Doug Thorley Long Tubes:Install & Review!

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Ok, Tony (NineBall) beat me to the DIY Install, so I'll give you my Install/Review of these Long Tubes Headers made by Doug Thorley...

Bring on the Comp....These are seriously nice and the install/fit/finish is the best I've ever done. Borla, Kooks, and Pacesetters on previous cars and while all of those were great, this one takes the cake.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, we can move forward.

The entire box as it came to me with contents and packing is only 30.14 lbs. Not too shabby. I put the OEM headers and downpipe in the attic (at the wifes request...sure!!) before weighing them so it might be nice to update this later with that info. But the DT's are much lighter for sure.

Getting on to it. The packaging is fantastic! They come in a box that is about 38"x18"x14". The LT's are separated by a cardboard divider and are wrapped individually in first foam sheets then again in heavy wax paper. They were in there like swimwear and were not damaged or dinged in shipping. Outstanding job Shipping Dept!

Unwrapping them, the midpipes are stamped with LT and RT. They are also individally wrapped like the LT's and are on each corresponding side of the box.

There are two bags of hardward that are included with the Set. All NEW Grade 10.9 Header bolts, flange bolts and nuts, lt/midpipe graphitic gaskets, and instructions (IN ENGLISH!!!) and two cool little oval DT stickers.

The Grade 10.9 bolts are the metric equivelent of SAE grand 8 bolts. Very cool that you get some great strength hardware with the kit.

Installation is straight forward. It took me as long to rack the car as it did to get the drivers side off.

I accidentally (?..haha) forgot to take the battery cable off and got lucky. I'd say that I would prolly not want to try my luck again so it's best to disconnect power.

Make sure and disconnect the O2 sensors as your first step. The instructions reiterate it and are very concise and detailed. The instructions are actually two sheets of paper with everything from specs to tools needed for the job. Again, well thought out and included.

I started on the drivers side. Everything came off really easy (car only had around 5100 miles on her). If you have a salt water area around you or heavy corrosion in your neck of the woods, maybe you could spray down the bolts before getting to work. I know it's helped me on older cars, but these ones are way too new.

Make a mental note of how and where the oil dipstick goes....this prolly took me longer to reinstall then it did to remove AND install the drivers side header. No joke. Take a picture if you have to. My advice.

From the bottom, with the car no more than 18" off the ground I easily routed them up and connected em using the old manifold gaskets.

I am awaiting the CatBack from Doug Thorley so I installed the LT's directly to the OEM exhaust.

Let me take this opportunity to say THANKS GM for making some great exhause couplers. Really, these couplers that we have on the SS's are spectacular. They are well designed and work! I sprayed a little "liquid wrench" on the LT side and they just slide on! Connected right up to the OEM setup and I was on my way. Very slick and very well designed.

After installing and doublechecking the bolts, connections, spark plug wires, I fired her up.

For a car with LT's and a STOCK (catless) back system...I was rather amazed.

Immediate throttle response.
Deeper and raspyer tone
From idle to about 3750RPM's it smoothly jumps up...
From 3750 it more rapidly increases...
From around 4300 it takes off all the way up to redline within a millisecond.

Total top end power. I'm sure that it'll waken up down low once the restrictive OEM setup is replaced with the DT Catback setup.

Points taken away.

-This is a QUALITY, Made in USA Kit.
-Fully Ceramic Coated
-Lifetime warranty (yes)
-No chop, cut, welding required at all...total bolt on in your garage.
-1 3/4" kit, "Tri-Y" collectors.
-No discoloration, noise, leaks, nothing to complain about after almost 350 miles of driving.
-Thorley claims a 32 ftlbs of torque and 19 hp increase. No dyno for me personally but you can tell something is afoot. Definite increase in torque. I'm awaiting the catback install and tune before I dyno.
http://dougthorleyheaders.com/view.j..._long_tube.JPG
-Retail is $751 on the DT website, but there are distributors and sponsored guys here selling them for less....which in my opinion is a no brainer.

Excellent mod, would totally reccommend that all considering Long Tubes take a look at Doug Thorley before wasting money elsewhere. There might be a few ponies difference here and there, but for a quality, Ceramic coated, lifetime warranty, easy as hell to install set of Long Tubes....it's hard to beat these guys.

Here are some of the pictures and we're working on a video to upload as well.

EDIT: Long Tube Headers only Video link:


EDIT: Long Tubes and DT Catback installed Video Link:


EDIT: New Evening Drivearound Video added:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Southw...7391134&ref=mf


If there are some angles or pics that you would like to see that aren't up here,PM me. I took about 73 pics of the install thinking that I was going to do a DIY writeup. Just lemme know if I can help!

Enjoy!,
Ivan

[Silver Ice]

Sweet Looking

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Thanks!

Man, I'm telling you....These guys know what the heck customers look for in quality!

Did I mention that I did this all by myself in less than 3 hours??? My boy came out to the garage a couple times to bring me a cold beverage but that's about it.

Maybe I shoulda said that up front...

lol,
Ivan

[wbt]

Very cool! Nice writeup.

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Originally Posted by wbt

Very cool! Nice writeup.

Thanks wbt!
-Ivan

[2010 SSRS]

Those headers are awesome looking, do they stay nice and shiny like that that after their heated a few times.

[wildcatjake]

Originally Posted by 2010 SSRS

Those headers are awesome looking, do they stay nice and shiny like that that after their heated a few times.

Ceramic coating will maintain that finish unless you damage it. If you get the headers above 1300 degrees the aluminum will burn off and discolor them. Ceramic coated is the only way to go IMO.

Very nice writeup, and a very intriguing product from DT!

[caverman]

Just looked at their web site and there are $936. I'm sure you can find them a little cheaper somewhere else. For the $750 and being ceramic coated that's a deal.

It looks like they don't have a catted version though. Hopefully they'll come out with one soon.

Not sure if this is what was done but it looks as though they took their shorty header and added and extension piece to make them into LT headers. Maybe that's part of the reason they don't have as much HP as the others?

Loving the comptetion coming out to help bring down some of these prices.

[PAUL SS]

Those look great, is that a Jet Hot sterling silver finish?

[wylde1]

very nice! Do you throw any codes with the cats gone? or need a tune? I want to put headers on before my warranty is up, but I don't want to void it by the ECM tattling on me.

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Originally Posted by 2010 SSRS

Those headers are awesome looking, do they stay nice and shiny like that that after their heated a few times.

Unless you take a blowtorch to em...or heat em crazy like, they should stay that way.

Just looked at their web site and there are $936. I'm sure you can find them a little cheaper somewhere else. For the $750 and being ceramic coated that's a deal.

It looks like they don't have a catted version though. Hopefully they'll come out with one soon.

Not sure if this is what was done but it looks as though they took their shorty header and added and extension piece to make them into LT headers. Maybe that's part of the reason they don't have as much HP as the others?

Loving the comptetion coming out to help bring down some of these prices.
Today 06:24 AM

That's MAP (Manufacturers' Advertised Price), each distributor can sell them for anywhere from their cost (currently $508 if you buy 10 sets at a time) up to MAP. There are several people that I can point you in the direction of to get these for less than $700. I don't wanna step on toes but it is what it is.

Edit:I'm also out the door now to heading to Phoenix for the week/weekend. I'm going to go by the distributors place where I got mine from. They are in the process of fabbing up a prototyped catted piece for the Long Tubes. It will replace the shorter "extension piece" in told. I'll do what I can to get more info on this.

Those look great, is that a Jet Hot sterling silver finish?

Yessiree!!

very nice! Do you throw any codes with the cats gone? or need a tune? I want to put headers on before my warranty is up, but I don't want to void it by the ECM tattling on me

I have yet to throw a code, but it enevitably will. I mean, there is no cat to treat the exhaust so I'm sure it's only a matter of weeks or even days before it does. I'm in the middle of working out my Cam/Springs/Pushrods/Tune as we speak so I'll tune them out soon enough. The tune is what is going to cancel that warranty. I talked to several guys at the dealership where I got answers ranging from "heck no, your'e good" to "what are long tube headers" before I ran into the Service Manager. In a nutshell he basically said that he long tubes aren't what are going to get me in trouble, it will be the tune. I take that for what it is and I'm sure that somehow someway I'm already flagged somewhere in the Matrix. lmao.

I didn't buy the SS for it's outstanding warranty anyhow...I want a 60's throwback hotrod.

Guys, thanks for the feedback and like I mentioned, if there's anything that I can do to answer questions or get specific pictures just lemme know.

More to come....
-Ivan

[csjcsj]

BK, glad you like them, i talked to you before when i got mine, and like you said, even with the stock cans on there it still sounds mean, need to throw some sound clips our way when you get the catback system on there. And mine where on for about a week before the check engine light came on.. My wife wouldnt let me put mine on. I had to take it, but only cost 150 bucks. Let me know if you hear about the cats that are in the works.

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Originally Posted by csjcsj

BK, glad you like them, i talked to you before when i got mine, and like you said, even with the stock cans on there it still sounds mean, need to throw some sound clips our way when you get the catback system on there. And mine where on for about a week before the check engine light came on.. My wife wouldnt let me put mine on. I had to take it, but only cost 150 bucks. Let me know if you hear about the cats that are in the works.

I certainly will...I made a video on my sons phone the night we installed em but alas he lost his data cord or his bluetooth wasn't working or one of the four excuses he made. Prolly erased it for some prono flicks.

Gonna make a video the day I do the Catback install...both before and after.

I will post an update to this as soon as I know anything else.
-Ivan

[Kurtisp]

are the inside coated as well?