Equal shorties vs. Longtubes
 

Guys,
Need to scrape up some hp (don't we all)
Anybody got any hard numbers on equal shorties vs. longtubes?
Also, heard lots of bad stuff about having O2 sensors that far down.
Any input appreciated.

"Life is tough, but it's tougher if your stupid"
Sgt Stryker (John Wayne), The Sands of Iwo Jima

If you are going to do alot of street driving then some equal length ceramic shorties are the way to go.

If you plan on spending alot of time at the drag strip then some long tubes would be the way to go.

Thats putting it pretty simple, and everyone feels differently about this, but the Real Street guys in the NMRA are going 10's with shorty headers for example.

I run long tubes (Bassani 1 5/8'' - 1 3/4" - 3") and did my own wiring to lengthen the harnesses to fit properly, you can also get longer O2's at the local parts store.

Later

Long Tube headers generate more horsepower
and torque, throughout the power range than direct replacement.

Installs a pain but well worth it! We only had to increase wire length on one O2 sensor on passenger side if I remember correctly. You can buy new O2 sensors with longer wires.

LT's vs. Shorties
 

I personally disagree. Longtubes are a big PITA and the gains are not really worth the install hassel and the clearance problems. You have to get a mini-starter for a lot of applications, remove the steering shaft, and jack up the motor. You can run just fine with a pair of standard unequal headers. Spence Hart ran 10.18, Bob Lunner (Rel3rd) ran deep into the 10's, and I have run 10.46 just as a few examples. We all ran MAC unequals with these times. If you are doing a motor or k-member at the same time then the install might be a lot easier. But after the install I just did yesterday, I can tell you I would never personally do them on their own. Plus if you run a power adder and change head gaskets often, I bet this would be an added nightmare to the process since the headers need to be moved and sometimes removed to get the heads off. If you compare the numbers I am sure the gains aren't that significant.

My friend has mac longtubes, we just pulled the heads, and reinstalled them for gaskets, its a carb motor, but it was a cinch, and we didnt have to remove the headers from the h-pipe.