so i got an exhaust leak coming of my stock manifolds and its been driving me crazy, so im thinking of swapping them out for some shorty headers so im wondering if anyone has some good recommendations on a brand and things like that and also what material whether stainless steel, ceramic coated, or just some painted steel. my exhaust set up is currently all cats still and straight pipe to a y pipe for duels out the back, no muffler. its a 5.4 engine also if that makes any difference. any input is appreciated thank you

 

Long tube headers would be a better upgrade. Expect to be replacing your manifold studs and having to break/extract the others.

 

i agree that long tubes would be better but the money situation is a little tight for that at the moment for me and i know im ganna be replacing studs because the reason the manifold is leaking is that the 2 studs on the back of the passenger manifold are broken. the "good news" is some of the stud is still sticking out but anyway shorties are kinda where im at for headers at the moment unless you know of a rough guess for price and requirements as to what im lookin at for long tubes?

 

stay with manifolds unless your engine is already modified

 

well so far my truck has a K&N cold air intake, a throttle body spacer, and an exhaust system, i dont know if you consider that modified but i plan to do more as money comes in so i think headers are still a good idea.

now im thinking of maybe going with long tubes but i dont want to have to modify anything to make them fit, is there any around that are direct fit, also do you need to get them tuned

 

I have a feeling this will fall on deaf ears trying to get past fixed notions.
The K/N, throttle body spacer and short headers won't add any power for the cost and hassle.The spacer adds nothing to performance as it adds very small addition to the total intake runner length for low end torque outside the runner area for each cylinder.
You have a low RPM truck application. It has long intake runner intake system to help low end torque.
The stock configuration has all the 'flow' required including air filtration and cold air inlet as factory and exhaust is fully adequate.
The mods may slightly affect the very top RPM area where you don't normally run down the road at.
Long tube headers will require modification to get cats back into the system.
In addition you will have OX sensor issues to properly return signals back to the Computer.
Reasons are; if put to far down to the ends of long tubes, they will not heat fast enough on cold starts and may not run hot enough due to header tube cooling from the length. If put in one tube near an exhaust port, only one cylinder each side is sampled.
You also need EGR application unless you intend to run without and inspection is not an issue for which a CEL will be on all the time..
Bottom line is a lot of expense and effort for little gain in the final analysis for anything but just making changes.
This is a heavy truck application not a high performance lighter weight car
application.
The two applications are far apart for these mods to be very effective.
What is being done is trying to 'influence' a closed computer system from the outside. It does not work very well for the effort.
Good luck.