American Racing Headers 50 State legal Shorties Install

[b.mears]

Hey everyone, Let me start out by saying as some of you may remember, I posted previously that I had a ZL1 on order which I had to cancel. Anyway since I canceled the order I got the itch to do some mods to the car I was planning to trade in, my 2012 L99 SS. My first thought was my dealer is really not to keen on mods but will tolerate some as long as it is not too over the top. At this point I only have a cold air intake. I remembered reading that American Racing Headers had developed a shortie header that they claimed to be 50 State Legal and from the looks of it, had some pretty neat features. I did some investigating and found out that they were approved by CARB or ARB. Apparently from what I could decipher the American Racing Headers passed the strict CA emission laws with flying colors.

After talking to Nick, the owner of America Racing Headers, I made an appointment to have the Shorties done. The install was fast and neat. Everything bolted up and cleared nicely. I really liked the ARH wire insulators. They dressed up the engine compartment nicely. As soon as they fired up the car I could tell right away the sound was throatier than the stock exhaust manifolds. The throttle response seemed quicker. At the time I really couldn’t get on the car due to heavy rain. On my drive home, about 35 miles, my highway mileage seemed to be about the same as before, around 25.8 mpg.

As I got closer to home I encountered some dry highway roads where I went WOT and I immediately knew it felt stronger than stock. The real test didn’t come till this morning where for the first time, with traction control off, it lit the tires from a standing start like never before. And it did multiple times. I didn’t dyno the shorties but the gains have to be pretty substantial. Overall I’m impressed with American Racing’s shorty headers. It was a mod worth doing, especially since I don’t want hassles. Next up, I’m saving for the ARH full catback. I can’t wait to get their X-pipe installed and I’ve heard their mufflers on other Gen 5’s. I’ll keep you all updated with sound clips and my experience with the system. Thanks.

[Juiced1]

Nice write up! ARH is the real deal...if you plan on going with shorties they should be your first choice. Any thoughts of adding some high flow cats? At this point they would be your most restrictive point in your exhaust.

[VADER SS L99]

Originally Posted by Juiced1

Nice write up! ARH is the real deal...if you plan on going with shorties they should be your first choice. Any thoughts of adding some high flow cats? At this point they would be your most restrictive point in your exhaust.

+1 for high flow cats. Forget the expensive catback. If I had it to do all over again I would have left the stock catback on until I had the cam changed. Some new high flow cats are going to sound better than most catbacks anyway. If you want more sound might as well have more power too with the addition of high flow cats.

Really wish AHR did a before and after dyno but I am sure they gained the 10RWHP that is claimed. If I had to get shorties this would be the ONLY one I would get.

[Rornls3]

Thanks for the write up! I have a set of these same shorties sitting in the box ready to install... I am glad to hear someone felt and heard a difference for the better. There are so many shorty haters and no one seems to want to dyno the results of these popular ARH shorties either!

[Lou@ARH]

Originally Posted by Rornls3

Thanks for the write up! I have a set of these same shorties sitting in the box ready to install... I am glad to hear someone felt and heard a difference for the better. There are so many shorty haters and no one seems to want to dyno the results of these popular ARH shorties either!

Done at the Vette Doctors a before and after on a BONE stock L99 car. The shorties proved 10hp and 13ft/trq. There is no tune done in the car either.

[b.mears]

So today I took the car out for a nice spin and was pleasantly surprised. Before with the stock exhaust manifolds when I would put the car in sport mode and start out in first I would just get a small burn out of the car. Today did everything the same disabled traction control and stabilization. WOT floored the car in 1st burn baby burn held shift to 5800. Up shifted to second got the tires to chirp in second gear.This never happened before just awesome. The ARH shorties have so far been a real good mod for me. I intend to put up some videos of the car at idle and on the road soon.

[Rornls3]

Originally Posted by Lou@ARH

Done at the Vette Doctors a before and after on a BONE stock L99 car. The shorties proved 10hp and 13ft/trq. There is no tune done in the car either.

Lou, I should have said that I've never seen or heard of more than that particular Dyno chart... but thank you, and mine look awesome.

What's the install like? Are there any detailed install steps? Heat cycling, etc. Should I attempt to install these myself to save a couple hundred bucks while spending some quality time in the garage? I do have access to a lift...

[A.R. Headers]

Rornis, PM me a contact number and I'll call you and go over the install in detail. As a rule, a lift will always make a header install easier if you're able to use one. Waiting for your PM. Thanks.

Nick

[montee45]

I have a question for you guys at ARH i understand that these headers are 50 state legal. Will GM have a problem with these headers as an after market mod with warranty issues?

Originally Posted by Lou@ARH

Done at the Vette Doctors a before and after on a BONE stock L99 car. The shorties proved 10hp and 13ft/trq. There is no tune done in the car either.

[IndeedSS1]

Originally Posted by montee45

I have a question for you guys at ARH i understand that these headers are 50 state legal. Will GM have a problem with these headers as an after market mod with warranty issues?

My dealership had no issues with my long tube headers and cold air intake, when they replaced a broken intake valve spring for me a few weeks ago. Technically it should come down to whether the aftermarket item iself caused the problem. If the headers were too close to something and damaged it etc then yes you could be denied. In my case the headers and air intake had nothing to do with the sring breaking.

How difficult an issue becomes sometimes has more to do with the dealership or your relationship with them.

[montee45]

Originally Posted by IndeedSS1

My dealership had no issues with my long tube headers and cold air intake, when they replaced a broken intake valve spring for me a few weeks ago. Technically it should come down to whether the aftermarket item iself caused the problem. If the headers were too close to something and damaged it etc then yes you could be denied. In my case the headers and air intake had nothing to do with the sring breaking.

How difficult an issue becomes sometimes has more to do with the dealership or your relationship with them.

Thanks yeah i guess i will have to check with my dealership first. As the OP stated his dealership was not to keen on mods. He did not mention any problems with his dealership so i will check with mine.

[Lou@ARH]

Monte I can assure that there will be no warrantee issues with our headers if they're installed properly. Since the install is relatively simple, I'd expect that not to be an issue. I'd be glad to discuss the install in detail if you'd like to PM a contact number. Let me know. Thanks

Nick

[b.mears]

So as promised i have a short video of the car under some acceleration with stock exhaust. All in all it sounds pretty good for stock exhaust with the Shorty American Racing Headers.But i am still going to put the ARH catback system on when i have some extra cash

View My Video

[VADER SS L99]

Originally Posted by b.mears

So as promised i have a short video of the car under some acceleration the engine with stock Camaro GM factory exhaust. All in all it sounds pretty good for stock exhaust with the shorties.But i am still going to put the ARH catback system on when i have some extra cash

View My Video

How can I convince you get the SOLO High flow cats insted of the catback. The high flow cats will sound good and have been proven to give you an honest 15+RWHP. The catback does little to nothing for power. It is only sound. I dont know how much the catback cost but I bet its close to 1k. 1k is alot of dough to spend just for a louder and different exhaust note. Do whatever pleases you of course but I recommend the high flow cats and a good CAI way before the catback.

[IndeedSS1]

Originally Posted by VADER SS L99

How can I convince you get the SOLO High flow cats insted of the catback. The high flow cats will sound good and have been proven to give you an honest 15+RWHP. The catback does little to nothing for power. It is only sound. I dont know how much the catback cost but I bet its close to 1k. 1k is alot of dough to spend just for a louder and different exhaust note. Do whatever pleases you of course but I recommend the high flow cats and a good CAI way before the catback.

I have to agree with this.

[montee45]

Originally Posted by b.mears

So as promised i have a short video of the car under some acceleration with stock exhaust. All in all it sounds pretty good for stock exhaust with the Shorty American Racing Headers.But i am still going to put the ARH catback system on when i have some extra cash

View My Video

Sounds nice i think i will be ordering a set i checked with my dealership they said there is no problem adding these shorties to my car.

[Run and Gun]

Would hi-flow cats require a tune?

[VADER SS L99]

Originally Posted by Run and Gun

Would hi-flow cats require a tune?

According to SOLO they do not on their type of cats.

[Run and Gun]

Originally Posted by VADER SS L99

According to SOLO they do not on their type of cats.

Thanks

[Lou@ARH]

Vader, I'd bet dollars to donuts our cat back will produce at least 10 additional HP by adding our 3" X-Pipe. Yes high flow cats make a difference but it sort of defeats the purpose of installing the shorties to remain 50 States legal. This is especially true for California Gen 5 owners.

[thahemp]

Originally Posted by Lou@ARH

Vader, I'd bet dollars to donuts our cat back will produce at least 10 additional HP by adding our 3" X-Pipe. Yes high flow cats make a difference but it sort of defeats the purpose of installing the shorties to remain 50 States legal. This is especially true for California Gen 5 owners.

Hehe.... that's not the 15+ that you can get out of the probably cheaper HF cat midpipes though! OP isn't from Cali either... not that I know what the NJ laws are.

On a side note... I like your shorties. I'll need to take a closer look and decide if I wanna add them to my exhaust project. I hate those rusted out logs under my hood...

[VADER SS L99]

Originally Posted by Lou@ARH

Vader, I'd bet dollars to donuts our cat back will produce at least 10 additional HP by adding our 3" X-Pipe. Yes high flow cats make a difference but it sort of defeats the purpose of installing the shorties to remain 50 States legal. This is especially true for California Gen 5 owners.

I would like to know how a 3" cat back is going to free up 10hp behind these restrictive cats on a basically stock car. Look at these pictures. The inlet is barely 2" and is a serious bottle neck. Add that to the restrictive properties inside the cats and its easy to see why they rob power. I can believe that your cat back would free up 10RWHP on a cammed or supercharged car that already has LT headers with 3" collectors but I dont see how its possible on a basically stock car that has a 2" bottleneck in front of the cat back.

[b.mears]

So i have put over 100 miles on the car since the shorty install and the grin on my face is ear to ear. The headers have really woken up the car. Off the line this is a totally different car compaired to the stock exhaust manifolds. My throttle response is noticably quicker and more responsive. My highway mileage has increased to an average of 27.7 mpg. Before the header install my average was around 25.8 so this improvement is an added bonus. Next test will be a tune i have access to a hand held tuner which i will post my results.

[b.mears]

Originally Posted by FASTSS

clean install, looks great in the engine bay!

Yes very happy with the clean install and the clean look

[caverman]

I agree to adding SOLO HF cats before doing a cat-back.

Obviously ARH is going to push for the cat-back because he wants you to buy his product. My guess is he'll tell you no other cat-back will make that kind of power but his will. I also bet if he made some HF cats he would recommend them first for performance.

10 hp from a cat-back??? I highly doubt that. That's my opinion though. I would have to see some independent testing before I would believe that one.

I'm not disagreeing with getting a cat-back but IMO it's going to be all for sound. That is a viable reason to get it alone. However, if you're looking for cost/performance bang for your buck go with the HF cats. It will change the sound of your car as well.