I have been of the opinion to not consider aftermarket headers until you had a 9 sec capable car. I have seen folks trap 140 with the stockers.... so why bother?
I had someone (who I respect alot for his knowledge) suggest that the crossover pipe is the weak link with the stock headers.... and that should be replaced first... but it will hurt spoolup some.
I had a buddy put some ebay headers on his bottom 11 sec T years ago and he seemed to always be fighting leaks.... he one day decided to take the headers off and go back to the stockers.... and the spoolup difference on the street was tremendous. He said it was no comparison... the stockers spun the ires with ease... while the headers he had.... took a little longer to get up on boost. I believe thise ebay headers to have been copied off the old ATR design.
I understand the old Hooker headers were notorious for KILLING spoolup. I don't know if they might have been a decent choice for a bottom 9 sec or faster car..... but they were really not a good choice for a 10 sec or slower car.
With that said, at what point is there enough "gain" there to consider headers..... or consider just the crossover?
On a 10 sec car.... how does the spoolup and ET potential compare from some ATR headers against the stockers?
At what power level is the gain in HP outweigh the loss in spoolup?
I compare it to the old school chevy small-block with a 270 cam vs the 292 cam..... yes the 292 cam could make 10 more HP, but it gave up a hundred foot-lbs of torque at 3400 RPM....... right where you need it.
Sometimes bigger is not necessarily better...... so where is that point with headers for our cars?
I had someone (who I respect alot for his knowledge) suggest that the crossover pipe is the weak link with the stock headers.... and that should be replaced first... but it will hurt spoolup some.
I had a buddy put some ebay headers on his bottom 11 sec T years ago and he seemed to always be fighting leaks.... he one day decided to take the headers off and go back to the stockers.... and the spoolup difference on the street was tremendous. He said it was no comparison... the stockers spun the ires with ease... while the headers he had.... took a little longer to get up on boost. I believe thise ebay headers to have been copied off the old ATR design.
I understand the old Hooker headers were notorious for KILLING spoolup. I don't know if they might have been a decent choice for a bottom 9 sec or faster car..... but they were really not a good choice for a 10 sec or slower car.
With that said, at what point is there enough "gain" there to consider headers..... or consider just the crossover?
On a 10 sec car.... how does the spoolup and ET potential compare from some ATR headers against the stockers?
At what power level is the gain in HP outweigh the loss in spoolup?
I compare it to the old school chevy small-block with a 270 cam vs the 292 cam..... yes the 292 cam could make 10 more HP, but it gave up a hundred foot-lbs of torque at 3400 RPM....... right where you need it.
Sometimes bigger is not necessarily better...... so where is that point with headers for our cars?
