Short Headers?

[Rico]

I am looking to buy intake, headers, and exhaust. I already know what exhaust (borla atak) and intake (K&N) I want, but is it worth the money to buy short headers or will that be a waste of money for minimal gains? Opinions are welcome. I would go long tube with high flow cats, but don't want to void any warranty right now. I was looking at buying the Doug Thorley short headers (which I heard were good), but again will that be worth the $500 I have to pay for them? Thanks in advance for the help.

[v6sonoma]

While 99% of the people out there will club you to death over them saying how much better Longtubes are some of them do give you gains and they don't require a tune. LT's will give you 3-4 times the increase but will 99% of the time require a tune. So if you can't tune it then the shorties are worth the money. If you could care less about tuning them Longtubes are the only way to go.

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Originally Posted by Rico

I am looking to buy intake, headers, and exhaust. I already know what exhaust (borla atak) and intake (K&N) I want, but is it worth the money to buy short headers or will that be a waste of money for minimal gains? Opinions are welcome. I would go long tube with high flow cats, but don't want to void any warranty right now. I was looking at buying the Doug Thorley short headers (which I heard were good), but again will that be worth the $500 I have to pay for them? Thanks in advance for the help.

If going the Shorty route, there is no substitute. The Doug Thorley's are the best. Period.

You can add Hi Flows to them to see some really nice gains as well.

Originally Posted by Mibadd

I picked up a brand new set of D.T. Shorty Headers that was on sale for $400.00 shipped , it was well worth it ! !
If you decide to go that route , you will not regret it ! !

Right on!! Deal like all get out!

Touch bases with us if you have any more questions or are ready for the next level.


Ivan @ Southwest Speed

[Apex Motorsports]

Originally Posted by Rico

I am looking to buy intake, headers, and exhaust. I already know what exhaust (borla atak) and intake (K&N) I want, but is it worth the money to buy short headers or will that be a waste of money for minimal gains? Opinions are welcome. I would go long tube with high flow cats, but don't want to void any warranty right now. I was looking at buying the Doug Thorley short headers (which I heard were good), but again will that be worth the $500 I have to pay for them? Thanks in advance for the help.

If you are going to do headers long tubes are the way to go. That being said, if you are looking at short tubes then Thorleys are the only option. Keep in mind that headers with the ATAK is going to be LOUD.

[2010 4 DW]

Originally Posted by Rico

I am looking to buy intake, headers, and exhaust. I already know what exhaust (borla atak) and intake (K&N) I want, but is it worth the money to buy short headers or will that be a waste of money for minimal gains? Opinions are welcome. I would go long tube with high flow cats, but don't want to void any warranty right now. I was looking at buying the Doug Thorley short headers (which I heard were good), but again will that be worth the $500 I have to pay for them? Thanks in advance for the help.

I would just get the JBA Mid-pipes vs the shorty headers. The mids make 15-20rwhp and the shorty headers make like 10hp.

[y2k king]

Originally Posted by Ivan @ Southwest Speed

If going the Shorty route, there is no substitute. The Doug Thorley's are the best. Period.

You can add Hi Flows to them to see some really nice gains as well.



Right on!! Deal like all get out!

Touch bases with us if you have any more questions or are ready for the next level.


Ivan @ Southwest Speed

if ya add hi flows, will ya get a cel?

[y2k king]

i'm ordering a set of dt shortys today. i've got the c.a.i. intake and corsa catbacks installed and i don't want to kill my warranty til i've had her at least a year.

[ssmike]

I've had a set of DT shorties for about a year now and I love them! When I installed them I didn't really notice much in the way of performance, maybe a little low end torque, but I love the looks & quality. The most bang for my buck was when I added the Solo Performance high flow cats a few months ago! Shorties and cat back exhaust really don't do much for performance, it's the cats that will really make the difference! My Solo's haven't set off a CEL yet and Solo says they won't because the position of the first O2 sensor doesn't change from the stock position. If you like it LOUD the high flows really bang out a bark! I had to add resonators to calm it down a bit and keep the neighbors happy. It sounds REALLY good now!

With all this said, if the high flow cats came out last year when I did the DT shorties and cat back exhaust, I would have left the stock manifolds and stock exhaust on and just did the high flow cats! Would have saved me a lot of money!

In conclusion, I like my DT's for their looks and I love the sound of my Solo Mach-X cat back, so I'm happy. Performance wise I love the Solo high flow cats! SO, it depends on what you're looking for, performance, sound, or looks. The DT's will give great under hood looks (and a small bump in power), the cat back will give you the sound you want, and high flow cats will be the performance blockbuster of the 3! And the great part is, NO TUNE REQUIRED for this set-up!

Sorry for rambling, hope this helps! Oh, and before anyone asks, no I didn't do any dyno or track runs, just SOP!

[OUTATIME]

Is there any real difference in sound with Shorties? I've heard longtubes but I can't really figure out if there is a difference . . .

[mikeSS]

Originally Posted by OUTATIME

Is there any real difference in sound with Shorties? I've heard longtubes but I can't really figure out if there is a difference . . .

yes theres a big differences in sound..

[Entaille]

most people state they cant really hear a difference

[ssmike]

When I installed my DT's I already had my cat back system on. I really didn't notice much of a difference in sound with adding the DT's. Again, the big obstruction to flow and sound are the cats! Change nothing else but put high flow cats on and you get increased power and sound, best bang for the buck in performance!

[mikeSS]

Originally Posted by Entaille

most people state they cant really hear a difference

trust me LTs are louder then shortys , main reason is the cats

[cab2g]

[

Originally Posted by y2k king

if ya add hi flows, will ya get a cel?

most likely as it will change the amount of oxygen that will be sensed by the O2 sensors after the cats. It has a range of expected values and high flow cats release more O2 (meaning less O2 was used to bond with toxic chemicals in the catalytic conversion) than the stock cats.

From what I learned the high flow cats aren't as good at converting the toxic chemicals into non-toxic variants...

Originally Posted by http://www.aa1car.com/library/o2sensor.htm

The OBD II system monitors converter efficiency by comparing the upstream and downstream oxygen sensor signals. If the converter is doing its job and is reducing the pollutants in the exhaust, the downstream oxygen sensor should show little activity (few lean-to-rich transitions, which are also called "crosscounts"). The sensor's voltage reading should also be fairly steady (not changing up or down), and average 0.45 volts or higher.

If the signal from the downstream oxygen sensor starts to mirror that from the upstream oxygen sensor(s), it means converter efficiency has dropped off and the converter isn't cleaning up the pollutants in the exhaust. The threshold for setting a diagnostic trouble code (DTC) and turning on the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) is when emissions are estimated to exceed federal limits by 1.5 times. See Troubleshooting a P0420 Catalyst Code for more info about converter problems.

If converter efficiency had declined to the point where the vehicle may be exceeding the pollution limit, the PCM will turn on the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) and set a diagnostic trouble code. At that point, additional diagnosis may be needed to confirm the failing converter. If the upstream and downstream O2 sensors are functioning properly and show a drop off in converter efficiency, the converter must be replaced to restore emissions compliance. The vehicle will not pass an OBD II emissions test if there are any converter codes in the PCM.