Should I get shorty headers for my 2000 silverado 4.8 v8?

(2012-02-03 15:15:12)

1. joehomie31 Says: I've been thinking about getting some headers for my truck. I already have a cold air intake and catback flowmaster exhaust. Is it worth the $300? Some people say they don't do anything, while others say there is a dramatic change. Who should i believe?

2. dig Says: It depends on what you are using the vehicle for.

If you are looking for a performance/hotrod, then the headers increase horsepower, and widen your torque band into the higher RPM ranges where you will need them. BUT, Headers have LOTS of drawback to live with on a daily driver.

1: The do nothing for daily driving. I don't even think they help much in a stop light to stop light duel.
2: they increase heat in the engine bay, and have a nasty habit of cooking spark plug and sensor wires attached to the block.
3: They eat up room in the engine bay, making it harder to work on the engine.
4: They are loud - not loud exhaust, but loud under the hood because of the blast of air at each exhaust stroke.
5: They rattle. You will end up working for days getting enough clearance to keep them from hittins SOMETHING when you get on it. The starter may even have to be replaced with a gear reduction starter (1/2 the size of stock) to make everything fit.

ALL THAT NEGATIVE CRAP SAID, I run Hedman shorty block huggers on my 87 IROC, and after I got the bugs worked out, they work great! I'm running a pretty radical motor though and it needs the extra scavanging to run right.

While you are at it, if you go to the trouble (and t IS a pain in the butt) to put headers on the truck, it wil do NO GOOD if you don't remove the old cat and put a high flow performance cat on it. If you don't then the stock cat will just choke off any performance the headers add.

ALSO use copper manifold gaskets, and "Stage 8" locking header bolts. They have a removable lock tab to keep the header bolts from coming loose. $32 a set for a small block chevy, but worth their weight in gold when you aren't installing new header gskets every couple months!!! Trust me on that one.You can find them on the web.

I'm sure Chevyraceman has some good advice for you on this one too. He knows what he's talking about.

Good luck with the project.

3. Howard L Says: Cold air intake, headers, custom exhausts, all provide a marginal performance increase at best, and sometimes not even that. The limiting factor is your cam and valve openings. No matter how much air your intake and exhaust pipes can handle if it cant get through the intake and exhaust ports in the head it does almost nothing. You could connect a garden hose to a 3" fire hose. You're not going to get more water out of the garden hose.

What you're not told about the performance numbers in the ads is that the engines have been modified so that they need and can use the extra intake and exhaust flow. The performance increase didn't come solely from what they're trying to sell you.

4. Ted Says: The only way to get the horsepower increase is to increase the diameter of the pipes all the way from the engine back. This lets the engine breathe better. installing the headers with a still constricted middle will cancel out what you have done. If you do decide to put the headers on, you should over size the cat and related pipes too. This will mean that your new cat back system will be too small in diameter inside of the pipes. Your engine may also need some back pressure in order to run correctly. You should be able to get a larger catalytic converter and your forward pipes will have to be modified in order to accommodate the oxygen sensors.

5. Larry E Says: The difference would be so minimal that you wouldn't even notice it. Another thing to think about is if you plan on keeping the truck for a long time they will burn out just like your exhaust pipes. Depending on the configuration of them some headers run real close to the starter and will cause your starter to burn out without a special heat shield. To be honest with you a lot of people put them on for bragging rights because it sounds cool to say my truck has headers.

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