Shorty Headers+ypipe

[Wahrsuul]

Wow, well this is confusing. I'm tired of the broken bolts, and if I'm going to replace the manifolds, I wouldn't mine a little more low-mid range. I figured shorties would be the answer while being easier to install as most of them seem to bolt right in without needing to mod any pipes. I've been told a new y-pipe won't do much without LTs

I don't have tune, or a CAI and don't really plan to get one.

 

[Ram04]

Not sure what part of N/A you live in but guessing no salt and corrosion on roads that collect in wrap and add a dble whammy to uncoated mild steel headers. I'm glad to hear wrap works somewhere, in my neck of the woods every mild steel header I've ever seen or heard of that got wrapped lived a very short life except SS which be its very make up, doesn't need wrap because it holds heat it just fine already.

For racing where your trying to squeeze out everything I can see it, but haven't seen or heard of anyone having success around here doing it. No matter how you slice it, it will eventually mummify the pipes, it's just a fact of simple science and metallurgy.

Glad it's working for you though. Are your header ceramic coated as well? I've never seen a ceramic coated header wrapped, because again, the ceramic coating is usually thought to be enough, but maybe the combo keeps the pipes alive under those extreme heat conditions?

 

[Wild one]

Wow, well this is confusing. I'm tired of the broken bolts, and if I'm going to replace the manifolds, I wouldn't mine a little more low-mid range. I figured shorties would be the answer while being easier to install as most of them seem to bolt right in without needing to mod any pipes. I've been told a new y-pipe won't do much without LTs

I don't have tune, or a CAI and don't really plan to get one.

In your case shorties are probably what you want,if you're not planning on tuning it,and want them to bolt up to your stock midpipe. Wouldn't hurt to wrap them as much as possible,and have an exhaust shop cut out the factory merge where the drivers side pipe is almost flattened to a pancake as it joins the pass side pipe.They aren't fun to install though as some of the bolts on shorties are a real ***** to get at.

 

[Ram04]

Wow, well this is confusing. I'm tired of the broken bolts, and if I'm going to replace the manifolds, I wouldn't mine a little more low-mid range. I figured shorties would be the answer while being easier to install as most of them seem to bolt right in without needing to mod any pipes. I've been told a new y-pipe won't do much without LTs

I don't have tune, or a CAI and don't really plan to get one.

My post sounds like a slam on shorties, it's not meant to be.....

The JBA Catward and even the Pacesetter shorties that Moe's carries look decent as long as you are port matched to your cyl's they will both be an upgrade from the stock manifolds, both being 1 5/8"!

When I was struggling to find an SS 1 5/8" set of LT's for mine, I was Very close to ordering the Catwards as they looked and sounded great, specially the TQ that they are listed to have at like 2100rpm? IMS

The kicker is I emailed JBA for more info, because the dyno sheet they posted only started at 3-3500+ which made no sense vs the 2100rpm TQ claim.

Never got a response

Still look nice for a shorty though....

 

[Wild one]

Not sure what part of N/A you live in but guessing no salt and corrosion on roads that collect in wrap and add a dble whammy to uncoated mild steel headers. I'm glad to hear wrap works somewhere, in my neck of the woods every mild steel header I've ever seen or heard of that got wrapped lived a very short life except SS which be its very make up, doesn't need wrap because it holds heat it just fine already.

For racing where your trying to squeeze out everything I can see it, but haven't seen or heard of anyone having success around here doing it. No matter how you slice it, it will eventually mummify the pipes, it's just a fact of simple science and metallurgy.

Glad it's working for you though. Are your header ceramic coated as well? I've never seen a ceramic coated header wrapped, because again, the ceramic coating is usually thought to be enough, but maybe the combo keeps the pipes alive under those extreme heat conditions?

Little test for you,see how long you can put your hand on a set of ceramic coated headers,then see how long you can put your hand on a set of wrapped headers,lol. Never yet seen a ceramic coat last worth ****,it won't make it past 6 months up here. There's way more instances of guys having the ceramic coating go to hell in short order then there are guys who have issues from wrapping the header and the header going to hell from rusting or from heat stress. I can tell you have no experience with long tubes for a 4th Gen,all your experience sounds to be from years ago with thinwall mild steel headers,things aren't quite the same as they were back in the days of cheap Black Jack style headers,that you could buy for a 100 bucks,lol

 

[Ram04]

Well that's Good News then! I've never gotten headers coated for the very reason you stated, but never really Knew if they would last or not. Thanks for verifying that!

Good to know things have changed on the wrap and quality of headers as well! Nice that you can still learn something new every day!

 

[Wild one]

My post sounds like a slam on shorties, it's not meant to be.....

The JBA Catward and even the Pacesetter shorties that Moe's carries look decent as long as you are port matched to your cyl's they will both be an upgrade from the stock manifolds, both being 1 5/8"!

When I was struggling to find an SS 1 5/8" set of LT's for mine, I was Very close to ordering the Catwards as they looked and sounded great, specially the TQ that they are listed to have at like 2100rpm? IMS

The kicker is I emailed JBA for more info, because the dyno sheet they posted only started at 3-3500+ which made no sense vs the 2100rpm TQ claim.

Never got a response

Still look nice for a shorty though....

You can't get a realistic dyno number at 2100 rpm,especially with the 8 speed,it wants to downshift,most dyno pulls with the 8 speeds have to start at a bare mininium of 3500 and even that's pushing it,most of them start at 4,000+ rpm.It's only been the last couple months that tuners have figured out how to lock the 8 speed into 6th,and there's only a couple of them that have that figured out,the majority of dyno shops haven't been able to lock the 8 speed into it's 1:1 gear to do a dyno test under 3500/4,000

 

[Ram04]

Just wanted to add that anyone going with shorties and wanting to retain as much low end TQ as possible should follow what Wild one suggested. Remove the restriction at Y-pipe only and leave rest of stock exhaust mid/ Y-pipe.

At the very most, 2 1/2" mid/ Y-pipe and 3- 3 1/4" exhaust are as large as you would want to go in a bolt-ons regular driver/ tower, as going 3" mid/ Y-pipe with shorties will bias them to the mid-upper rpm even more.

LT's are a little safer in this area as they retain most of their TQ from being closer to tuned length. You can still compensate for too large diam pipes on the LT's by staying smaller on the rest of the exhaust though.

 

[dtru1222]

Funny to see the shorties/long tube debate still going on nearly 8 years after I joined the forum. Theres a lot more evidence over at the challenger/charger forums that long tubes will outperform shorties at all rpm. Putting ARH on my 5.7 Challenger was a night and day difference from bottom to top end.

Now with the Ram, just purchased a 2020 limited, are there cat temp issues that throw codes on the ram like the cars?

 

[TheColt69]

So just to be clear (I know I’m raising questions from a year old thread but…) if someone has a set of titanium ceramic coated shorty headers… also an s&b cai… is there something a good exhaust shop can do for the restriction after the cats? Or a set up ready to buy after the cats? This particular person in question is just wanting to retain the cats, not spend a whole load of money on long tube headers, and have no check engine light!

 

[G-Ride990]

So just to be clear (I know I’m raising questions from a year old thread but…) if someone has a set of titanium ceramic coated shorty headers… also an s&b cai… is there something a good exhaust shop can do for the restriction after the cats? Or a set up ready to buy after the cats? This particular person in question is just wanting to retain the cats, not spend a whole load of money on long tube headers, and have no check engine light!

This is kind of like having your cake and eating it too... Shorties are damn near as expensive and in some cases more expensive than long tubes. Stay away from ****** blackheart or BBK headers, there are tons of photos and threads here to show why.

After the cats, these trucks flow pretty dang good with exception to the muffler. Swap on a Borla, Carven or delete the muffler and you are good to go. I would recommend leaving the stock resonators there.

If your buddy/customer wants no check engine light, no tune, no long tubes I would say, stick with the stock log manifolds. If they want some more sound, swap the muffler out to something like I mentioned.

 

[Wild one]

So just to be clear (I know I’m raising questions from a year old thread but…) if someone has a set of titanium ceramic coated shorty headers… also an s&b cai… is there something a good exhaust shop can do for the restriction after the cats? Or a set up ready to buy after the cats? This particular person in question is just wanting to retain the cats, not spend a whole load of money on long tube headers, and have no check engine light!

I think AFE makes a replacement bolt on mandrel bent midpipe with or with out cats,that doesn't have the crushed pipe syndrome the factory mid pipe has. It's fairly pricey though

 

[crackerjack1957]

I think AFE makes a replacement bolt on mandrel bent midpipe with or with out cats,that doesn't have the crushed pipe syndrome the factory mid pipe has. It's fairly pricey though

You are correct on all accounts.......LoL

 

[TheColt69]

This is kind of like having your cake and eating it too... Shorties are damn near as expensive and in some cases more expensive than long tubes. Stay away from ****** blackheart or BBK headers, there are tons of photos and threads here to show why.

After the cats, these trucks flow pretty dang good with exception to the muffler. Swap on a Borla, Carven or delete the muffler and you are good to go. I would recommend leaving the stock resonators there.

If your buddy/customer wants no check engine light, no tune, no long tubes I would say, stick with the stock log manifolds. If they want some more sound, swap the muffler out to something like I mentioned.

I thought after the cats on these they get all squeezed up and gets cut off pretty good. Maybe all the pics I saw were from 3rd gens or something though. If these are good flow then I won’t worry about it! It has flowmasters on it and doesn’t sound bad by any means. But we were thinking Carven progressives as well. Nothing too crazy, just nothing wrong with a little extra power I guess.

Also the person is me lol. I went with JBA titanium ceramic coated shorties. I’m not afraid of the price of longtubes, just that it’s a ‘15 and don’t want the follow up pcm unlock and tuning required just yet ya know. But thank you for the reply!! I’ve only had it a year and still learning. I am installing leather and all kinds of stuff. But the shorty headers were something that just kinda fell in my lap because of some broken manifold bolts

 

[G-Ride990]

I thought after the cats on these they get all squeezed up and gets cut off pretty good. Maybe all the pics I saw were from 3rd gens or something though. If these are good flow then I won’t worry about it! It has flowmasters on it and doesn’t sound bad by any means. But we were thinking Carven progressives as well. Nothing too crazy, just nothing wrong with a little extra power I guess.

Also the person is me lol. I went with JBA titanium ceramic coated shorties. I’m not afraid of the price of longtubes, just that it’s a ‘15 and don’t want the follow up pcm unlock and tuning required just yet ya know. But thank you for the reply!! I’ve only had it a year and still learning. I am installing leather and all kinds of stuff. But the shorty headers were something that just kinda fell in my lap because of some broken manifold bolts

Oh haha I thought it was for a buddy or something.

The stock Y pipe could be a bit of a restriction but unless you are cranking out some power I doubt changing it would make much of a difference.

I was in the same boat recently. Heard a loud exhaust leak and ordered a set of ARH long tubes from Nick@Gotexhaust.

 

[Wild one]

I thought after the cats on these they get all squeezed up and gets cut off pretty good. Maybe all the pics I saw were from 3rd gens or something though. If these are good flow then I won’t worry about it! It has flowmasters on it and doesn’t sound bad by any means. But we were thinking Carven progressives as well. Nothing too crazy, just nothing wrong with a little extra power I guess.

Also the person is me lol. I went with JBA titanium ceramic coated shorties. I’m not afraid of the price of longtubes, just that it’s a ‘15 and don’t want the follow up pcm unlock and tuning required just yet ya know. But thank you for the reply!! I’ve only had it a year and still learning. I am installing leather and all kinds of stuff. But the shorty headers were something that just kinda fell in my lap because of some broken manifold bolts

The factory midpipe does leave a bit to be desired where the 2 pipes join.Alot of guys cut that part out and use an aftermarket 2 into 1 stub piece in place of the factories welded pipes.Magnaflow and a few others build a 2 into 1 pipe that can be adapted in.

 

[TheColt69]

The factory midpipe does leave a bit to be desired where the 2 pipes join.Alot of guys cut that part out and use an aftermarket 2 into 1 stub piece in place of the factories welded pipes.Magnaflow and a few others build a 2 into 1 pipe that can be adapted in.

Oh nice to know! I have found a few of what I think your describing. Going to show them to my exhaust shop and see what they think. Hopefully we can do a little something.

 

[TheColt69]

As an aside, (hopefully I don’t get any sh*t now that it’s done lol) but I’ve picked my truck up post JBA shorty install, and while I press the gas about 50% it seems to make a little bit of an odd noise. I’ve never had headers before, and I know they make a little more motor noise than the manifolds, but I can’t tell if it’s normal or not. Sounds kind like blowing on one of those little flower looking fan things that kids love, but only under acceleration, not at idle or when I rev it up even.
Haven’t been under it yet, or had a mechanic drive it to see what he thinks, but figured I’d see if anyone would know. Lol I feel like I should’ve just got the LTs but I’m not even sure it’s actually a problem. Oh man.