Shorty Headers vs. Long Tube Headers
03-27-2009, 12:12 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Utah
Posts: 18
Shorty Headers vs. Long Tube Headers
What is the difference between the two? What is better? What will one give you that the other won't?
Also, what is your ideal exhaust system and why?
Also, what is your ideal exhaust system and why?
Last edited by mrkevo; 04-03-2009 at 10:12 AM.
03-27-2009, 12:18 PM
#2
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Honolulu, HI
Posts: 6,130
LT's are longer than shorties 
LT's will give better performance than shorties.
and so far the ideal system for me is LT's, o/r x pipe, muffler deletes, and M80's.
the LT's and o/r midpipe takes care of the performance, the x pipe and the mufflers are more for sound preference.
LT's will give better performance than shorties.
and so far the ideal system for me is LT's, o/r x pipe, muffler deletes, and M80's.
the LT's and o/r midpipe takes care of the performance, the x pipe and the mufflers are more for sound preference.
03-27-2009, 12:20 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Utah
Posts: 18
LT's are longer than shorties
LT's will give better performance than shorties.
and so far the ideal system for me is LT's, o/r x pipe, muffler deletes, and M80's.
the LT's and o/r midpipe takes care of the performance, the x pipe and the mufflers are more for sound preference.
LT's will give better performance than shorties.
and so far the ideal system for me is LT's, o/r x pipe, muffler deletes, and M80's.
the LT's and o/r midpipe takes care of the performance, the x pipe and the mufflers are more for sound preference.
Last edited by mrkevo; 04-03-2009 at 10:13 AM.
03-27-2009, 12:24 PM
#4
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location:
Posts: 1,599
Most people on here will say that long tubes have much better gains than shorties, but that is because when you do long tubes, they get an off road x pipe with it. Most people on here agree than an off road x pipe alone will net you 10 rwhp and most long tubes only net 25 rwhp total so you are only getting 15 hp from the headers. The bbk shorties do fall short at high rpms, but i think that is from their design. The jba shorties look very promising from the design, the dyno on their website, and the dyno one user here posted up a while ago. Dont be so quick to jump on the bandwagon of long tube headers when a well designed shorty header will net you around the same gains for much cheaper.
03-27-2009, 12:43 PM
#5
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: MI
Posts: 5,884
I just had long tubes w/h pipe installed.
I had a MRT h, which came off in favor of the shorty h.
That being said... i gained 6hp/6tq n/a, and 20hp/56tq N20.
From a sound standpoint the long tubes are going to be better than shorties.
So if you are staying n/a do them for sound only, (they may dyno a couple of hp better than shorties on an n/a application) and if you are going to add some serious hp then long tubes hands down.
I had a MRT h, which came off in favor of the shorty h.
That being said... i gained 6hp/6tq n/a, and 20hp/56tq N20.
From a sound standpoint the long tubes are going to be better than shorties.
So if you are staying n/a do them for sound only, (they may dyno a couple of hp better than shorties on an n/a application) and if you are going to add some serious hp then long tubes hands down.
Last edited by mrtstang; 03-27-2009 at 12:47 PM.
03-27-2009, 12:51 PM
#6
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Deep in the <3 of Tx
Posts: 3,925
The LT's will give most of their gains up high and moderate low and mid.
Shorties give most gains down low (larger low gains than LT) but don't give much if anything up high.
If you can swing it, LT is the way to go. They not only allow you to make more (and this grows as you mod more and more) but they sound the best too.
But if you can't do LT due to inspections then go with tuned shorties like JBA. JBA makes the best shorties IMO.
Anything is an improvement over stock so don't feel bad if you can't go LT. But it's possible you can swing LT even in emissions states/counties if you put some high flow cats on them. But some places will do a visual inspection and look for long headers and will fail you. California is like that.
Luckily for me I'm in Tx so LT FTMFW!
Shorties give most gains down low (larger low gains than LT) but don't give much if anything up high.
If you can swing it, LT is the way to go. They not only allow you to make more (and this grows as you mod more and more) but they sound the best too.
But if you can't do LT due to inspections then go with tuned shorties like JBA. JBA makes the best shorties IMO.
Anything is an improvement over stock so don't feel bad if you can't go LT. But it's possible you can swing LT even in emissions states/counties if you put some high flow cats on them. But some places will do a visual inspection and look for long headers and will fail you. California is like that.
Luckily for me I'm in Tx so LT FTMFW!
03-27-2009, 01:01 PM
#8
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location:
Posts: 1,599
the only reason people think that shorties dont make any hp up top is because the only dyno anyone has seen with shorties by an independant company is the one of the bbks. the design of the bbk's is dumb because one of their pipes makes a very sharp 180* bend. I believe this restriction creates a low pressure vacuum in the exhaust at high rpms and actually creates more backpressure than stock which is why bbk shorties actually lost 2-3 hp up top on that test. JBAs were designed with much smoother flowing bends and therefore will not have the drop off up top. Check out their dyno on their website.
03-27-2009, 02:08 PM
#9
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Utah
Posts: 18
The LT's will give most of their gains up high and moderate low and mid.
Shorties give most gains down low (larger low gains than LT) but don't give much if anything up high.
If you can swing it, LT is the way to go. They not only allow you to make more (and this grows as you mod more and more) but they sound the best too.
But if you can't do LT due to inspections then go with tuned shorties like JBA. JBA makes the best shorties IMO.
Anything is an improvement over stock so don't feel bad if you can't go LT. But it's possible you can swing LT even in emissions states/counties if you put some high flow cats on them. But some places will do a visual inspection and look for long headers and will fail you. California is like that.
Luckily for me I'm in Tx so LT FTMFW!
Shorties give most gains down low (larger low gains than LT) but don't give much if anything up high.
If you can swing it, LT is the way to go. They not only allow you to make more (and this grows as you mod more and more) but they sound the best too.
But if you can't do LT due to inspections then go with tuned shorties like JBA. JBA makes the best shorties IMO.
Anything is an improvement over stock so don't feel bad if you can't go LT. But it's possible you can swing LT even in emissions states/counties if you put some high flow cats on them. But some places will do a visual inspection and look for long headers and will fail you. California is like that.
Luckily for me I'm in Tx so LT FTMFW!
