Header Question

[mikes04hemi]

I have an 04 RCSB with the hemi and right now it is completely stock. I am about ready to start mods on it this fall and need some clarification.

Would like to put a set of headers on and I have heard that LT's will increase torque over the shorties from BBK, JBA, etc. I have heard the opposite that shorties will produce more torque so I am a little confused. Not too worried about the cats but I drive my truck every day and don't want to lose the torque.

So my question is do I go with LT's and Y pipe or shorties for a DD? Not looking to race all out, just have some fun driving around with my boys.

Future mods will be the typical:

intake
SC tuner
comp 268 or equivalent cam
2500-3000 stall
4.56 gears

Thanks in advance!
Mike

 

[KGBIGCOUNTRY]

Long tubes will require some fabbing to keep the cats and a few other things, shorties will just bolt in.

Pacesetter longtubes on my truck, excuse the dirt this was during the motor swap when I popped my old one in the dirt.

 

[Hemi450hp]

I would also recommend the coated Pacesetters. Combined with their Y-pipe, you simply cut your existing exhaust where the new Y-pipe ends, and clamp/weld them together. If you dont need the cats, then I would run without them. With the mods you have planned, low end tq loss will not be an issue.

 

[mikes04hemi]

Thanks for the pics Ken. Those are nice! I was thinking of using the Pacesetters and their matching Y since everyone seems to have very little to no fitment issues.

Right now the exhaust is only straight pipe from the stock Y going into a flowmaster style muffler before the rear end. I like this setup and will just plan to put that back on with the new headers.

I was wondering if the other mods would get the torque back up since the trucks are so heavy. Thanks for the info!

 

[Hemi450hp]

Only fitment issue you may have with the Pacesetters is that 1 of the bolt holes in the passenger side flange needs to be elongated a little, and a few members have had to trim a small piece off the transmission belhousing on the passenger side. I had to make both of these modifications to make mine fit.

With 4.56's and a nice stall converter, low end tq is not going to be an issue. I would go with a 3000 stall with the 268.

 

[KGBIGCOUNTRY]

Make sure you order OEM manifold gaskets also, the y pipe clamps that come with the kit are also junk. Get some wide double nutted ones and not sure how many other people had or have an issue but I had to get the driver side connection weleded at the elbow.

 

[mikes04hemi]

Only fitment issue you may have with the Pacesetters is that 1 of the bolt holes in the passenger side flange needs to be elongated a little, and a few members have had to trim a small piece off the transmission belhousing on the passenger side. I had to make both of these modifications to make mine fit.

With 4.56's and a nice stall converter, low end tq is not going to be an issue. I would go with a 3000 stall with the 268.

Thanks for the heads up on the pacesetters. I had read about the small ear on the bellhousing having to be trimmed off but didnt know about the elongated bolthole.

When I am ready for the converter and gears, I will give you a shout and see if we can work out a good price

 

[mikes04hemi]

Make sure you order OEM manifold gaskets also, the y pipe clamps that come with the kit are also junk. Get some wide double nutted ones and not sure how many other people had or have an issue but I had to get the driver side connection weleded at the elbow.

Yes, mopar gaskets. I have that on the list as well.

I have some extra 2.5 and 3" overlapping band clamps that may work.

 

[Hemi450hp]

Thanks for the heads up on the pacesetters. I had read about the small ear on the bellhousing having to be trimmed off but didnt know about the elongated bolthole.

When I am ready for the converter and gears, I will give you a shout and see if we can work out a good price

I'm sure we can work something out

 

[truckin151]

Pacesetters have QA/QC issues (quality control and checks) mine put the passenger O2 pointing straight up.and into the heat shield on the floor board. Had to cut about half an inch off the **** and.hammer a dent about the size of a softball into the floor board. As for torque, yes they do increase the overall tq over the shorties but the shorties let you have that torque gain lower in the rpm range. Lt's work better mid-top shorties work better low-mid. Overall the lt's give you more.power and tq.

I kept the cats on mine and modified the pacesetter ORY to fit them. They look factory. I have a bunch of pics up somewhere on here, have to dig them up later.

As far as more tq mods, get yourself a tuner that adjusts your trans.settings. a new tq converter is an awesome mod, one of my favorites to date, gears will also wake it up quite nice.

 

[mikes04hemi]

Really??? Well that is something I do not want to deal with. Does anyone know if Pacesetter fixed this issue or revised the **** location?

 

[truckin151]

Its hit and miss from my understanding. One of the guys who put them on his truck had the header collector resting on the return line for trans fluid, again something you do NOT want to mess with. One of my friends got a set that was missing a **** altogether as well.

They are great headers for the price and I like them a lot but I wouldnt go into it thinking that everything was just going to line right up

 

[Hemi450hp]

Pacesetter has had some inconsistency in their headers for a couple years now. Mine cleared everything but that small ear on the transmission bellhousing. A sawzall and 30 secoinds later, everything was good.

If you want to go up a step from the Pacesetters, you can look into the Dynatechs or the American Racing longtubes. Both of these are going to cost 2-3 times as much as the Pacesetters, but the quality of metal, workmanship, and fit/finish is as good as it gets. Its hard to drop $1500 on an exhaust setup though, so most guys make due with the Pacesetters.

 

[mikes04hemi]

I know there is going to be some work on getting them to fit right.... I will likely go with the pacesetters because like you say, the others are out of my budget. A little trimming here and there is fine, I just dont want to use the BFH on my truck...lol !! Thanks for the info!