Hey all. I have a 1995 5.2L 4x4 SLT 5-spd club cab here. And, I have a question about headers. I'm sure there are about a billion threads on headers here, but this is a little different.

I have plans to regear my rig to 4.10s, but the lift/33s will need to wait a bit. I'd like to improve my performance on pavement first since that's where I am 70% of the time.

I already have harland sharp 1.7 rockers ordered, but I'd like to get even more power with some headers and a nice exhaust system. I'm looking at some truck headers for the 5.2 from summit (part no. SUM-G9044 for the curious) and they're shorties. I know longtubes will give me the most power, but the ones I find for sale only fit rams and not daks. Midlengths are like 800 bucks.

Will shorties provide me much more power over the stock manifolds when combined with the 1.7 rockers? Or would I do better to just use 1.7s for the cost?

 

Headers will flow better than the stock manifolds, but, if the rest of the exhaust is free flowing, yes, they will help. All mods that you do that help the engine breath better, will get you more from ALL of them. The engine is a system. Just addressing one part of it, isn't nearly as effective as addressing it as a whole system.

 

Shorty headers, and I believe that is all that is available for the 4wd dakota, will add little to the power. In my opinion save towards a set of heads and cam. Then a 360 or a 408

 

318 5 speed 4X4 club cab I WANT IT

 

Sorry to burst everyones bubbles, but shorty headers add absolutely nothing over the factory manifolds.

 

Dyno charts say otherwise.

 

they most certainly do not. Not for our trucks. Do some research.

 

I have. That's why I made that statement.

 

maybe try doing REAL research. Because I'm telling you, its been proven time and time again shorty headers in our trucks are a waste of money because they do nothing. Try creditable and real world results.

 

Read this article.

Show me ANY proof that this article is wrong. Show me dyno results that don't show any improvement. Good luck with that.