Speednut81

Hey im putting together a 455 and wondering if I should buy a set of long tube headers or stick with the stock manifolds. What ya think?

oldcutlass

I like headers, it really depends on the whether your more for performance vs a stock appearance.

joe_padavano

The answer depends on what you plan to do with the motor. Headers will always give more power, at the expense of more aggravation, reduced ground clearance, overheated starter, etc. Personally I always use headers in a performance application and I expect the problems that go with them.

mrgoodtool

Hi. personally, to keep my car looking stock, I took the factory "W"and "Z" exhaust manifolds and port matched them, using an exhaust gasket as a template.The same die grinder, can be used to smooth out the "popcorn" nodules along the inside mold line. then I smoothed the curves as much as I could reach, from the head side, inward. you will see more increase in HP output by upsizing the exhaust pipes. Mine are 2.25" Adding A crossover-balance tube, helps breathing too. Magnaflow dual exhaust 18" mufflers will keep the car from calling the cops on you. Anyway that's my set-up.

Speednut81

I want the car to look stock but I want to upgrade the performance. I always planned on going headers until I heard something bout 445running better with manifolds. Glad to hear it doesn't I want headers.

What's a good header to use that won't break the bank?

Speednut81

Great idea but way beyond my expertise

oldcutlass

When this question is asked you will get many different answers. There are many threads on here about headers. Most have had good success with Hooker, Dougs, and Heddman.

Odmark

I run flowtech headers on my custom cruiser and they work fine, no problems so far and i have driven it a lot.

firefrost gold

I have not done it but Greg gessler Bill Travto and others have used porting to flow much better. Greg has it on his web site there is also
boneheadperformance they do extruda hone I would like to take a set
of the Ram air resteration manifolds and work them .
http://www.gesslerheadporting.com/ge...d!opendocument
www.boneheadperformance.com

joe_padavano

Time for a little common sense here. NO engine in the world ever runs "better" with a more restrictive exhaust system.

firefrost gold

http://highperformanceolds.com/phpbb2/index.php check out some of bull builds he has one with headers and manifolds and the power loss

joe_padavano

Sounds about right. 25-ish HP is the improvement number usually associated with headers.

HonestDave

Whatever you do, please save the old exhaust manifolds. When you tire of the car one day (and you will) the next guy may really appreciate them.