Long tubes or short tubes?

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I saw the title of this thread from the community board.....DO NOT GET SHORTIES!!!!!!!!!

You're car came factory with "shorties", there is virtually no difference between after market shorty headers and longtubes. You will get no performance gain with them and they are just as much a pain-in-the-ass to install as LT's. Expect a 15-20rwhp gain with coated LT's.

Longtubes or nothing.
 
I've read numerous posts from 4.6L 3V owners who had lost some low end torque with LT's even with a dyno tune.

If that's the case then it's usually a product of an exhaust that's too large for the engine combo (i.e. the primaries are too big). Contrary to poplular belief, torque is not the product of an exhaust restriction. It is however, maximized by an exhaust system that promotes the best scavenging.

So if dudes are putting LTs on and loosing low end torque, then I'd say that they're either buying LTs that are too large or buying from companies that do a poor job of building headers and designing good collectors.
 
If that's the case then it's usually a product of an exhaust that's too large for the engine combo (i.e. the primaries are too big). Contrary to poplular belief, torque is not the product of an exhaust restriction. It is however, maximized by an exhaust system that promotes the best scavenging.

So if dudes are putting LTs on and loosing low end torque, then I'd say that they're either buying LTs that are too large or buying from companies that do a poor job of building headers and designing good collectors.

I agree, there is still a "bigger is better" mentality out there sometimes.
 
go with a good company.... (needless to say, i know)

better to get something a little too big now if you are planning on doing anything fun in the near future to avoid having to buy headers 2 times. itll give you some room to grow. whether it be for cam/intake/heads/ forced induction. ect
 
It is TOTALLY possible to get a set of long tube headers that scavenge really well that still have room in them to grow.

LTs do the majority of their exhaust scavenging within the header where shorties do not. Shorties depend a lot more on the rest of the exhaust system to help.
 
I got the Pypes Shorties and they're good headers, however i'm fed up with them and about to buy some pacesetter LT's. When i got them put on i called my tuner and he said they didnt tune for them because they dont make any extra power! then why the f*** do you sell them?
 
I got the Pypes Shorties and they're good headers, however i'm fed up with them and about to buy some pacesetter LT's. When i got them put on i called my tuner and he said they didnt tune for them because they dont make any extra power! then why the f*** do you sell them?


Not sure what you mean. You bought the Pace Setters from a shop and he later told you they don't free up power? :shrug:
 
nooo, when i got my shorties he told me they wouldn't make any power. so now im gonna get some LT's for sound preference and power gains for future mods (i.e. nitrous)

I bought the shorties on line, and when i put them on i called my tuner to get him to write a tune file, and he said they don't tune for shorties because they make no difference.
 
Personally, I would look for a better set of LTs than Pace Setter. Those things are like the JC Whitney bargain brand that folks toss on because they don't want to fork the money over to the stealership to replace their broken OEM manifold.
 
Personally, I would look for a better set of LTs than Pace Setter. Those things are like the JC Whitney bargain brand that folks toss on because they don't want to fork the money over to the stealership to replace their broken OEM manifold.

I always thought pacesetter was a fairly reliable name. and yes they are less expensive but i figured it was because they were only painted. i was gonna have them ceramic coated locally.
 
I always thought pacesetter was a fairly reliable name. and yes they are less expensive but i figured it was because they were only painted. i was gonna have them ceramic coated locally.

Shop around a little bit and see if you can find a set that's already coated for around the same money. I've had good and bad experiences with Pace Setter on a Mitsubishi that my X-wife had. I've never tried putting a set on a Mustang though, so I can't vouch either way on their quality. My guess though, is that they don't take the time to tune their exhaust pieces before marketing.