I'm thinking about putting a set on my camino sometime in the near future. I know long tubes are better flow, but i'm looking for something with easy fitment. With the shorty headers, do they come out the same place as manifolds, or will the current exhaust need to be adjusted? Right now I have a 350 with a nice atleast 2 inch dual exhaust. Would getting shorty headers be worth it? Also, do they put off less heat then full length?. Thanks for the advice guys.

You should just go for the long tube headers. It's the best bang for the buck. There would not be too much difference in the heat they put off. You would need to consider getting a heat wrap for your starter though. The shorty headers do on most cars replace just the manifolds only and no modifcations need to be done to the pipe unless some one has removed the heat riser valve on the passenger side manifold. If they have there may be alittle issue with the pipe length. I would have to imagine either way you go you may be still making a trip to a exhaust shop to make a few adjustments to the pipe. I have never had much luck with exhaust being a a pure bolt on job. There always is some amount of fitment issues. As for the power you would gain from either set will rest on your cars abilty to take in air. If you have a intake manifold like eldelbrock and a aftermarket carb you will see a very noticable difference! You will still get some gain out of them even with the stock equipment. You just have to remember that the engine is only as good as the sum of it's parts. Meaning You can put alot of money into it but still have a very slow car if you don't use the right stuff where it is needed. Edelbrock has entire kits they sell with all the parts matched with eachother. You can get intake and cam, heads, exhaust, carb all matched to really make a motor run well. They have taken the guess work out of the process. Anyway that is alittle off the topic. If I was you and ever plan to do any more modification to the motor I would go with the long tube headers. I am actually working on my 1980 Elco that has the V6 in it and adding cam, intake, carb and long tube headers to it. The entire package should yeild about 45 horsepower. Which means that I will have more power than the V8 offered that same year for the Elco while still keeping my cars original engine.

i put long tubes on mine dident have a problem but i put them on with the motor half way outa the car.

And some motors make more hp with shortys thean full length it was in a chevy hi mag. dont know if it is true but personally i like my full lengths.

Can't remember where, but about a year ago or more, I visited a website that had a header primary tube length model/calculator. For my BBC it recommended (as I recall) 1-7/8" primaries 54" long. (That's 4-1/2 feet!). I have "shorties" now. When it's time to replace them, I'll go with full length, but probably not 4-1/2 footers.

A "poorman's method" of doing this is to paint the headers with low temp paint, and see where the burning stops then place the collector at that point. Easy ona dragster/rail, but a little harder to do in a car.

I don't agree with this approach because combustion chamber performance improvements are mostly dependent upon the velocity and scavenging effects of the shock wave(s) that travel up and down the tube(s). Temperature may play a minor role in this, but not a major one.

Also, an X-pipe inserted at the right place in the exhaust system has been proven to have a beneficial effect (10+ HP gains). However I see two drawbacks. They make most of their contribution at higher RPMs, and unless you're racing are seldom worth the added cost and hassle they impose.

So, in general, I agree with the rest of the replies, "longer is better".

mnunn -

whose shorties are you using now? do they fit well? can you still get to eveything, like spark plugs? did you have to make any mods to anything, like the a/c bracket? i'm replacing my LG4 later this year with an LM1/LS9 but otherwise keeping everything under the hood stock. i know those stock exhaust logs from the 305 will choke the new 350, so i am either going to get shorties or go to the junk yard for 350 logs off of anything lying around.

ps - i can't be talked into long tubes

thanks for the help

mnunn -

whose shorties are you using now? do they fit well? can you still get to eveything, like spark plugs? did you have to make any mods to anything, like the a/c bracket? i'm replacing my LG4 later this year with an LM1/LS9 but otherwise keeping everything under the hood stock. i know those stock exhaust logs from the 305 will choke the new 350, so i am either going to get shorties or go to the junk yard for 350 logs off of anything lying around.

ps - i can't be talked into long tubes

thanks for the help