Headers and exhaust for truck stuff?

Ranger50 said:

I'm a big fan of shorties, in 1 5/8" flavor, decent y-pipe, and a single 2.5" rest of the way as straight as possible and not crimp bent.

What I am not a fan of is long tubes that require you to torture yourself to install, replace plugs on, or require miles of some wrap to avoid burning plug wires. And good luck on that.

If you want "all out" power, you'd need to dump the top end and start again. IMO.

If you feel a loss of torque on the butt dyno, you probably moved the torque a bit higher in the rpm range, more than any actual loss.

In other words you don't care if it makes more power, as long as it installs easy?  

barefootskater said:

Headers leak, crack, whatever. For a vehicle that is used a few times a month and you just want to get in, start it, use it, and put it away with never an issue I wouldn't install headers. Everything after the manifolds could be done better though. But even then, I doubt you'd see any improvement under the curve. Possibly a small increase in economy, but probably not enough to justify the cost. 
 

The flip side. I've come to realize that the better a vehicle sounds, the more I enjoy it. Easily justifies a few hundo for good sound. Like a good stereo. YMMV. 

I agree with the first part to an extent, but a good quality header with proper posi-lock retaining hardware can go for a very long time.  Dad installed some plain steel Hooker headers on a 78 1-ton with a 350 and they outlasted the truck.

The second part I agree with completely.  I have some 2.5" cats and 2.5" dynomax mufflers sitting in the garage and I'm tempted to put them on my 94 Branger just because.  I probably won't gain a single hp, but I'll be able to hear it.... although V6 plus performance muffler often means "jeepers that sounds terrible."

gearheadE30 said:

I have not seen what the Vortec manifold outlets look like, but the TBI manifolds have a TINY outlet if my memory serves.

I'll post some side by side photos a little later.  I have some in the barn.

frenchyd said:

In other words you don't care if it makes more power, as long as it installs easy?  

If you want to twist my words like that, sure. But the original question pertained to a pickup truck. Why can't if something goes wrong running down to the FLAPS for parts and not cursing that you have to wait days for something, having to make yet another plug wire after 300 miles of driving, or having to use every possible tool get out out that one plug. But absolute "most" power, should be at least the 5th item on the list. We ain't racing.

ClemSparks said:

gearheadE30 said:

I have not seen what the Vortec manifold outlets look like, but the TBI manifolds have a TINY outlet if my memory serves.

I'll post some side by side photos a little later.  I have some in the barn.

Unfortunately I don't have a side by side comparison (or a comparison at all).  I think I put the TBI truck manifolds I had on a project recently.

What you see below is the driver side manifold off a '96-'99 vortec-powered truck:

So, basically 1 3/4"

In reply to ClemSparks :

I have a set of TBI manifolds from my '94 C1500 sitting outside so I measured the outlets.  They are around 2.0-2.1".  I replaced them with a pair of pacesetter shorty headers.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

barefootskater said:

Headers leak, crack, whatever. For a vehicle that is used a few times a month and you just want to get in, start it, use it, and put it away with never an issue I wouldn't install headers. Everything after the manifolds could be done better though. But even then, I doubt you'd see any improvement under the curve. Possibly a small increase in economy, but probably not enough to justify the cost. 
 

The flip side. I've come to realize that the better a vehicle sounds, the more I enjoy it. Easily justifies a few hundo for good sound. Like a good stereo. YMMV. 

I agree with the first part to an extent, but a good quality header with proper posi-lock retaining hardware can go for a very long time.  Dad installed some plain steel Hooker headers on a 78 1-ton with a 350 and they outlasted the truck.

The second part I agree with completely.  I have some 2.5" cats and 2.5" dynomax mufflers sitting in the garage and I'm tempted to put them on my 94 Branger just because.  I probably won't gain a single hp, but I'll be able to hear it.... although V6 plus performance muffler often means "jeepers that sounds terrible."

..as an enthusiast with ears, Please don't do that.

What about Tri-Ys?

Is my knowledge totally out of date, or weren't they the go-to for low/mid range gains in headers.

Of course, this ignores all the already mentioned TBI/head/etc issues with our subject.

In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) (Forum Supporter) :

Engine masters just did a test with those included. Myth busted. Definitely helps with packaging in some applications but no power gain.

A shorty header built to last, like the ones from the factory on my '95 5.0 Mustang, don't have to be considered a wear item.  This is probably a situation where you do generally get what you pay for. 

I like the sound an exhaust crossover gives as they seem to generally take some of the bark out of an an aftermarket setup.  H's seem easier to install than X's.  I think it's hard to generalize which of those two options is best for the intended vehicle & intent. 

When I remember how the factory Y pipe on these trucks was a series of crimp-bent 90 degree sections of seemingly small pipe I can't imagine that there's anywhere to go but up from there.

As the owner of a '96 GMT-400 with a 350, and as a serial victim of analysis paralysis, I have studied GMT-400 exhaust way, way too much.  There are TONS of bolt-in aftermarket solutions for the TBI trucks, and a few for the Vortec trucks. Since you have a TBI truck, you're in luck (with respect to exhaust).  If it were my truck, I'd go with something like Flowtech Afterburner headers, including the associated Y-pipe, and then use a plain old replacement 3" cat and an equally plain Walker replacement 3" exhaust (which was used on 3/4 and 1 ton trucks, but obviously will bolt right into yours), with whatever muffler makes sounds you like (I prefer Dynomax Super Turbo's).  Those Flowtech headers aren't exactly the highest quality things ever, but if you get the ceramic coated ones and stay in the snow-free South, they'll last as long as you want to have them. 

In fact, you could just do the headers, as most exhaust gains are made on the front end of the exhaust, and then do the rest of the exhaust later. 

Ranger50 said:

Engine masters just did a test with those included. Myth busted. Definitely helps with packaging in some applications but no power gain.

Do you have a link to that test?  

In reply to Rodan :

It's on MotorTrendOnDemand.

mjrj (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to ClemSparks :

I have a set of TBI manifolds from my '94 C1500 sitting outside so I measured the outlets.  They are around 2.0-2.1".  I replaced them with a pair of pacesetter shorty headers.

Well I'll be darned!  

I honestly don't recall where I heard such praise for the vortec manifolds.  I suppose the outlet diameter isn't the only factor to consider...but you would think the TBI manifold's larger 2" would be an advantage over the Vortec 1.75."

ClemSparks said:

mjrj (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to ClemSparks :

I have a set of TBI manifolds from my '94 C1500 sitting outside so I measured the outlets.  They are around 2.0-2.1".  I replaced them with a pair of pacesetter shorty headers.

Well I'll be darned!  

I honestly don't recall where I heard such praise for the vortec manifolds.  I suppose the outlet diameter isn't the only factor to consider...but you would think the TBI manifold's larger 2" would be an advantage over the Vortec 1.75."

Yeah, it would definitely appear that I got it backwards and that the Vortec ones were the small ones.

I don't remember how EGR was set up on the TBI 193 heads, but it's possible that the Vortec got smaller  manifolds to help 'push' EGR flow with a bit more backpressure.

One other thing I remembered while writing this - the >8600 GVWR trucks with the 350 got a different exhaust system with bigger manifolds and Y pipe, I believe. Might be another cheap option.