Stock or headers?
 

What do you guys think. I have a set of cheap headers on the truck now. 2nd set in 5 years. I'm thinking of putting back on a set of stock exaust manifolds for durablity. As much as I'd love to have a power house for an engine, I don't, so performance is not key.
Should I get another set of headers?
Should I stop being cheap and get a good set?
Should I look for a used set of stock manifolds?

Any thoughts?
:confused:

I would keep the headers just for the increase in gas milage. What kind of headers do you have? I've had my flowtech afterburners on for like 4 years now and they're still really solid. The really cheap ones use 18 gauge tubing which is junk. Get a middle priced set with 16 gauge tubes and you will be suprised how much longer they will last.

or just get a good set and not worry about them.

I have a set of Heddman headers There not gone yet but on the way out.
I can't expect to much for $99 can I now.

Yeah, I have those $100 hedmann's too. Hopefully they'll last a while longer, until I save up enough to get coated shorties or coated super comp's...

Why do people use shorties? For clearence issues? Long tubes are much better from a performance side?

When you drop a truck, and use long tube headers, you soon tire of the hitting everything you go over.

IMO, it's a big waste of money to put headers on anything and not have them ceramic coated.

What does a set of Ceramic go for? In a shorty?

I'm not sure on regular shorties. I have Edelbrock TES headers that I sent to High Performance Coatings and had them coated.

From what I read, the coatings on already coated headers are not as good. Just from what I've seen others say about theirs starting to get surface rust on them. Of course this was the cheaper coated headers.

I recommend buying the headers you like and not some cheap crap. Then send them off and get them coated inside/out. Of course this ain't cheap, but it will last.

You get what you pay for. If your truck is something you are planning on keeping for a long time, spend the money now. You'll be glad you did down the road.

Mike

my lowered stepper had long tubes on it that were draggin on everything.
I didnt realize how hard it is to find shorty headers for 73-87 with a big block. Finally found a set from Sanderson & I love em. I dont notice any loss in power. They claim that shorty headers will lose some low end over long tubes...but give more top end.
In my case, I can sacrifice low end as itll smoke the tires through first & second gears:burnout: