Will Longtubes help or hurt me???
 

hey guys,
I know you are sick of me asking questions about exhaust but i'm spending a lot of money and it is a big decision.

So, i'm going with BBK polished ceramic headers, BBK off road Hpipe, and magnaflow cat back.

Now the big question is, what tubes to get.
I know a little about the shorties but nothing about the long tubes. I would say within two years, I'll put a supercharger under the hood of that baby but not for a little while. I don't know what applications the long tubes will help and what ones they will hurt.

I tried doing a seach on here but everything was so vague that I had to ask here, sorry guys.

Thanks for any help you can give me
Scott

oh yeah,
It will only cost me $10 more for the long tube setup so money isn't an issue.

Longtubes will help you on the low end. If you get shorties definitely get the equal lengths with a s/c. IMO, the long tubes are the way to go if you got the dough.

I seen in a magazine..forget which one..where a guy had a 90?rwhp mustang with shorties on it. I know plenty of people around here with some high hp mustang with shorties. Longtubes won't generate that much low end torque.

For the price longtubes are definetly the way to go. They won't have an adverse effect on a stock motor and there good for more power then shorties with every upgrade that you do.

Hey Mike Wolking
I see that you have the BBK long tubes and hpipe. How was the installation. I have to do it myself. I want to save the money and I don't think anyone around here will do it.

well i have installed more sets of headers than i would like to mention but i will say that the BBK's are a great fit and that your better off sticking to the directions on these. One side goes up from underneath and the other from above. Don't try any shortcuts cause they really won't work. One thing to add is DO NOT use the recommended gasket sealer crap that they want you to affix the gasket to the head. That just brings headaches later. I had to alter/bend my dipstick tube bracket to bolt down in conjunction with the lower center valve cover stud-there isn't much room next to the header tube were it bolted up originally. Now is also a good time to put on new motor mounts. Don"t waste your money with the Energy Suspension Polygraphites becasue there damn near solid mounts and they are exspensive. I recall disconnecting the steering shaft coupler for the installation but can't remember if it was in the directions. Run the car for about ten to twenty minutes the first time and then tighten the bolts and then do the same about a week later. Be sure to tighten the bolts at the collectors and at the back of the h pipe because those seat and loosen up as well
Good Luck-Mike

wow, this really sucks.
I don't know enough about doing work to my car to be able to do all that stuff.
Mike Wolking
I really can't do motor mounts and bending the dipstick the dipstick tube bracket? what is that all about?
I really wish that I had someone in the area that could help me with this stuff. I really want to do it but I know I'll screw something up really bad.
This just flat out sucks:mad:

I was also wondering how much of an effect the long tubes will actually have on the low end torque.

Even installing shorty headers, especially equal length will involve some good mechanical skill, and require relocation of some stock stuff like dipstick tubes or smog brackets.

Take it from someone who even has pretty good mechanical skills, some stuff on the 5.0 mustang is pretty hard to do cus of the tight packaging of the engine. For instance, I can pull the valve covers off my Chevy in 2 min without any tools cuz I have the T bar type hold down bolts, and no extra brackets or wires covering them up.

The Stang's valve covers took me 2-3 hours, had to pull the upper intake off, and that one little @#$@#$ bolt in the back for the support brace was fun. I'ts not all that bad, just that you need to be patient, and do things in the right order.

Don't get over your head, find a buddy to help you or pay a Mechanic to do it. I would imagine they would charge up to 10 hrs?? Not cheap :(

I just put mine in last week - BBK LT Ceramic coated, and Cat H-Pipe. I would say that over the course of 5 days, I spent about 30 hours on the project...removed Strut Tower brace, removed lots more stuff...jacked car up two feet in the air, fabricated a new dipstick mount, fabricated a new air tube mount (the Stage-8 header bolts are too short to hold those)...replaced Motor Mounts... basically follow the instructions...it is a lot of work - but I saved myself about $400 in labor. I didn't need to remove my starter (as the instructions suggest) I just jacked the engine up about 5". Would I do it again...not any time soon! But in time, I am sure I will forget the pain - and tackle it again...

My car is mostly stock - it feels VERY SIMILAR to the way it was before the swap - but it sounds much quieter at idle, a little louder at WOT, and it got rid of my 2K rpm drone alltogether.

I am all set now for my H/C/I mods later...

Motor mounts are easy to replace once your in there, the motor will already be in the air and then it only takes two bolts on each side to change them out. You will be sorry that you didn't change them while you were in there. Ive had them go bad an its not a pretty sight and you woun't have much clearence after you put the long tubes in. It took me 13 hours to put them in and i tried to cheat which only put me back a few hours. I'm sure you and a friend can figure it out. It will just take you a little longer to do but it isn't that complicated. Mine came with excellent instructions so it shouldn't be all that bad. Good Luck

not that much diff?
 

I am about to purchase a set of BBK shorty headers, hpipe and flowmast cat back. You say you didn't notice that much of an increase in horse power or in the sound? That kinda makes me reluctant to do these mods now.

I know there needed in order to put other stuff on. But, I am getting my engine rebuilt next summer and I could just put them on then. I was looking for something to add a little horsepower and sound untill then.