Header advice
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 19
Likes: 5
How are you liking those long tubes TwoTrick? Do they sound good? Yes they sound good, a nice crisp audible tone that let's folks know that there's headers installed. Not obnoxious while driving hwy speeds, but when you ram on the gas pedal you hear them. Overall, I like the sound.
We're the gains substantial? Or at least very noticeable at the seat of your pants? The gains in the seat of the pants are felt across the RPM range. I'd say the best benefit has been felt on hills. I live at 5,500 feet and the 4.6 pushing a 6" lift and 35" tires struggled on hills, hence why I got the exhaust. Once I changed the exhaust it was much better...how much better in terms of actual gains, I'm not sure but Id say around 25HP-35HP. Again, keep in mind I got a custom tune from power hungry performance so the gains were not from exhaust alone. With all the mods I have, the truck is now much more pleasurable to drive.
When coming off of idle are you feeling a bit more torque?
Its has plenty of torque off the line, but I have 4.56 G2 Gears with a Aburn Limited Slip in the rear. Plus, I just had the transmission rebuilt with a quality shift kit. Passengers have commented that my truck feels powerful off the line, even under normal driving conditions.
Did you reuse your factory studs?
No. The PaceSetters come with studs and new gaskets. The exhaust shop that installed the headers had to use a tone of liquid wrench to get the stock bolts loosened. I'm sure there were a set or two of bloody knuckles trying to get off as well, LOL.
I'm buying LT's soon, probably OBX's since they are stainless. Not a great stainless, but better then aluminized steel.
Stainless is the way to go if you plan on keeping the truck for a long time and live in the rust belt. I went with standard because I live in the desert. My headers will get superficial rust, but shouldn't rust through (keeping fingers crossed).
Any input or tips is appreciated...
We're the gains substantial? Or at least very noticeable at the seat of your pants? The gains in the seat of the pants are felt across the RPM range. I'd say the best benefit has been felt on hills. I live at 5,500 feet and the 4.6 pushing a 6" lift and 35" tires struggled on hills, hence why I got the exhaust. Once I changed the exhaust it was much better...how much better in terms of actual gains, I'm not sure but Id say around 25HP-35HP. Again, keep in mind I got a custom tune from power hungry performance so the gains were not from exhaust alone. With all the mods I have, the truck is now much more pleasurable to drive.
When coming off of idle are you feeling a bit more torque?
Its has plenty of torque off the line, but I have 4.56 G2 Gears with a Aburn Limited Slip in the rear. Plus, I just had the transmission rebuilt with a quality shift kit. Passengers have commented that my truck feels powerful off the line, even under normal driving conditions.
Did you reuse your factory studs?
No. The PaceSetters come with studs and new gaskets. The exhaust shop that installed the headers had to use a tone of liquid wrench to get the stock bolts loosened. I'm sure there were a set or two of bloody knuckles trying to get off as well, LOL.
I'm buying LT's soon, probably OBX's since they are stainless. Not a great stainless, but better then aluminized steel.
Stainless is the way to go if you plan on keeping the truck for a long time and live in the rust belt. I went with standard because I live in the desert. My headers will get superficial rust, but shouldn't rust through (keeping fingers crossed).
Any input or tips is appreciated...
Good luck with your decision.
Best.
TwoTrick
The only thing I'll add is the truck is NOT my daily driver and when I bought the truck I got an awesome deal. If it was my only vehicle, I probably wouldn't have done as many mods because there's the chance, albeit small, that overall reliability is affected requiring more maintenance and cost. Plus the associated diminished value with adding mods can affect resale/trade value.
Good luck with your decision.
Best.
TwoTrick
Considering you got the 4.6, I'm sure the headers really woke your motor up a bit.
I'm playing with a 2004 screw 5.4 3V, with 3.73 gears, 35" tires, leveled, Volant CAI, rear cat delete, SI/DO exhaust and 3 custom tunes from PHP on my edge CS. The motor is clean, and the tranny is smooth, so I think I will be able to get a good read on the performance increase. My tunes are already primed for LT headers according to Bill, so I think I'm pretty much ready to pull the trigger.
My truck is my daily driver, and it does pack on the miles quick, and carts around a lot of tools. I'm not too worried about any reliability issues with the long tubes, especially considering how the factory manifolds tend to leak. I'm more worried about rust, so that's why I'm going the OBX route.. I have 2 other trucks in my stable, so I'm not petrified of modding issues.. But I do want to remain as reliable as possible..
I'm going to get high flow cats, fresh O2's and do all the welding and fab work before the header install myself. So at least I know it will be done right, with no surprises.
When it comes to bolting the headers in, did you have any issues with leaks after putting some miles on the headers?
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 128
Likes: 4
From: Iowa
Thank you to all who have replied. A whole lot of info. I know some of you said you had a shop install long tubes how much did it cost you? I have decided to go long tubes with high flow cats and an x pipe set up true duals
I offered $700 for the "catted" kit to them directly through email with no luck because they are out if stock. Its gonna cost me roughly $700 when all is said and done with lopping off the resonators and putting hi flows in..
So I'm prob just gonna grab the resonator OBX kit. I like the fact that its stainless, and the welds look a lot better then what Ive seen on the pacesetters. I hear the OBX cats don't suck that bad, and I was gonna add some spark plug non foulers to the 02 bungs if it throws codes.. I just really liked the idea of just bolting everything right up.. But so much for that... There is 1 eBay deal I saw for $825 shipped with cats, but that's too much money for a dice roll with OBX cats IMHO.
To weld the stainless "right", I'm gonna need to get a Tri mix of C02, argon and helium, and switch to a stainless wire on my welder. This means I need to buy another tank, or purge my $40 dollars of argon/co2 that I have in my current tank..... More money!!!
I know most exhaust shops probably don't bother with doing it "right" with stainless. At least the ones I've been to. So I might just swap to stainless wire and do some test welds with argon/co2. Hopefully I can still get good penetration and puddle control. I'm certainly not banking on OBX having great stainless quality anyways, so the whole thought may be overkill...
The pacesetters with Y pipe are cheaper, but I live in the rust belt so I think I need a header that is going to last longer then a "quick trip". LOL! I really don't get a good feeling with how pacesetter calls their headers "quick trip longtube headers"