Headers?? What to buy

[FLEX05]

Hey guys i'm new to this site and gto's so i need more info about headers. Well right now i dont have a budget so i can buy any header on the market but i just dont know which one. I heard pacesetters are the best for your money though. Which brand should i get? Ignore my mod list on my sig for i am a newbie and no nothing about gto's. :D

Somebody had to do the "which headers" thread.

[derf]

Based on customer service alone, I'll probably be going with Stainless Works.

I have their cat-back exhaust. After more than 3-1/2 years, one of the hangars broke. I gave them a shout and with no questions asked, they sent me a replacement. A company that backs their products like that earns my business.


As far as which perform and/or sound better, I have no idea.

[Lancer-AM]

:banghead: Oh well guess it had to start somewhere :p

I love my Pacesetters. I bought them with mids for $200. They were uncoated. After talking with a few of the companies that sell headers and coat their own I was pointed to Tech Line Coatings. I used this on the headers and they still look good today.
http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/techline/
If I had the headers sandblasted first they would look even better and it is what I would recommend. I sanded by hand.

[Pappa Prich]

^^^LOL!

Let me help you out man. First of all the Pacesetter header is a budget header. This is not a knock to anyone that has them - they do make power - but it is not a header that I would put on my car. If you don't have a budget, then I would suggest that you look to ARH or Kooks. You have 3 options here ...1 3/4, 1 7/8, or Stepped. If your plans are to build the car with some serious power adders like cam/heads/blower/all of the above/etc, then I would suggest you look right to the 1 7/8 or stepped. The reason I went with the stepped (Signature Series from Kooks) is because they were tested and proven to be very strong - if not the strogest - of the bunch. I also went with them to support Brandon at Marylandspeed for having them made for out cars - only place you can get them. They provide you with the best of both worlds - lowend torque of the 1 3/4s and the top end hp of the 1 7/8s.

To be completely truthful though - it won't be too much of a difference either way.

[iblubyu]

id say go with the kooks or arh...koooks will last much longer than the pasesetters

[DEyellowgoat]

id say go with the kooks or arh...koooks will last much longer than the pasesetters

+1 on the kooks. give brandon at maryland speed a call.

[hivoltagedriver]

I also waited and bought the Kooks 1 3/4" black ceramic coated. Love them, look good, no leaks. Nice quality headers. I got mine lightly used for a good price from a local guy upgrading to the Signature Series.

[FLEX05]

Op, if i were you i'd stick with kooks, sw, or arh. I've heard a lot of complaints about pacesetters rusting out even when they're coated. This doesnt happen to all the ppl that go with pacesetters but it does to most. Me personally i went with sw because i got a good deal on them and i am happy with them. Hope this helps and gl.

[iblubyu]

Alot of people also have problems with them rubbing the steering knuckle and making a hole in the header eventually

[WichitaGTO]

Kooks Signature Series FTW!

[Kingsize]

I have loved my ARH headers but Kooks and Stainless Works make great headers as well. I think you would be happy with any of the three. ;)

[mygto]

ARH here.

[Trents_goat5.7]

Search. Wait NVM.

[FLEX05]

Search is your friend noob! Oh wait...what?

[Trents_goat5.7]

Hey I got quoted sweet.

[FLEX05]

Eh it was a good one so i said why not

[BillsMafia]

Kooks FTW! I'm waiting for mine to come in!

[Daniel Linnett]

SW

[oc05gto]

stock exhaust manifolds FTW. best bang for the buck in my opinion. only the 04's need headers. the 05-06 goats had "beefed" up manifolds, no need for headers. LOL.

[hivoltagedriver]

Have you seen the stock midpipes where they leave the manifolds? They are less than 2" in diameter on the '05-06's. Hardly enough area for a stock motor to breath through, much less a modded motor. That is why these engine pick up so much power with a header swap, even before a tune.

can you have a 12 (or even 11 second) car without headers - yes. Is it running efficiently - NO!

[Breze84]

Ive got Pacesetter Longtubes with catless mids and they work great.... They are Jet Hot coated....

[BillsMafia]

Ive got Pacesetter Longtubes with catless mids and they work great.... They are Jet Hot coated....

If you get Pacesetter LT's you def want to go with jet hot coating.. So very nice choice on the coating..

[Kjhallex]

I haven't had any issues from my kooks.

[FLEX05]

I was going to get kooks but i got a good deal on sw so i went with sw awhile back

[Poolshark1321]

Kooks would be my first choice, Stainless Works and ARH are a tie for me and coated pacesetters last.

At what point would you say you benefit from going with 1 7/8" or stepped headers...
From what I gather if your pushing around 500 then you will see a benefit but anything less and its actually worse because you have less back pressure. Opinions wanted on this one pls...

No sense in getting the 1 3/4" if its not going to hurt me to have the signature series or 1 7/8"while having 400 below to the wheels for a year or so til I grab a cam, valve train and fast intake manifold to boost it up way more. I am thinking the signature stepped is the way to go even over the 1 7/8"

[BillsMafia]

Kooks would be my first choice, Stainless Works and ARH are a tie for me and coated pacesetters last.

At what point would you say you benefit from going with 1 7/8" or stepped headers...
From what I gather if your pushing around 500 then you will see a benefit but anything less and its actually worse because you have less back pressure. Opinions wanted on this one pls...

No sense in getting the 1 3/4" if its not going to hurt me to have the signature series or 1 7/8"while having 400 below to the wheels for a year or so til I grab a cam, valve train and fast intake manifold to boost it up way more. I am thinking the signature stepped is the way to go even over the 1 7/8"

Go kooks... I love mine!

[dsean8705]

From my personal experience you are going to want a stainless header, preferably without the coating. you wil not have to worry about corrosion with the stainless steel and with out coating your tuner can tune for peak performance rather than preventing detonation. I wish I would have got headers that had merge collectors with scavenging spikes. they are only good for about 5 or 6 hp but you might as well get all you can get. pls correct me if I'm wrong!

[phutty2000]

I've had SLP headers for two years daily driven and they still look like new. But with an unlimited budget I would defineately go coated kooks headers.

[littlecrunch2000]

I have JBA shortires and kinda wish I went with the Kooks or American Racing. Kooks seem to be a better header and are more widely available. You will definitly want long tubes over shorties, thats where I made my mistake. If I had long tubes, I would probably be sitting over 350/350 instead of my 341/343. Thats a big difference.

[TrashCanDriver]

Here's my dilemma in the header market. I can get a used set of kooks for the same price I can get a new set of Jet Hot Coated Pacesetters. It's hard for me to purchase used for the same price of new with an excellent coating. I know that kooks are better but that's a hard pill to swallow.

In the perfect world I would get used kooks then send them in to get coated for the price of new kooks. Now that would be my ideal set up, just $500 more than I want to spend.

My .02

[hivoltagedriver]

The Kooks are stainless though, and that is why they cost more (and hold their resale value). They are worth the money, even without the coating.

[csurane24]

I would say go with the kooks, keep an eye out online you can probably get a set for a steal. I got mine with catless mids and a borla cat back for $1000

[oc05gto]

^^^^damn you got a good deal. i paid almost that just for the exhaust. bet it sounds really good.

[BillsMafia]

I would say go with the kooks, keep an eye out online you can probably get a set for a steal. I got mine with catless mids and a borla cat back for $1000

^^^^dann you got a good deal. i paid almost that just for the exhaust. bet it sounds really good.

Damm thats a good deal. When I bought my Corsa Sport I paid like $1300 two years ago. And when I just bought my kooks headers and catless mids last month I paid $1000. So $2300 for my whole exhaust combo..

[TrashCanDriver]

So, I'm still not convinced. I know that kooks, ARH, SW headers are all stainless and the old cheapies (pacesetters) are not. That's all fine and well. So here's what I would like to compare; kooks stainless vs. pacesetters Jet Hot coated.

Here's my question, what does stainless give you that is so important? IIRC from a materials class taken a good while ago, stainless steel is more brittle then regular steel because of the chromium added. The only benefit from stainless is it's resistance to corrosion. As you can see from "the other site" in this post, http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6050731#post6050731 they are not corrosion proof.

So if the Jet hot coating adds this corosion resistance then whats the benefit of kooks? Superior build quality? If so have people had problems with build quality with pacesetters? If they both are corosion resistant (not corosion proof) and neither have a problem with craftsmenship we are left with performance.

I believe kooks are most likely a superior performer to pacesetters. But here's my cost benefit analysis. (prices from the same site)
Kooks 1 3/4in headers - $912
Pacesetters Jet Hot Coated Headers - $499

So in my simple mind if kooks outperform pacesetters they better do it by (1-499/912) or 45%. I doubt that this is true. So why spend the extra money on kooks. If anyone can provide any technical reasons (not opinions) why kooks are 45% better, I'm all for it.

So that's my logic and why I haven't bought headers yet. In a perfect world (read I'm rich) I would have bought brand new kooks signiture series headers and sent them off to get coated. However I'm cheap and I have to rationalise every penny I spend on "transportation".

Please feel free to stomp my logic or debate as much as possible. I'm not a pcesetters advicate by any means, I'm just trying to convince myself that kooks are worth the extra coin.

[dsean8705]

So, I'm still not convinced. I know that kooks, ARH, SW headers are all stainless and the old cheapies (pacesetters) are not. That's all fine and well. So here's what I would like to compare; kooks stainless vs. pacesetters Jet Hot coated.

Here's my question, what does stainless give you that is so important? IIRC from a materials class taken a good while ago, stainless steel is more brittle then regular steel because of the chromium added. The only benefit from stainless is it's resistance to corrosion. As you can see from "the other site" in this post, http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6050731#post6050731 they are not corrosion proof.

So if the Jet hot coating adds this corosion resistance then whats the benefit of kooks? Superior build quality? If so have people had problems with build quality with pacesetters? If they both are corosion resistant (not corosion proof) and neither have a problem with craftsmenship we are left with performance.

I believe kooks are most likely a superior performer to pacesetters. But here's my cost benefit analysis. (prices from the same site)
Kooks 1 3/4in headers - $912
Pacesetters Jet Hot Coated Headers - $499

So in my simple mind if kooks outperform pacesetters they better do it by (1-499/912) or 45%. I doubt that this is true. So why spend the extra money on kooks. If anyone can provide any technical reasons (not opinions) why kooks are 45% better, I'm all for it.

So that's my logic and why I haven't bought headers yet. In a perfect world (read I'm rich) I would have bought brand new kooks signiture series headers and sent them off to get coated. However I'm cheap and I have to rationalise every penny I spend on "transportation".

Please feel free to stomp my logic or debate as much as possible. I'm not a pcesetters advicate by any means, I'm just trying to convince myself that kooks are worth the extra coin.
You have a very good point, and I didn't know that people were having problems with SS headers corroding. So if I was to do it all over again....I guess I would go for the coated pacesetters due to price for performance.

[TrashCanDriver]

I'm extremely surprised that no one has contested my post. I've been on the "Other Site" for over two years and I know what a cult following kooks have.

[Lancer-AM]

I'm extremely surprised that no one has contested my post. I've been on the "Other Site" for over two years and I know what a cult following kooks have.

I just stopped reading headers threads :-P Or at least adding to the flames :p I use Pacesetters and they have been good to me.

[BillsMafia]

I just stopped reading headers threads :-P Or at least adding to the flames :p I use Pacesetters and they have been good to me.

Lol, I've already put my two cents in. Have kooks and still have the grin I had on when I first started her up. :D:gr_jest:

[hivoltagedriver]

It's not even worth arguing over any more... just buy what you want and enjoy them.

[TrashCanDriver]

You have a very good point, and I didn't know that people were having problems with SS headers corroding. So if I was to do it all over again....I guess I would go for the coated pacesetters due to price for performance.I don't think the SS headers are necessarily corroding. My point is more on the lines of; if I get the same corrosion protection from coated as stainless, then that takes one variable out of the equation. Then it eventually becomes a hp/$ equation and coated pacesetters seems to have the best hp/$ in my opinion (given that coated=SS in corrosion prevention).

Plus it's nice to have a good "whats the best headers" post in a new site, so all you post whores can say "why don't you search" to every poor newb that has a question.

[Rocketman]

My two cents..... SS KOOKS LT and for more bang get the high flow cats and mids. I personally don't care for the coatings, I have read that they keep heat in the header. Therefore keeping your heads a tiny bit hotter. My opinion, thats all.

[Robofuzz]

American Racing Headers

[Breze84]

Im running Pacesetter Jethot coated from Maryland Speed and they are awesome, Plus you cant beat the price.... 550 with mids Jethot coated.... Best bang for buck imo.

[FLEX05]

I just stopped reading headers threads :-P Or at least adding to the flames :p I use Pacesetters and they have been good to me.

I started this thread just for the hell of it. I thought it would be funny because you always have that guy asking what headers are the best. I already had my SW installed when i started this thread by the way.:gr_jest:

[Robofuzz]

I started this thread just for the hell of it. I thought it would be funny because you always have that guy asking what headers are the best. I already had my SW installed when i started this thread by the way.:gr_jest:
:gr_jest: But it adds to our content here, so carry on! :cheers: