mids vs. LT

[CamaroZGuy]

right now i have pacesetter mids w/3" catt, would there be a noticeable gain moving up to LT w/ORY. i know by losing the catt ill gain some but just headers vs. headers?

-tony

[ItSSlowZ28]

i can't speak from experience, but logic says yes. there's a reason race cars use long tubes and not mids

[CamaroZGuy]

i'm mainly trying to figure out if $600+ is worth the swap.

[Blubird]

long tubes will give you more low end torque if i remember correctly

[ItSSlowZ28]

as far as swapping goes, this has been my plan. i have coated pacesetters now that are pretty old. when i finally get around to building a new motor, i'm going with something much better quality (and bigger). if its at all possible, the only way i can justify swapping is to get something like stepped kooks. i would definately look for something stainless. as far as i've seen, anything thats just coated will eventually rust

[KissMyWhtSS]

It's not, atleast not on a bolt-on car. $600 for maybe 5hp isn't very good bang for the buck.

Exhaust is one of those things that I wouldn't worry about horsepower on. My first concerns for exhaust are ground clearance and sound. I want something that sounds awesome and isn't going to bottom out if I have a lowered car. My car previously had sportline springs and Edelbrock Shortys (TES) with a stock 97 dual cat y-pipe. It sounded pretty good and didn't have any ground clearance issues despite being lowered almost 2 inches. On a light bolt on car, I was losing maybe 3-5hp by having shortys and a stock y-pipe (keep in mind SS's had 3" i-pipes) which isn't a big deal at the price of convenience and sound.

Knowing that if I keep/kept my car after school I'd have much bigger plans for the car, I knew that I'd want long tubes as the horsepower loss would be much bigger on a heads/cam car. I swapped my shortys out for Pacesetter longtubes with a 3" off road y-pipe. I think that I felt a slight horsepower increase, but in no way enough for a $700 header swap. Part of it is probably psychological since you spent money expecting a small performance increase you sware that you got a performance increase. Another factor is that the header swap was done in February and I didn't really drive it until March. The car always feels fast after you've been driving a 4500lb truck all winter.

I also knew that I would be raising my car up after installing the long tubes, as suspension was next on my list.

Hope this helps.

[CamaroZGuy]

well shortly i will be moving beyond the "bolt on" car to a N/A 383. i will probly just take my old mids off, sand them and have them coated and remove the AIR/EGR fittings from them.

[YZF]

long tubes will give you more low end torque if i remember correctly

My car has the exact same hp/tq curve as it did stock but at a higher rpm. Its a solid 400-500 rpm higher.

Running through long tubes and a 3" ORY.

And my car is lowered a lot dispite what some think about ground clearance

2 3/8" to the y pipe flange haha.

[Fastbird]

If you had the RKSport/ASM headers, I'd say not worth it. But with the Pacesetter shorties/mids/whatever they are, I'd move to the long tubes, especially since you're going to want those on the 383 anyway.

[KissMyWhtSS]

My car has the exact same hp/tq curve as it did stock but at a higher rpm. Its a solid 400-500 rpm higher.

Running through long tubes and a 3" ORY.

And my car is lowered a lot dispite what some think about ground clearance

2 3/8" to the y pipe flange haha.

You should've seen mine with the sportlines. Jesus shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit