Hey fellas, I was wondering if shorty headers are worth the cheepo price of around 250bux a set?

I saw a set from blue oval and thought that is cheep.

Are they worth it? Does anyone here have a set of shroty's? If so what brand? Most importantly, how do they perform? Secondly, how do they sound?

also what would a shop charge to install them? I know the installation is pita on our cars as far as headers are concerned...


Advice?

 

Shorties will give you about 5hp..... not much at all compared to long tubes which will be a more significant gain. Sound is not much different than stock, maybe a tad deeper. Looks are much better than the rusty stock units.

 

I ðefinently got more than 5 hp from mine. That being said you will get more out of longtubes, and with how much of a pita they are to install your best bet is to wait and get the longtubes instead.

 

Any ideas on what it would cost to install? I don't think I can afford the longtubes. And for the money I might as well go FI.

 

Most mechanics charge a minimum of 85 bucks an hr. I wouldn't be surprised if it came out more than 10 hrs.(Probably more)

 

A couple weeks ago I had JBA ceramic shorty headers installed, before that had made some pulls on the shops Mustang Dyno. I had planned to make more pulls right after the install, but the dyno computer crashed so.... Now that it's fixed I'm hoping to get some runs in soon. (before and after runs on the same dyno are obviously the best) However I had a chance on Sat. at a Club Dyno day to make some pulls on a Dynojet, and since I had made some runs on a different Dynojet in April.....(Like I said, not the best way to go) check out the results below. Keep in mind that the pull in April was done on a cool day (I didn't make note of the air temp. but I needed a jacket) While Sat. the temp was in the mid 90's with a humidity to match. Also the run they printed out was my 3rd, on the first two runs I went to WOT to fast, and the car downshifted. Also the Dyno operator said that cars were losing 3-5 hp on each back to back run due to the heat. Lastly, both sheets were printed in MPH But 5252 rpm (where the torque and hp plot crossed) was around 104 mph. My scanner isn't working so this chart will have to do for now. When I get that 2nd run on the shop's Mustang dyno I'll find a way to post the complete graph. (before and after runs on the same dyno)

MPH/Stock hp/JBA hp
70 / 153/ 170
75 /162/ 188
80 /179 / 219
85 /195/ 238
90 /209/ 249
95 / 223/ 258
100 /242/ 270
105 /253/ 282
110 /262/ 281
115 /269/ 282
120 /274/ 278
125 /276 / 277

While far from scientific I think the general trend is that the shorty headers do make more power down at lower to mid rpm's/mph. (On my car, your results may vary) Also even though both runs used SAE smoothing of 5 there will be differences, no 2 dynos will read the same. So I wouldn't make any direct comparisons. I hope to make some pulls soon on the shop dyno, and will post results then. For me what I noticed most with the new headers was a much improved sound. The blub..blub...blub.. boat motor sound is gone, replaced with a real nice V8 muscle car sound. Right after Sats. dyno runs I hade several guys ask about the exhaust system, they said it was the best sounding S197 they had heard. As far as install costs, they seem to vary from $250-$500 depending on the shop.

 

when you do get the after I would like to see the tq on both. I think there would be some suprises

 

I wish I had the money and patience to have done my mods one at a time and dyno after each. I'd really have liked to know what each mod gave.

 

250bux is doable for installation. Just need to find a decent shop to do it.