I am thinking about adding headers to my 5.4 L and i was wondering if anyone had any input on what kind are the best. I am looking for a good combination of sound and performance. I like either Long tube or equal ength headers. Thanks for your help

 

i have headman shortys, and there pretty nice/ cheap from summit. long tube will give you more of a raspy sound and a little better performance, shorys will give you a nice combo of deep muscle and a lil power. also shortys are easier to install. i got mine for 250-265.

 

did you install them yourself?

and do you have any leaks?

 

Ive you want more perf. go with the longtubes

 

yeah i installed them, and no theres no leaks... the best way to check for leaks is to look at the fringe of the gasket and you can see dark burn marks from the exhaust. you just have to remember to check the bolts every so often and make sure there cranked down. Thats with any hedder though. i heard of a kid around my area that owns a trans am and after he put his hedders on, he never checked them and he lost a couple of bolts... simple mistake.

 

how hard is it to get the header bolts off, and how hard are they to get to?

 

the headder bolts are tough to get off, you have to have the right tools.. small elbow sockets usually work good. i used pb break on the bolts and let it sit for an hour, i also put it on the egr sensors. Then i tightened em a quarter turn to break the corriosion. the untightnened them all the way. make sure you disconnect the egr sensor and the flange to the cats first, it will make your life a bit easier. oh and make sure you take off the wheel well plastic too. that way you can crawl up into the bay a little more. it took about 2 hours.. course i stopped and drank a beer before getting off the next next manifold lol. getting them on is a little tougher because of the gasket. what i did was beaded a line of gasket sealant on the block itself first, then made sure the gasket was on straight then held the hedder on and started the bolts in all 4 corners. after that its easy as pie.

 

damnit, now I have no excuse not to do it.

 

lol yeah you should do it for sure. It helps if you have a lift too. If not get it as high as you can with jack stands.

 

how much are you looking to spend?? i see you already have a jba catback exhaust
but i was looking at a full jba system for my 4.6 and the dyno sheet showed a pretty good increase if you go to jba's web site youll probably find your engine's dyno sheet with most likely a set of jba headers and the exhaust
but i belive the jba headers are in the 400 + range