpg, at the expense of ground clearance.
On a well-matched combination your 1/4 mile time will be virtually the same with shorties vs long tubes (assuming same size primaries, comparable y-pipe...), but the long tubes will have more midrange and better MPG.
short and simple:
- tube diameter should match horsepower production.
- long tubes give you a broader powerband, typically a bigger torque peak and even better mpg, at the expense of ground clearance.
On a well-matched combination your 1/4 mile time will be virtually the same with shorties vs long tubes (assuming same size primaries, comparable y-pipe...), but the long tubes will have more midrange and better MPG.
thank you for the info. I'm not really concerned about the MPG since its not a daily driver, its just a fair weather car. I'm hoping since the hooker shorties were fairly cheap headers that a decent set of long tubes will have a noticeable improvement. thank you again
You may not like living with the long tubes. Changing starters will mean unbolting the header and y pipe. You will eventually have heat soak with the starter. You'll need to put fiberglass heat reflective sleeving on the power wires for the starter. You will lose ground clearance. Installing and removing them will mean jacking the car up and pulling all the plugs and the starter. If I find someone to trade me my long tube Hookers for a set of Dyno Don's, I'm there.
I would go with "Dyno Don's Shorty's and "Y" pipe like this.
This combo is of excellent quality and highly rated and most likely the best set performance wise for our cars when considering shorty's and "Y" pipe.
Last edited by Ron U.S.M.C.; Jun 25, 2017 at 10:54 PM.
from what everyone is saying right now about the long tubes i agree.
i didnt know quite so much had to go into the long tubes, my starter is already wrapped in the heat protective covering since the old one kept overheating. I'm still interested though....
I can change my starter as well from above but it's a pro form mini starter. And I have dougs long tube headers. But I don't have a.c. or a heater box in my way either. I can just reach down and take the 2 bolts out and out comes a baby starter.
I have Maximizer ebay long tubes ,and starter change is easy and fast,I have this starter:http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo....303029&jsn=453
Plug change same thing,much faster and easier than previous SLP tri-y's,and they don't hang as low as tri-y's did.
I have possibly the least obtrusive engine bay, hooker long tube headers and a power master / Hitachi style mini starter and it is not coming out without taking the headers loose. Maybe after that you might be able to get it out from the top but you'd be contorting yourself to do it.
I can change my starter as well from above but it's a pro form mini starter. And I have dougs long tube headers. But I don't have a.c. or a heater box in my way either. I can just reach down and take the 2 bolts out and out comes a baby starter.
Show him some photos of the ground clearance with long tubes.
That might help him decide.
right now with my y-pipe it already hangs pretty low. I saw a post a while ago about some E-bay long tubes that were tucked up maybe higher than my exhaust is. Right now i have an electric cut out on it too and an SLP loudmouth catback, but the muffler was replaced with a borla. the system is out of my friend's 4th gen. The muffler is the lower than the rest of the exhaust, it is mounted in-line just before the rear axle. If it is lower than that it will def make me reconsider. I've been sorta piecing together my exhaust for about a decade lol.
