I recently discovered that i have a crack in the oe manifold, while ford tells me there is no power loss and no loss in avg mpg. i swear i can feel and see the diff..
So with that said ford wants to charge me about the same price for OE manifold that i could spend on headers.

Question??
I've been told that aftermarket headers wont give me much if any more performance gains than the oe manifold.. true? false?
Should i get headers?
which ones?
How difficult is the install?

 

First of all 4.6 or 5.4?

False to your question. long tube headers give you a pretty good gain in performance.
I have shortys on mine and i noticed a diffrence in the low and mid range power.
Thiers all kinds of brands just stay away from pacesetters.
jba is a good shorty header.
i dont know much about long tubes just what i have read about them. The gains look pretty good.
they are pretty hard to install if you have a 04+ bodys style. hopfully this helps.

 

Shorties are good replacements, don't require a custom tune, are relatively easy to install. Long tubes on the other hand offer a good power gains, but require high flow cat, reworked exhaust, a custom tune, and are a pain in the *** to install. That's if they are made specifically for your truck/engine/drivetrain.

 

I'd go with your basic shorty headers for OE replacement, unless you have the thousand to shell out for LT headers, new cats, custom tune, and the 14hrs labor and have all the tools available.

 

good info guys! thanks so much it helps me alot!

BTW I have the 5.4l so for not adding that in

yah i don't have the funds to rework the whole exhaust so shorty it is even though I'd love to get more performance....lol

AAAAaannnd. i happened to be looking at pacesetters, so that was a close one!!!! thanks

 

FTW, Long Tubes all the way.

shorties only get sound. not worth it to me.

 

I just went through the same decision process as you (phatboy). I'm in need of manifolds and I decided to go with shorties as an economical fix. I found a set of Ford Racing SS shorties that I'm installing Sunday, I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

 

I agree long tubes are way outta my price range. Went with ceramic coated BBK shorties. Bought them from 4wheel parts last summer for $400, don't know what they cost now. I've noticed smoother excelleration and my 4.6 doesn't seem to be a dog going up hills now.

 

^ cool deal!

 

long tubes would be nice buuuut more hassle than i want to get into i think? sounds like i would need to redo my entire exhaust system? get new gryphon tunes? am i correct in my understanding??
I would love to but budget won't allow!

 

To take full advantage of the LTs you would need to get tuned, and change to a unrestricted Y pipe with a 3" intermediate pipe. Defnitely will break the $1,000 mark.

Just replace the manifolds with shorties.

 

I finished up my shorties today. As most others have said, nothing too striking. Exhaust note changed a bit, but for the most part just as O.E. except not leaking. If they're the same price it doesn't hurt, they have to flow better than stock. I still need to take care of the rest of the system though.

 

^ Exactly what was expected, great job man!

 

I just put my shorties on this weekend... mac ceramic coated. Install sucked but we got it done. Have not had a chance to drive it or anything yet due to the exhaust clamps needing to be replaced. Will give a review either tonight or tomorrow.

 

I started it up and in neutral it doesnt sound any different. However you can hear more valve train noise through these thin headers. Drive report tonight or tomorrow.