Headers

[California 72]

Good evening all. Hate to be all over the boards like a starburst but it always seems that being forced to do repairs outside the attempt at a schedule for them is making for some out of sequence purchases. Here it would be headers.

I've been looking at the Shorties sold by Stangaholics over the long tube version of our youth. To be very honest, Out of the 4 classics I've owned, a '66 notchback, '71 Cougar XR7, '66 F100 and now the '72 convertible, only one has had headers, so far. The '66 had a 351W shoehorned into that engine bay so heavy mods (courtesy of the BFH method) only allowed for stock manifolds. The Cougar was at the tail end of my College life and cars were starting to be replaced by career. The F100 was actually my best shot as an adult at making some of my youthful dreams of huge power and weekend fun a reality but as an adult, it came down to taking care of our daughter becoming heavily committed to year-round swimming and attending (swimming too) in college herself.

Now, we're past the clubhouse turn by a few holes and this is it. Okay, long story over, I get that both styles of headers provide different engine performance but we're talking about "realizaxing" (realizing that I need to be more relaxed when it comes to horsepower). That said, I've been leaning toward the shorties heavily.

Since I need to install the new quick-ratio Lares PWS box, figured we'd just add headers so, has anyone used the shorties? They look like they will mount in almost the stock manifold location with the exhaust. The reason I ask is, the exhaust in the car is fairly new and it would be nice if it could be used without major modifications. It is dual so what are the thoughts?

Given the 90 day return on the old steering head for refund of the $200 core charge is playing a role and needing the car to be down for less than a day or two is the other. BTW, the nice thing about the shorties is, I can order the ones for 4v heads and get the adapters until I actually pull the motor to install them. Didn't want to see what happens when I install a nice clean new set of cc 4V heads on a what by that time will probably be 53-54 year old motor. I can't even think of a description of what could happen in that scenario other than a possible oil pan failure.

 

[Spike Morelli]

There have been quite a few dyno tests done on the power differences that are realistic using manifolds / shorties / equal lenght 4-tube full length headers on 289/302/351 based engines. Kinda suprisingly, the shorties offer hardly any more power than Hi-Po manifold with dual exhausts. The dyno pulls indicate that the full length headers are best power improvement over anything else. That having been said, I haven't read any dyno testing on our Cleveland based engines using manifiolds / shorties/ or four tube headers, so referencing the above may be of little value. I tend to think that the shorties may look to be an improvement, but for the trouble, I think I'd just bite the bullet and put on full length headers. Yes, they are more work to install, but you will likely be visiting the Muffler Shop anyway, so they can hook you up with either the complete install, or just attaching the new exhaust to your existing pipes. I have been running manifolds and duals since I bought the car some 33 years ago with no complaints, but yes, many times I have thought about Headers. My thing is I like my car to Purr, rather than Growl.

 

[AcesArneson]

Headers are just part of the equation. If your engine is stock and you want to increase low end power the shorties may help a bit. Take a look at some online videos that talk about options between long tube and short tube. It’s all about the pulsation feedback from your collector to help you tune in power at your preferred rpm range. Shorties typically help at lower rpm and long tubes at higher rpm. Looking at your goals I would guess you are hunting in the right park anyway. Let us know if you feel a change in power through the rpm range.