I would go with the shorty headers. There are a bunch of different brands and styles. I have chaep flotech headers on my project truck and they have lasted well. If I were to do it again I would buy the same ones. They were only $100. Shortys will tuck up under the truck nice. The long tubes may hang down a little far.

 

do the shortys have a nice tone to them? ive always heard that long tubes sound better

also thinking about doing a diesel swap in it.
but i dont know if i want to go through all the trouble of doing that.
and which flowtech headers do you have?

 

ive got some shorty hedmans on my 5.7 camaro with a x pipe and flowmasters and i love the way it sounds

 

Stick with the top brands I put a set of cheap flowtech's on a truck I had and had to do some rigging to make them work. I think long tubes flow better and they may scavenge better. Call your favorite company and ask them what they think.

 

ditto with this guy on flowtech.
I ended up having to cut the exhaust flange on my pass side exhaust on my 6.0L and re-weld it at a different angle to get these headers to line up half decent.
I went thru 3 sets of exhaust flange to header gaskets and 2 sets of header to head gaskets before i took these off and put my manifolds back on. dont bother trying to get replacement header to flange gaskets from flowtech. they will not sell you new gaskets (steel/paper type that comes with the headers) I was on the phone with summit and flowtech bitching but they wont sell new gaskets.. The only ones you can get at the parts store are the crush sleeve type ones and idk if they work with these headers.

O yeah, and I finally took these pieces of crap off because one header flange broke completely off and the other was cracked half way around. You can see where i had to re-weld in the pic.
Sound... slightly different.
fuel mileage increase/power increase. None.

thats my mini-rant.
i'd stay away from flowtech Noomore

*addition, if yours is a 96 it wont be this style header. just realized that. however i still hate flowtech.

 

I had Flow-Techs shorty design with copper gaskets. sounded good and trouble free.

 

Flowtech is made by Holley. I just have the black painted long tube headers. My problem is they hang down below the frame on my truck. I want to find some shortys for it in the future. I am saving for a serpentine belt system and paint right now.

 

Well I do know unless you have enough money to buy an expensive set of headmans or a big name like that then you are just buying the same quality as a flowtech so unless I'm plannin on spending 1500 bucks on headers then what's the point in buying headman

 

gibson still make shorties?

 

Not sure if gibson still makes shortys or not

 

I had Hooker Competition headers on my '92. I paid around $220 at Advance, and they were great, but you'll need to fab up some exhaust. I used shorty glass packs and turndowns. If you need to keep emissions, Edelbrock makes a set of shorty headers with a Y-pipe that will meet up to the factory/aftermarket exhaust- runs $400-500 IIRC.

 

I have a set of hedman also on my 75 GMC 454 they are alot nicer than what I had before didn't mean to bad mouth flowtech was just stating what I experienced. the next set of hedders I buy will be Hooker super comp with a 2" primary and 3.5" collectors. Buy what you like but remember you get what you pay for 95% of the time. just my .02

 

Longtubes do flow better than shorties. A good set of longtubes can tuck up very nicely, I have pacesetter longtubes on my camaro and have no more clearance issues than the car had stock. The big advantage short tubes have is that they are usually easier install and fitment in regard to clearance. My opinion is that the lngtubes sound better. Either way you decide, both are WAYYYY better than the shitty factory manifolds.

 

Whatever you buy, do some research. If the plates where the headers mount to the heads is too thin it will pop exhaust manifold gaskets regularly. A thick plate and good set of headers is a great investment.

I personally am a fan of long tube unless you're working with a project that requires shorties.

 

well everyone i have talked to said that flowtech does very well on their welds and that they have a very nice sound although i have always used hedman on all of my cars i do not have the cash to drop on a good set of hedmans and should i go with the shorty glass packs or flowmaster outlaws for the mufflers?

 

also it is true dual exhaust now and still has cats

 

Make sure you put in a H-pipe,X-pipe,balance tube whatever you want to call it and personally I like the sound of a muffler over glasspacks I think those are for kids. Flowmaster has a really really nice sound I haven't heard a bad sounding one yet I have a 30 series big block 3" single in and dual 2.5" out on my 75 454 sounds badd ass

 

the style of header you decide on should depend on the set up and application of your truck, where you want the extra pony's to be applied can be altered by the wrong set

 

I had doug thorley tri-y design on mine.

 

I had a set of those on my 82 for 17 years never an issue till I had to replace the motor then they cracked after installing the new motor. Not bad or all those years and about 250,000 miles on them. One suggestion in the original directions from Doug Thorley was to used copper silicone on the gaskets. Put the silicone evenly on the entire gasket both sides, let dry for at least 8 hours then install. I would have to tighten the bolts every six months but never had to replace the gaskets in those 17 years...

 

I ran two types on my '89 SWB 1500....ran Hooker Competition full to true dual exhaust and Edlebrock TES w/ cross over....truck had a 5/7 drop so the Hooker flanges sat pretty low....switched to the Edlebrock w/crossover and raised up about 2-3 inches...had a little better top-end with the Hookers but couldn't risk banging them into the pavement.