Thread: headers?

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alright.. so im picking out some headers for my truck . is there any brand i should stay away from? i always hear of them leaking? is there a good gasket that i can buy that will be less susceptible to leak? thanks in advance guys!

Originally Posted by chevyguy350

i always hear of them leaking? is there a good gasket that i can buy that will be less susceptible to leak?

Earl's - they have replacable seal inserts.

Sanderson never had a set leak in 20 years.

I'm with Roger on the Earls. You can replace just the insert if need be for a few bucks - and they are really well made.

I'm in agreement with Bruce on the Sandersons. Just had my 20 year old Limefires recoated and they look absolutely like new. They say not to use gaskets, but I do and have had no leaks.

Don

thanks for the input guys! really appreciate it! it will be nice to get rid of my restrictive stock exhaust manifolds!

Don't meant to rain on anyone's parade here,but the dirty little secrete header companies don't tell you is headers really don't do much off idle to 3,000 rpm.Sure they tell you the best results at a rpm that you would be hard pressed to use regularly.Read that all the time that one header gives so many hp over another.But they are not really being honest about the results.Just some head games.Louder is bigger and that isn't the truth.

Originally Posted by 1gary

Don't meant to rain on anyone's parade here,but the dirty little secrete header companies don't tell you is headers really don't do much off idle to 3,000 rpm.Sure they tell you the best results at a rpm that you would be hard pressed to use regularly.Read that all the time that one header gives so many hp over another.But they are not really being honest about the results.Just some head games.Louder is bigger and that isn't the truth.

So.... there are people who use headers thinking they make more horsepower????? wow.... who knew. I thought they were just for looks

Russ

It is true----0 to 3000 rpm, headers don't do much----BUT----Who stops at 3000 rpm and cast iron exhaust manifolds just do not look right on a exposed engine hotrod. Of coarse that's just my thinking on the subject.

I can't imagine my mostly exposed engine with Ford's clunky cast iron 'beauties'. Power - it's warmed over a bit, has a nice lumpy idle, looks good - and will still use 87 octane gas if necessary. It's something like a K&N filter - yep, they'll pass more air, but even my 10 cylinder truck pulling my 11K pound camper up a hill in scream gear wont see more then 4000 rpm.

With a small block chevy, you can always go the ram horn type manifolds. Speedway motors has em. they look pretty good for manifolds. And you can get them in stainless and polished stainless. Of course if you want headers that hang over the frame then that won't work. I have heard they preform pretty well. Again with a big hp motor and you want all the power at over 3000 they probably wont do.

I purchased a few header builder kits this past year and they came with enough material to make whatever I wanted. I do not believe they make much power if any under 3000 rpm either, but the torque seemed to jump up!! I made them about three feet long and dropped them over the frame then shot them back to the 3" pipes.

ram horns do perform pretty well for a cast iron manifold BUT they are peaky powerwise and better suited for applications that rev above 6000 basically the longer the tubes the better ESPECIALLY on a sbc. my advice is to save your money and buy a set of tri-y's

EDIT: theres a new brand of gasket that just came out at my local parts shop a few days ago i cant remember the brand but they crush about 50% so they'll seal just about anything i'll post again when i remember the brand name