Headers only have to connect to the turbo, they dont always have to be equal, or pixed pulse, or other N/A ideas. The header can help if you find there is enough pressure in the manifold and it cant get to the turbo like it wants. But, in the case of an STS, it does nothing because now there are too many other factors that kill the idea of how a turbo is supposed to function. The header ideas you posted wont work because if there is pressure at the turbo, the turbo is now the deciding factor of what operating range your power band will happen. So when you have a small exhaust housing, there is no primary length you can fix that will change that.

Rick

 

Not being a smartass...

Thank you.

 

Sounds like going with the STS and headers is not a good idea. Now I hear going front mount I will have to deal with so much more heat during towing. Also, there is the cost factor between going rear and front. With gas prices still high and towing needed the last thing anyone wants is to pay for a economy car via purchasing a turbo kit.

 

On my front mount, i think i gained around 5 mpg. I get around 20 now, depending on how dam hot it is. Before turbo, i never say more than 14. Ever

 

Not bad at all.. I just have to justify spending with my wife now that we have a kid. I came really close to just trading my truck in and getting a diesel since I own my truck, but she complained about us having payments. She agreed to me adding more power, but I have not told her how much it would be yet. One time hit is good compared to another 60 month committment.

 

Once you add the intercooler to the price of a STS system it isnt that much cheaper than Trick Turbos kit.

Plus putting a air filter under a truck is a dumb idea. I would clog that thing in a weekend.

 

When I ran the STS kit the air filter stayed cleaner than when it was in the engine bay. I have not figured that one out yet.

 

From someone who has run: stock exhaust manifolds, mid length and long tube headers with an STS, there's a lot of armchair theory out here on the web and little, if any of it, has anything to do with reality. Yes, you possibly loose heat from the headers, but you gain flow, and you gain in "pulse". Contrary to popular belief, heat does not spin the turbo wheel. Exhaust pulse spins the wheel (which is a combination of heat (and therefore pressure) and velocity). It's completely possible that the better velocity from a header may over come the heat loss -- it seems to be the case in my experience anyway:

On a stock setup with manifolds, everything worked fine. In this situation, long tubes may have had a negative impact on performance, but I didn't actually try anything different, so...

When I added 408ci and stepped up to a larger turbo, the manifolds built too much exhaust pressure (it got hot enough to set the spark plug wires on fire).

At that point, I spoke with Rick Squires and decided on mid-length headers from bassani, expecting a small decrease in spool times. Interestingly enough, the turbos spooled slightly better with headers.

When I built my twin kit, I ended up switching to long tubes due to the tranny and ease of fitment. Again, I was lead to believe I'd see sloppy spooling. Again, I had no such experience. I did coat everything from the heads to the turbine wheel, and I did use a relatively small A/R on the turbo, but the truck hit boost pretty much instantly at any RPM.

Would I put LTs on a stock setup? Probably not. Would I avoid LTs like the plague with an STS kit and appropriate mods? No way.

As with Quicksilverado, my airfilters have always been very clean with the STS -- in fact, I never cleaned them or the filter sock when I ran that. Think about it... in a truck application at stock height, the airfilter is 14 inches off the ground.

 

The air flowing over the filter blows it clean. Only the dust fine enough to get trapped in the filter material itself needs to be cleaned out. My K&N used to let a lot of fine dust through and I could see it in the inlet to the compressor. I think that the fibers in the filter shrink up a little when they get damp a lot and do not filter as effectively as they would otherwise.

I changed to an Amsoil dry charge filter and eventually moved it to the box to try to improve the quality of the filtering and to keep the water off the MAF which can be a real pain at times. It can be moved back underneath very quickly if needed for more performance or if you need to use the box for cargo.

 

Mine stays clean too....