Headers Worth it
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Joined: Jul 2016
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From: South Shore Ky
Headers Worth it
Planning on running a Whipple Stage 2 Supercharger on my 2016 F150. Is it worth it to spend the 2300-2500 to run 1 7/8 long tube headers and an off-road y-pipe for the power and torque gains with the Whipple? If so feel free to chime in on the positive and negatives.
The catless y-pipe seems to be where the majority of the power comes from...~30 hp seems to be a common number. So...the headers are good for another 20ish on top of that. For me personally the cost benefit just isn’t there. I was planning LT’s and no cats myself...I think I’m just gonna run a catless y-pipe and call it a day. If you’re chasing every last HP then go for it.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 200
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From: South Shore Ky
If i purchase the Whipple and Y-pipe from same vendor would Whipple have a canned tune for the off-road y-pipe? or is that going to need to be pro-tuned for the off-road pipes?
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On my Roush stage II supercharged '13 f150, the kooks long tubes and custom 3" x pipe picked up 30rwhp and torque across the board on the dyno, over the stock manifolds and catless 3" x that was adapted to the kooks headers.
I bought the headers on black Friday and paid $900, $600 for the install and adaptation to the existing x pipe. Even though the difference was only 30rwhp, the truck made 10mph more on the 1/4 mile dyno pull than with the stock catless set up first mentioned.
Aside from all that, it's one of the few mods I could actually feel with the butt dyno out on the highway. It has much more punch getting on it from around 65mph than before.
Some could have been the gear swap, but I'm glad I had the long tubes installed.
Also you picked the dynatech, which I think are a mid length header like the kooks, right? It was explained to me that some long tube headers that have the o2 sensors in the collectors that are parallel with the street can many times have problems with condensation knocking out the sensors in short order. The Kooks and dynatechs 02 bungs are located in the down swept part of the header collector, eliminating water fouling the sensors that are further back in a traditional collector.
This isn't something I actually know about, but was related to me by the guys doing the header install. They had no input on which headers I chose but gave me that information after the fact. Take it for what it's worth.
I bought the headers on black Friday and paid $900, $600 for the install and adaptation to the existing x pipe. Even though the difference was only 30rwhp, the truck made 10mph more on the 1/4 mile dyno pull than with the stock catless set up first mentioned.
Aside from all that, it's one of the few mods I could actually feel with the butt dyno out on the highway. It has much more punch getting on it from around 65mph than before.
Some could have been the gear swap, but I'm glad I had the long tubes installed.
Also you picked the dynatech, which I think are a mid length header like the kooks, right? It was explained to me that some long tube headers that have the o2 sensors in the collectors that are parallel with the street can many times have problems with condensation knocking out the sensors in short order. The Kooks and dynatechs 02 bungs are located in the down swept part of the header collector, eliminating water fouling the sensors that are further back in a traditional collector.
This isn't something I actually know about, but was related to me by the guys doing the header install. They had no input on which headers I chose but gave me that information after the fact. Take it for what it's worth.
Last edited by rojizostang; Dec 18, 2018 at 09:37 PM.
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The catless y-pipe seems to be where the majority of the power comes from...~30 hp seems to be a common number. So...the headers are good for another 20ish on top of that. For me personally the cost benefit just isn’t there. I was planning LT’s and no cats myself...I think I’m just gonna run a catless y-pipe and call it a day. If you’re chasing every last HP then go for it.