I bought some shorty headers a while back off of Ebay , and while they worked they never really sat right with me because I had to make a sharp bend right at the exit of the passenger side header.

Is there a header that allows an almost straight exit out of the engine bay or am I stuck with this ?

 

All the shorties I've heard of are made as bolt-in replacements for 4th gen manifolds. Most likely your eBay parts were as well. So, not likely you'll see any differences with another brand.

 

Thanks

 

What about something like this?

Hooker Manifold

 

Fifth gen factory manifolyds are 1 3/4 ports with 2.5" collector. Can still run a y-pipe for factory style single exhaust.

 

They aren't designed like 4th gen f-body LS, but they don't kick out like truck manifolds, so they should work.

 

The pipe that crosses in front of the oil pan sump of 3rd gens would be a problem with LS oil pans. The truck/Muscle Car pans may have the clearance between the sump and K-member, but they hang really low.

 

So running one in the stock location really sin't an option then as the factory Y-pipe runs now? That means us Auto guys need to find a way to run something down past the trans. I don't suppose you have a picture of it?

 

This is with Hawks/SSW 1-3/4" longtubes with 2-1/2" collectors, custom 2-1/2" pipes to a 3" single cat-back, using Hawks LS1/4L60E transmission crossmember.



2-1/2" pipes from 4th gen shorties to the factory cat-back should be do-able. You'll lose a little ground clearance going under the factory transmission crossmember. Or, as some have done, modify the factory crossmember to add a hump to it.

The Holley/Hooker rep provided some advice on how to use their new crossmember to get it to work with a TH700 in another thread. My eventual plan is to use all their stuff when I upgrade the power of this setup.

 

After reading through the whole Holley thread over on LS1tech, seems like it makes the transmission sit back farther so I can't use my drive shaft (In fact even the 4th gen guys can't use their drive shafts). I would have to get a modified one and I don't like that idea at all.