Headers on a V6?

[Justin]

I've heard a lot of people say that it's really not worth it to put headers on the V6, but I've heard just as many people say it is, so I ask you guys, what do you think? Any recommendations on specific models/places to buy the necessary parts, and problems one might run into.

(And we're talking high-performance cat, and probably a flowmaster cat-back, not just slapping headers on the engine, and having garbage behind them.)

edit: The 3800 V6.

[SilverTurtle]

do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy the RK Sport headers if they are still offered... a friend of mine bought some from them for his '97 RS and it was the worst mistake he ever made... it took a million and one tries to get them in and they never fit correctly and constantly blew out gaskets... so I can for sure steer you away from them... other than that, its just another engine, so I'm sure that it would gain some hp and tq by adding them.

[TFord]

I had a V6 camaro I just traded in and it had 150K+ miles on it and I got 5K for it. Headers are worth it. get the Jet Hot Pacesetter headers 3" down pipe and 3" Y pipe. I had a 3" random tech high flow cat, and 3" magnaflow cat back. Ive had to pop my hood to show people that I had a V6 under the hood. the only thing is theres a wait for those headers because people dont buy a lot of 3.8L headers so theyre made to order. After you install them wait a 2-4 weeks and tighten down the header bolds again. google full throttle performance parts, Josh York (5025525467 is his #)is the sells manager, they have everything you can think of for the 3.8L even internals.

also check out firebird******* also a geat site for ideas, and they have a forum as well

[CamaroSpike23]

headers are worth it (long tubes anyway...) for any vehicle. do you have to worry about emissions? swap all that crap out. tho if you can go with magnaflow over blowmaster. just keep in mind, you cant make a v-6 sound like a v-8. tho i have heard some decent v-6's with catbacks. but they get whiny as the rpms go up

[TFord]

Originally Posted by CamaroSpike23

but they get whiny as the rpms go up

my exhaust never sounded whiney????

[CamaroSpike23]

Originally Posted by TFord

my exhaust never sounded whiney????

maybe not in every instance, but there will always be a tonal difference between v-8 and v-6 exhaust notes. do you have a clip of yours? ill throw one of mine up so we can compare....lol

[Justin]

Awesome advice guys, and no, I don't have to worry about emissions.

[CamaroSpike23]

t-ford.... my exhaust clips are up...where's urs? lol

[2Tightwads]

Installed V-6 headers years ago. Just FYI give a visual check first at what your getting into. One car we did was a MAJOR pain in the a$$ due to old rusted bolts...ended up giving them an overnight soak in KB Blaster and then using our easy tool to get those bolt heads that were no longer existant. Not something you want to tackle after you have a few bolts out but had to be completed once we were into the install that far. Car was noticably louder/faster after install. For the cost of the parts and some DIY elbow grease, I say go for it!

[duder4thgen]

I like v6 4th gens. Just feel more nimble and easier to toss around than either the LT1 or LS1 I've owned. Very different dynamic, even though they arent as fast they are still fun as hell to drive.

[Kelso]

Do u even know what rice is? its some sort of honda civic crap with a custom exhaust not a v6 camaro. And shouldnt u be on some high class forum cus the rest of us might not be up to ur standards. i mean seriously

[duder4thgen]

Originally Posted by CamaroSpike23

t-ford.... my exhaust clips are up...where's urs? lol

Well here is a good sounding v6

[urugm21]

and by the way it is a 3800 V6 ....

[The Flash]

SilverTurtle wrote advising to stay away from RK Sports headers.

I respecfully differ. I bought a set for my '95 Bird from RK Sports (based in California).

I recall that the box and the invoice pointed to an specific maker which was not RK Sports, i.e., RK Sports simply ditributed them.

I will have to look in my car log to be specific, but from the top of my head I seem to recall the name of the manufacturer was JBL or something very close to it.

I got ceramic coated headers, a Random Tech "Cat"-Converter, and TFX CATBACK SYSTEM (these are the pipes going from the cat-converter to the exhaust silencer) that is about 4 1/4 inches wide, plus a Pace Setter silencer/muffler with chromed tips.

There was a tremendous improvement on the car's performance across the whole range of revs. Even though I did some timming back then and also used a G-Tech device to messure the improvements there were also several other modifications I did before I installed the exhaust mods and some other done simultaneously so I cannot offer an specific indication on what was achieved by the exhaust system alone.

Only drawbacks are: (1) the gaskets between the headers and the engine exhaust ports are destroyed at a rate much higher than you would expect and (2) both the clamp attaching the cat-converter to the back pipe and the crosspipe which connects the driver side headers to the y pipe that collects the right side headers and goes to the cat-back become the lowest points of the car.

This means that if you have also lowered the suspension on your pony car (like I did mine) these points will scrap continuously at parking/garage ramps, street traffic bumps, etc..

The clamps issues are not so bad as you can replace them easily but the crosspipe is a real problem : it will get a lot of hits.

Seems to me that in the effort to stay clear of the oil pan the manufacturer gave the pipe a forward bent or twist that unnecessarily lowers it 3/4 of an inch from where it should have rested.

I got so many bumps and bruises on mine that I bought another one just in case (whcih was not cheap since to buy that back-up pipe I had to buy another y-pipe as well as they were sold as a set).

Also I have to contiuously order and keep a personal stock of gaskets as they are not always available!!! (I got them mostly from SUMMIT)

However all this is ancient history as I did it more than 10 years ago!!

The real problem you will be facing Justin, I believe, is the difficulty to find anybody still selling exhaust modification parts for the 4th generation V-6.

You will either have to have them custom made (always expensive but you will get a much better fit) or take what you can find and live with it.

Good luck!!

The Flash