I was just reading that Bassani and Kooks make long tubes that connect to your cats, thus staying legal in my state. Anybody have this setup? Do they still give 25-30 HP boost? Are they outrageously loud? Any clearance problems?

Thanks

 

You get a catted H or X pipe with the headers rather than keeping the stock mid-pipe. I have not heard of headers that use the stock midpipe unless they are shorties. If I dont get the shorties then it'll be kooks for me I think.

 

I have the Kooks setup and the cats come with it. I got the Kooks with the x-pipe. They are not outrageously loud. They sound beautiful at idle and let the world know you have them at full throttle, but other than that they are just a moderately louder at say 2-3k rpm. I do not have dyno results with this set up so I can't say what the gains were. And with the Kooks setup I had no clearance problems at all. I did go with the prothane motor mounts while I was doing the install but just to get rid of the soft ford mounts.

 

I have JBA LT's with a catted H pipe. The catted H from JBA runs around $400 but you also have the option of running it without cats and its a couple hundred dollars cheaper. I am not sure for other brands of headers, but JBA does not sacrafice any clearance with their longtubes; I am pretty sure others like Kooks and American Racing do not either. Exactly what 2k7gtcs said, they are awesome at idle and startup, and really scream at WOT. I felt a very noticable gain when I added my LT's. GO FOR IT!

 

Yep...Yep..and Yep. I agree with this statement. At least until we talk about what brand of header to go with. :-) Nothing against Kooks...if you have the bucks!

 

Hey Northwest, I have the American Racing LTs, with their hi-flow H pipe and the sound is SICK!!!! Great rumble at idle, with that lope you get with headers, and at WOT it sounds nasty good! I have Borla Stingers at the rear, and the combo is heaven to my ears!!! As for clearance, NO ISSUES AT ALL!! I drive my car to ALOT of shows, and haven't scraped them, and don't see it happening. AR really designed these to tuck up between the sides of the chassis. And for power gains, while I didn't have my car dyno'ed before the install (with only my Airaid CAI), I got a custom dyno tune from Tillman, and I have 302 RWHP with the headers and Airaid! Using 16% driveline loss, thats 350 to the flywheel, or a gain of 50 hp over stock! I'll take that any day!!! Car is a beast now!!!!

 

Hey Jeff...Did you run the Stingers before the LTs? If so how does the drone compare - before and after?

 

Hey bud. I had the Stingers on the day I took it home from work. The drone is really not that bad. Its only from 1,700 -2,000 rpms and thats it. If your driving in 4th/5th, and get caught in traffic, and you slow down, the drone comes on, but just drop another gear, and its gone. I have heard them in an automatic equipped GT and its worse in that. With the LTs, the drone is in the same rpm band, but just a little more enhanced. Really nothing to worry about, as the sound the exhaust makes makes up for any drone!! The sound is SICK!!!

 

We have installed pretty much all of them. We're 100% partial to Kooks and ARH because of the flawless design, ease of installation, quality, and clearance. End of story.

Every other header out there so far has seemed to be decent. The JBA's needed a little bit of modification (slotting for header bolts), motor mounts for better clearance not 100% NECCESSARY (but they were close). Other than that, they seem to be the next best option... were very nice and made GREAT numbers (the same as ARH and Kooks).

Go with the T304 SS Kooks... I'm telling you... I know they're not cheap, but they are worth the money. Your installer will love you, as well.

CR
Tillman Speed, Inc.
www.TillmanSpeed.com
610-497-5776

 

Hey Jeff, you have a sound clip of your setup? AR with catted H and stingers is what I'm thinking of going with, so hearing your setup would be great!

-danny

 

Thanks for the info guys. You've got me convinced. I'm going to start saving my money for the Kooks. The main issue stopping me from thinking about the LT's was the "off-road" status and removal of the cats. Not a good thing here. But, I also have to be a little careful because it is not really legal to remove functioning cats. Don't tell anybody, but I got around that issue with my '96 when I put in a Bassani setup.

 

Just in case... http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=468861

 

I have to back up CR on the Kooks. I installed a set from him this past weekend. Also got their catted H, and running through previously installed magnaflows. Sound is better than I could have hoped. Fitment was dead on.

 

Hey Danny, your in luck. I still have access to the video one of my club members made when we had a show down at the beach. If you click on the video below, its the cars from the show, heading up to the lighthouse for pics. She took the video with no backround music, just so everyone could hear the cars go by. The timer on the video is counting backwards, and my car comes in at -1:51 left in the video, just after you see a black GT pull off to the side of the road. Crank up the speakers and enjoy!!!

Bad Mustangs Club in LBI, NJ

 

NICE SOUND!!! Think we have a winner! Thanks man!

-danny

 

Jeff, that sounds sweet

 

Thanks guys! If you guys liked that, you should hear it in person, either following behind, or in the passenger seat !!! Yeah, I had a smile a mile wide the 1st time I heard the car on the dyno, after the install. . To me, it really does sound like an old 60's era Muscle car now, and thats perfect to me!!