I am looking at jba, edlebrock, or gibson shorty headers. I don't have a large wallet so that is why i want to get them and they will bolt ride up. I am asking if anyone has tried any of these to tell me how they fit and if they got anymore performance increase?

 

anything is better than stock, i have the edelbrock shorties on mine. couldnt tell if there was any dif. because i had put on several other mods at the same time.

 

I haven't tried shorty headers on my truck, but I can tell you that their design can be only marginally better than the stock exhaust manifolds which are already similar to a shorty 4 into 1 header. Take a look at your stock manifolds and notice that the bends are graceful, long radius curves and although the lengths are not identical for all four cylinders on each bank, they are darn good.

Now, take a look at a pre-Vortec Chevy exhaust manifold (or any other truck more than ten years old. Notice that they have very square/short radius bends and the two center cylinders on each bank have a short trip to the collector and the fore and aft cylinders have a long high-resistance path to the collector. A shorty header could help this design above 3000/3500 RPM's, but would have a fairly peaky torque curve.

Long tube or Thorley Tri-Y type headers are the only things worth spending your money, time and effort on. If you will do some research, there is a good bit of web based information about the lackluster gain of a shorty header versus the stock exhaust manifold on the Gen 3 engines.

 

So what you are saying they aren't worth spending the money on?? I thought they would be better than manifolds. I have no cats on my truck so i thought headers would free up a little air flow.

 

if you have the money, go for long tubes. i agree with 01thunder, anything is better than nothing, however, i think they gain is gonna be marginal. but if you are gonna spend the money, get the longtubes. if money is an issue, then do the shorties.

 

Gibson and edlebrock shorties are just for looks IMO. The JBA shorties are of an equal length design and are the only shorties I have heard any signifigant reviews about.

 

I just finished putting on the JBA tonight and have taken it out. I like the power output. I have done many headers on cars and this is my first truck I am very happy with the performance and it make it sound alot deeper. It took me about 4 hours to do the install by myself. I got the headers from truckperformance.com for $389. There were two left at that price when I bought mine so maybe you could also get that price.

 

I would just sane my money and wait for that Christmas bunus and get me some long tubes.

 

I did some before and after dynoing for JBA a few years ago. The truck was a '99 Silverado with basic intake and exhaust mods. It picked up 15hp/15 ft-lb torque. That was a very nice gain from a set of shorty headers. They are usually only worth about 10-12hp. Long tubes are usually the best way to more some power but if your looking for an easy bolt-on these would be a good choice.

Tom

 

i appreciate the info of the shorties since i was in the market for some shorties. where i live
long tubes arnt really alowed. exhaust systems have to maintain stock appearing [ie. direct replacements no modiflying]. with the shorties no cats and a force II catback will there be any rasp?