Project: LS1ick68

[68Stepbed]

I'm on the fence about the manifolds. I got them for a decent price, and I plan to clean them up by removing casting marks and heat sheild mounts, then either paint them or have them coated. They wouldn't be run as is. As for the power, I've heard of guys pushing over 500 hp through these stock manifolds. The cam I have is pretty aggressive. It made 461hp in an 11:1 LS1 with Trick Flow heads. I figure with my stock CR and stock 241 heads, I probably won't make near that much. So if these manifolds are good enough for even stock 430hp LS3's, then they should be OK for my application.

On the other side, headers would look, sound, and probably overall perform better. Also, if I run the manifolds, I would plan to change to headers in the future. That will also mean I have to fix the exhaust twice, too. The biggest thing right now is the cost of the headers. I went over budget on this thing, and just not sure if I'm willing to spend an extra $400-$500 right now.

I did find some Patriot Tigh Tube(block hugger) headers from Jegs for about $330. That's the least expensive coated headers I could find. I also found some stainless headers on eBay for $189+shipping, but I'm worried about the stainless turning colors later and I won't like that.