hey guys sory i've been MIA for a while i forgot my password and the sytstem won't let me reset another one but i'm back none the less. I'm looking for a good way to blow my tax returns and i thought some headers would bea good choice. All i can find on the internet are gibson and a few JBA all very pricy, cheapest i can find are 388 for chrome .. i do'nt want hrome it'll just chip off i a year and rust fast. HOWEVER, i got an exhaust shop who can get me ceramics for 490 and he'll install and everything for 700. is this a good deal????? i know the 490 for ceramics is becuase i can't find them under 600 anywhere else, BUT i'm still thinking about gettin stainless which i can get for 485. the guy wil install anything for 250. i know the ceramics are better but how much does it really matter? WHAT DO YOU THINK?!?!?!?!

 

Ceramics will keep things a LOT cooler under the hood, and a cool engine is a happy engine. Plus they won't discolor like the stainless ones do almost immediately.
I boughtuncoated long tubes for my Hemi, then had a local coating shop do the ceramic coat inside & out. They did a fantastic job, much better than any factory ceramic coat I've ever seen.Fifteen minutes after I shut down, my local performance shop owner buddy measured the temp of my cats at over 500 degrees and you could already lay your hand on the headers...
I paid about $600 total for the headers and the coating, did the install myself, but thought the cats I cut out robbed me of some low end torque (plus I knew I'd get a CEL but was planning on the non-fouler trick) Because it was a bi*ch welding under there without a lift, I paid a local muffler shop $200 to weld the stock cats back in and I extended the O2 sensors back to their new location myself to get rid of the CEL. So even with better than a days labor myself, I had over $800 in them, so $700 without lifting a finger is pretty damn good...

 

thats whati was thinking 700isn't bad especially for ceramics, i'm hopin to go with that when i get my tax returns but whoo knows, i'm up between headers, OR a jet chip, intake, and some new door speakers (as my pioneers are blooown). what you think?

 

Experiences I have had with short tube headers is that a cat back exhaust system will give good HP without headers. If you are going to do longtube headers I would get doug thorley ceramic. HammerZ71 is correct about the stainless discolor after the first trip for a quart of milk (or six pack). I would suggest the super chip handheld programmer, cat back exhaust and CAI. This should add about 30 HP to the rear wheels for about what headers would cost.

IMHO

 

ok, well i have the 4.7 so can't run the long tubes casue nobody makes em so i'd have to run short tubes anway, ho much would it realy help? also i was hoping to open up the exhaust tone and make it a little deeper and throatier, and i know the headers will do that, i thought aout cutting the cat but i definitely don't need to lose gas mileage. ?? any suggestions?

 

I stumbledacross some gibsons on ebay for less than $200 shipped, and I am getting ready to put them on this weekend. They are the shorties, but I thinkthe deal was too good to pass up. Are they worth my time? Was it a good deal?

 

Gains from the shorties are very minimal. But, if they are coated, for the $200, get them. If they are not coated then they will either discolor right away (stainless) or rot out in less than a year, making it a waste of time, unless you just want to practice installing them on a cheap set, which wouldn't be a bad idea...

 

Muscleman, I was in the same position as you a while ago.I was looking for mods, and leaning towardsheaders. I was going to spend my $500 Summit Racing Gift Card on the JBA shorties and install 'em myself until I heard, as Hammer stated, that they don't give much performance gains. Instead of the headers, I switched out my Flowmaster 50 for a Cherry Bomb and then bought a CAI and Superchip. I paid full retail at local stores because I dont have a credit card ($730 total). If you play your cards right or buy used parts from ebay, you could probably get the same things for 1/2of what I paid. I am extremely pleased with my mods.The truck is noticably quicker andgas mileage is much improved (I got 15.7mpg on a 350 mile trip from Lake Placid doing 80mph the entire way. When all I had was the FM50, I got 14 mpg at 75mph).

I have occasionally found used headers for my truck on ebay for very good prices, but since I'm not going to have the Ram much longer, theres really no point for me to buy 'em, but deffinately check that out every now and again

 

thats sort of how i am, i'm gettin 15.7 all the time pretty much, 2 years ago i went down to the beach and got 22.5!!! i went again last fall and only got 18???? weird i know, but i've been thinking about selling the ram and getting a 4wd something, but the chance of that happening are getting slimmer everyday. i tihnk i'm going with a CAI (CHECK OUT AIR FORCE ONE INTAKE THEY ARE AWESOME!!! KN IS A LITTLE OVERRATED) and maybe a chip or some new speakers. any other ideas?