i have an '04 lightning, and I am looking to buy some long tube headers. I hear alot of people talking about kooks being very good, unfortunately very expensive. Basically I am looking for quality, dependable headers that won't burn a whole in my pocket. i have looked at various sponsor sites but some don't specify if they are long tube or not. Any preferences you guys have would be greatly appreciated.

 

I think Summit sells a set (painted) for under $300. A friend of of mine installed a set on his 02 F-150 5.4 reg cab 2wd pickup about 6 months ago and they work well. We stripped and repainted them though because the paint they come with would've burnt off within the first couple of weeks. I welded a set of 3" 3 hole flanges to the headers and welded up a 3" exhaust for it as well and no probs thus far.

 

thanks for the input, does it really matter if they are long-tubed or shorty's, i have found a lot of shorty's but not too many long-tubed, i remembered in someone else's post talking about how long tubed headers were better but i am having trouble finding it, any body have a particular favorite brand that they like to use?

 

The long tube headers are better than the shorties, but the shorties are better than the stock manifolds.

 

The first thing you need to figure out is whay you want long tubes over something like the Bassani equal length headers.

Is it for sound? Or is it because you're going to be running so much power you need the long tubes?

Also, does your area require emissions testing that would cause you to fail if you have long tubes?

Now this last statement I'm gonna make is subjective, so take it with a grain of salt because it's just my opinion, but if you don't get a long tube, then the only other header you should only consider is Bassani. Anything else I've heard on the Lightning sucks, and I love JBA headers, but they don't sound as good on the L for some reason. But like I said, that's all subjective.

Another thing, if you want quality and dependability, then you're going to pay for it, period. These company's making the exhaust products charge a mint for quality setups for the L. For example, JLP in conjunction with Bassani has just come out with a complete long tube setup, headers to tips, and the price tag is $2,399 IIRC.

Not cheap.

Stewart

 

thanks stewart, to answer your question, as far as i know my area doesn't have emissions testing, i used to have a 2dr tahoe with flowmasters, headers (don't know which brand they came with the truck), and no cats and never had any problem. i guess the headers will be more for sound than power. i have a k&n intake system and a diablo predator chip with magnaflow exhaust. i have no problem dropping $700-800 dollars on headers, but the kooks i looked at were ~$1400 and that was a little pricey for me. anyway, thanks everyone for the opinions

 

If it's strictly for sound, then you can't go wrong with long tubes! They sound incredible!

A buddy of mine had a built engine with stage 2 heads and stage 2 1/2 cams from LFP with long tubes, no cats, and a Bassani cat-back and it sounded freaking mean and lopy at idle. Reminded me of an old school muscle car!

Stewart

 

good deal, this may seem like a dumb question because i am a newbie, but with long tubes can you still run cats or they have to be removed, i only ask because where i am planning on getting them installed may not remove the cats

 

And I thought my Pickrel system was pricy ($1100). I'm glad I own a GEN 1!

 

I have a set of Dynatech 304 S. S. long tube headers with high flow S.S. cats that bolt right in my H. D. at about $1,200. With K&N, 12 pis boost predor chip,with factory exhaust the sond is soft until the punched then wild.

 

LOL! Tell me about it! I MISS the prices I used to pay to mod the Windsor in my '90 GT Mustang!!

My JBA headers only cost me a few hundred way back when!

A few hundred might buy me one header nowdays for the Gen 2 I have.

Stewart