Long tube headers vs shorty

[NewCamaroSSowner]

Originally Posted by morepowerjoe

I would say that you definitely want to get rid of the resonator and go with a x-pipe in place of it. I'm not sure of drone with your current axle back but am willing to assume that it is probably a good enough system that there is very little drone if any at all. As far as the tune goes, $900 is a little steep but not that bad since a remote tune will cost roughly the same. And plenty of guys on here use speed engineering and have had no problems with it. That's not to say there's no room for improvement though. $2000 for the complete job of headers, cats, and x-pipe with the install is not a bad deal at all. I paid roughly $2000 for my TSP system but installed it myself.

It might have been $3000 for the heads and install come to think of it because it was almost going to be $4000 it was from a shop about an hour from here in Evansville, IN. So I should be good with headers and high flow cats and x pipe connecting to my axle back borla s mufflers and a tune. Will the high flow cats be considered legal? Some shops won't do work unless its considered legal?

[morepowerjoe]

I think that $4000 is quite high. I'm thinking that depending on what brand of longtubes, high flow cats, and x-pipe you could be spending around a $1000 for the install. If I was you you I would call up an exhaust shop and see how much they would charge to install it and after that take it to the tuner for the tune and you should be fine to drive it to the tuner. With the new exhaust system on your car they will have to remove the rear o2 sensors and your check engine light will come on until you get the tune and they turn them off in the tune. As far as "legal goes" I'm not sure what legal is in your state. If you where in California if would definitely not be legal. All I can say is don't ever move to California and you'll probably be fine. lol. But if I was you I would save my exhaust manifolds and cats to sell with the car just in case someone wants to put it back to stock.

[pyroguy]

Originally Posted by NewCamaroSSowner

Thanks for all the ideas, it help me decide against the shorty headers even though they are legal and long tubes aren't, they don't do emission checks and inspection of emission systems. I just was worried the long tubes might make it hard to sell in couple of years if I step up to a corvette and make it to loud as a daily driver. So long tube and high flow cats, do I do a resonator delete ? Some people say I will still have drone if I do this, even after adding headers and tuning out the AFM. Does a X pipe solve this? Since I already have the axle back Borla S and like that tone, I'm ok with keeping them instead of a whole new cat back system. Lastly I am having a hard time finding a shop in my area who will do the work. One priced me a job with all of this and a tune for $1799 but the headers were speed engineering and chinesse made and they never came back with a price for different Anerican made. Another shop wanted $2000 for the headers and install and another $900 for a tune, is this to high?
You guys mention Dyno Steve where is he located, I live in Western Kentucky. Does he do a program and you install it yourself with a programer? One shop told me to buy a diablo tuner to delete the AFM and if I couldn't do it they would but they don't do header work.

It depends on your state for legality of long tube headers. Currently the only state that I know of where it is illegal is California.

As for drone, or unbearable noise in the cabin listen to this clip:

Long tube headers with high flow cats and Solo Mach XL catback

This is my exhaust pre-cam. It sounded great and still sounds great with a cam too.

The costs you’re being quoted are a little extreme though. A tune should run you about $400-$600. As for good brands of headers here are some forum favorites:
Higher priced: Kooks, ARH, Stainless Works
Mid priced: OBX, Texas Speed, Stainless Power
Budget: Speed Engineering

Higher priced headers are made in America, come with a lifetime warranty and are your safest bet against having to “massage to fit”.
Mid priced headers are made in China, come with a 2 year warranty typically, sometimes need a little massaging to fit properly, and still offer a high flow cat option as part of the kit.
Budget priced headers are made in China, don’t have a warranty, have a good chance of needing a little dimpling to clear everything, and don’t have high flow cats as an option from the kit. You can purchase high flow cats elsewhere, but they don’t come as a package deal. Often times if you need/want high flow cats, you’re better off to just buy a mid priced header. (OBX is the king of budget friendly with high flow cats.)

I hope this helps! Enjoy and happy modding!

[Modernmusclecar]

Shorties made the same power in my car as longtubes did. The difference is longtubes carry the power right through the graph. Shorties drop off pretty quick up top. Worked out to 1.5 car lengths gained against the same car after the longtubes.

[NewCamaroSSowner]

Ok so how do I get ahold of Dyno Steven I want to learn about his tunes that I guess he sends to you since I can find a good place in my area to get a tune.
Also what a fair price to have the headers and high flow cats installed I goy a price of 625 to 700. Also I guess I will have to go to a muffler shop for the resanator delete and x pipe. Fair price for that and are all X pips the same?

[morepowerjoe]

Just go to the tuning section on the first page of the forum and see he is the first post in there

[rdavis]

Originally Posted by MG

So, I take it you have to keep re-torquing bolts with the LT's? Why?

My long tubes have been on 4 years now with one re-torque one week after install. Used factory gaskets.