Best Headers for Power 1st, Sound 2nd
 

Guys! Can you give me your best arguments on what headers will get you the most power gains in your opinion; not taking sound quality as the primary consideration? Assume a GSF with high flow cat-back exhaust (no secondary cats).

I'm not convinced that Novel will get you much better performance (no doubt much better sound) than traditional long tubes will... There are people here that could clarify this, we will see what they say...

Designo said: ""The best combo was high flow cat backs with equal length headers with high flow cats integrated into them. Perfect""

Well said, I definitively agree with him that this would be the best way to generate the best sound... do you think this is also the best power combination?

Come on guys! There is a lot of people here with direct experience and good knowledge on this topic. Please put it out there so others can benefit from what you know and have seen.

Thank you advanced!

Look over the thread about the RR tune, Rafi is chiming in. According to his post an RCF went from 400 to 44x something with headers and their tune/exhaust

PPE headers are the best, best bang buck for your buck too..

Dyno proven gains everywhere as well.

Contact us for pricing on them!

-Josh

PPE has two types of headers for the RCF - (EL) equal length and (UL) unequal length. Power about the same for each, UL cheaper in price. Sound is different between the two. Do a search and see the differences.

Lou

:uh: There are many posts describing each of them.

Here's one:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...e-headers.html

Lou

I don't think a cat back exhaust will give you any power gains. I'm yet to see evidence of this online.

I also have not seen any GSF dyno chart showing pre and post upgraded manifolds on stock tune.

As far as sound is concerned, so far it seems the Novel headers sound the best. Mainly because of their equal length design and the fact that there is a video of it used on a bone stock GSF.

^^^^

1. Your wrong - A well designed catback exhaust will add power, there are threads showing this.

2. Your probably right about an intake not adding or adding very little.

3. As I posted above, PPE makes both EL and UL headers for the GSF. Each has a unique sound. There are threads describing this.

Lou

Thanks for replying Lou, your contributions are always appreciated.

I have been trying to search all over the forum for this claim. Would you be able to help me find one example please? Thank you.

Agreed

I've seen videos of Novel on a bone stock GSF. Any videos of the PPE Equal Lengths on a bone stock GSF? Would love to hear the sound.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...c14b43b6a4.jpg

Here's my dyno numbers with the PTS/JOEZ exhaust. Mustang dyno reads about 15% lower than DYNOJET. :)

Why did you quit at 6500 rpm? Hard to figure a shift point on a graph that doesn't peak and drop off at some point.

Guys-

Thanks for the responses and information so far. Are we saying here that PPE equal length carry the "same" power improvements than traditional long tubes from PPE or SIKKY for example? I would find that difficult to understand as equal length tubes are indeed "equal" in length, so exhaust gases in total will travel more distance as oppose to unequal length tubes, were some of the tubes have a much shorter path to the collector.

At least the PPE equal length headers do not have the integrated CAT that Novel has... Therefore, they should be (all else equal) slightly more efficient headers than the Novel's.

Not sure but i'll find out from evasive

The point of equal lengths is to ensure all cylinders are making power in the same rpm range. The length of the header primary impacts where the cylinder makes power - low, mid, high rpm. Unequal means they made the tubes to fit in the space available, but it's a compromise design because not all cylinders will behave the same. Yes, equal length means exactly that - the distance the gas travels from the exhaust port to the collector is the same for all cylinders. And no one knows what "long tube" means. It's a marketing term that has little or nothing to do with header design. There is an optimum tube length for the powerband you seek. Shorter tubes favor high rpm torque. Longer tubes favor low rpm torque. Smaller diameter tubes favor low rpm torque. Larger diameter tubes favor high rpm torque. So you play with these parameters until the engine produces power where you want it. So, unequal length headers will make power differently than equal length headers. "Better" is a relative term and has to be decided by the end user. Making more torque at high rpm is usually better for racing and not so great for street driving unless you're happy with winding up the rpm every time you accelerate and you're happy with a shorter service life because the piston rings are going to wear faster at high rpm. Most street applications favor low end torque for driveability, with some notable exceptions like exotic cars.

I called summit racing for an unrelated issue and asked them about what long tube means. They basically said its a term used (loosely) to differentiate headers from exhaust manifolds. "Long tube" headers came from the old rat racing/street racing scene from the 40s. Headers are normally longer in length compared to OE manifolds so I guess the term stuck. Now whether the sales guy was just pulling this out his @$$ or not who knows, sounded plausible at the time.

But thanks for the detailed, knowledgeable explanation.