I went from Gibson shorties to StainlessWorks LT's with catted Y-pipe and felt a noticeable improvement. I didn't feel much of a difference from the Gibsons over the factory manifolds though...I'd say definitely go for the LT's.

 

Longtubes

 

I have yet to see proof of this... other than underhood temps. coated headers will not "make more power" than non-coated...

 

-I beg to differ on this as well. I installed a set of pacesetters this past weekend actually on another members truck and it took us about 4-5 hours to get the old stuff out, new headers and Y in and cranked and running... I have installed a few sets of pacesetters now and not once has it taken 8 hours... and it only requires a few hand tools and some very basic skills...
-the Pace kit also comes with clamps so if you dont want to weld it then you dont have to. mines welded but I know a bunch of guys running clamped systems and they dont ever have a single leak.

 

I dont have "proof" but I understand the theory. By coating them, you keep the heat IN the header, thereby increasing the velocity at wich the gases move through the header and out the tail pipe, wich (by increasing the speed it exits) increases the scavenging effect wich would make more power. Probably not enough to make a difference, but it should make more power. The main reason I got the coated ones was for the underhood temps (they cool off QUICK) the apperance, and I didnt want to replace them every few years.

 

Yea, we started at 9:00pm, "here hold my beer, itll only take 1.5 hours" after 2+ hours of removing the old stuff, I finally broke down and borrowed a sawz all. Total time (cause I was having problems with the Y pipe....I had been drinking all evening) was 4.5 hours start to finish.. Cranked the truck back up at 1:30am.

At the same time, Ive done cam/spring swaps anywhere from 3.5 hours start to finish to 8 hrs, so it just depends. I could see (if you were BSing a lot, or had removal problems) it taking 8 hours for headers and Y

 

I have done quite a bit of work on these trucks/cars (Camaro/Firebird/Vette) and yes the LT's would be a hell of a lot better than the shorties. The 5.3 stock shorties flow pretty well for stockers and shorties, from what I have seen in dyno tuning, only offer at the max 12hp @ wheels, but more comonly 6-10 hp @ the wheels.

The question you have about the ORY. ORY means Off-Road Y Pipe. It would connect the headers to the remainder of the exhaust, i.e. muffler. Go with an ORY vs. a catted y pipe (one that has cats) if you can. The only reason I see you couldn't would be due to emissions.

Another thing you, nor anyone else I've read, might want to consider...is my favorite thing. Electric cut-outs. Maybe not so much for horsepower, but just for the looks. It's worth $1,000,000 to see that "oh ****" look when you rev it before a race.

The time of installation...if you have the tools, another subject all together, it would take less than 6 hours for a couple of forst timers as long as you have some common mechanical knowledge, and a little common sense.

Another thing, after completing this, is the cat-back. I think I saw you have one, but in case you don't, plan on getting it now.

The tune, get o2's deleted, and plan to tune this thing after any and all mods. Mods that are not tuned can actually make less power....believe me...I have seen it. Just a rule of thumb. Especially when doing "internal" mods, heads, cams, anything. Just a good thing to do.

Do not go into this for the short run, get coated headers for quility purposes, not performance. The performance aspect MIGHT make 1 hp if you're engine is hot (not over-heated, just warm). But at the same time, the coated headers will probably last 2x as long as non coated.

All I have installed is Pace-Setters on the trucks, I would say Hooker Super Comps IF THEY ARE AVAILABLE, if not, stick to the pace-setters. The ORY, go to your shop or get the Pace Setter brand. TSP makes a great ORY for the cars (Camaro/Firebird/Vette) so they may make one for the trucks. I have not done anything to my truck, I need it to run all the time...lol...so I do not know much about what's available.

 

IMO...not worth the cash/hp...who cares for an extra 15-25hp! Once u do other mods like heads, cam and so on u might find it more worth while along with a new tune. I put a set of LT's, on with my Radix and really found no advantage - at least nothing noticeable. U get just as much out of a good catback and FPIK. In fact for half as much a custom or mail order tune will find u at least as much hp.

 

The main thing I am trying to acheive here is more rumble. You know that badass tuned Mustang rumble you hear when little johnnie rumbles down the block at damn near idle speeds cause he knows if he mashes it he will get ticketed! I have the corsa sport cat back and love it! I love the fact that not all the time it rumbles, and is dead quiet inside! Seems like it does not really kick it up until the 3000-5000 rpm range. Am I thinking right here that after putting on a $800 catback, that long tube headers are my best way to acheive this? Sorry for the Noob questions!

 

I definitely understand that reasoning... good explination of why it works. I'd kind of like to see some dyno sheets on the differences... I'm taking my raw ones off and having them jet-hotted in the near future...

-why you gotta make me look like a retard Matt