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View Full Version : exhaust header question, worth it?



RocsMerc
10-20-2006, 09:38 AM
I bought my car used a little over a month ago. The previous owner did alot of exhaust work to my car. It already has resonator delete tips, delta 40 mufflers, high flow cats, and a custom X-pipe. Infact the only thing stock in my exhaust is the exhaust manafolds. I was wondering if i should complete the setup and get a cobra exhaust manafold or shorty headers. Would this even be worth it considering the exhaust is already opened up considerably, or does that mean the gains are going to be that much better?

Loco1234
10-20-2006, 09:56 AM
Your exhaust no matter how free down strwam of the headers is being bottle necked at the headers....

i would look to complete the exhaust and go with cobra headers...
if you talk with Dennis R. Im sure he will tell you the same and assist you in finding and purchaseing the proper headers to optimize and compliment the other exhasut upgrades you already have.

Do you have any intake upgrades?
This is an important thing to consider as well because if you can't get the increased amount of air into the engine you don't have to worry about getting it out of the egine nearly as much.... Luckily the Marauder is very free breathing even in the stock configuration...

KillJoy
10-20-2006, 10:27 AM
Cobra Manifolds / Headers WILL NOT mate up to a X-Pipe that is connected to MM Manifolds, and vice-versa.

KillJoy

94_302
10-20-2006, 10:43 AM
Got any pics of the setup? Are you sure there are not cobra manifolds on there? I did stock cobra manifolds without any porting or coating and must people would probably thing it's the stock manifolds. If anything I'd be interested in seeing how the custom X turned out.

Loco1234
10-20-2006, 10:55 AM
Ya thats true... if you can post some pix...

Bigdough
10-20-2006, 11:00 AM
I plan to make a custom X pipe setup on my car, Ill post up some pics.

If I can wait, I'm gonna get a set of Ford Racing Cobra shorty headers and mate the X with them. If I get inpatient, then it'll mate to stock manifolds. I want to wait so I can have a complete system, but its hard to have the mufflers and tips sitting there in my shop, I wanna put em on already.

rauder775
10-20-2006, 06:52 PM
I've read time and again that headers on the MM are not beneficial for low end torque (which these cars suffer) but may benefit the top end characteristics. I always avoided accordingly, yet have headers on other vehicles.

ctrlraven
10-20-2006, 10:25 PM
Cobra exhaust manifolds or shorties if you plan on stay N/A if your going to go s/c later on go with the long tube headers, that's what I have been told plenty of times when I asked about headers.

Paul T. Casey
10-21-2006, 08:59 AM
I've read time and again that headers on the MM are not beneficial for low end torque (which these cars suffer) but may benefit the top end characteristics. I always avoided accordingly, yet have headers on other vehicles.

Not a true statement. I picked up both low and high end with the Kooks. I would reccomend the complete Kook's kit to anyone. Probably the single biggest improvement I made. Went from average of 14.5 to 14.0 in the 1/4, with stock gears. No flame intended.

DEFYANT
10-21-2006, 09:14 AM
Not a true statement. I picked up both low and high end with the Kooks. I would reccomend the complete Kook's kit to anyone. Probably the single biggest improvement I made. Went from average of 14.5 to 14.0 in the 1/4, with stock gears. No flame intended.
+1

Research this site. Many threads are out there covering the headers vs manifolds debate. Decide what you want your car to do, then do your home work on this site and the rest of the web.

A quick way to complete your exhaust system would be to just add the cobra manifolds.

:beer:

Blackened300a
10-21-2006, 10:19 AM
Im waiting for my tax return and the Kooks full long tube set-up is the way Im going to go.

SergntMac
10-21-2006, 11:37 AM
I've been lucky to own both the Cobra kit and the Kook's kit bought from Reinhart. The Kooks sold with my #1x Marauder, I have the Cobra kit on my #3 MM. Just a few notes to consider...

The Cobra exhaust kit from Reinhart is manifolds, 2.5" OD exhaust "Y" pipe with two high flow cats, flowing into an "X" pipe connection between the L&R pipes, then back out to dual pipes into Magnaflow 18" mufflers. Most use the stock 2.25" OD OEM tail pipe over the axle, then add resonator delete tips.

If you have four cats, it's stock manifolds. The Cobra manifolds do not bolt up to the stock exhaust pipe. If your crossover pipe is shaped like an "H", that's the stock pipe too.

Peek under your hood, if the manifolds are ceramic coated and appear a bright semi-gloss gray, they are Reinhart manifolds. If brown and rusty, prolly not.

Peek under the car as well, if you have ony two cats visible, you may have the whole Reinhart kit in place. If you count four, no.

IMHO, upgrading to the Kook's mid-length headers, or, the Stainless Works long-tube headers may not be in your best interest, if staying N/A.

Yes, you will gain power from any of the three mods, but there will be a shift in where the torque drops off and picks up, a trade. You will suffer a change in low end torque (which moves the car off the line) and it will move up the RPM scale. At the end of the dyno pull/quarter mile run, you will have more power/be faster, but your launch from a dead stop (track or street) will change. A Stallion 3500 stall converter and 4:10 gears help this, but it's still a loss of low end power.

With headers, the longer the tube, the greater the trade, more power shifted higher up the RPM scale. This is not always beneficial to a N/A car. The Cobra manifolds do the least amount of trading places, but power is still earned.

The Cobra kit is almost half the cost of headers, once you include install time. The Cobra kit can go on in a little as an hour, maximum of two, if you have tools and talent. Never heard of anyone doing a header kit install in under 6 hours, important to know if you are paying labor.

Just more 411 on it, good luck in your decision.

Shora
10-21-2006, 03:03 PM
I've been lucky to own both the Cobra kit and the Kook's kit bought from Reinhart. The Kooks sold with my #1x Marauder, I have the Cobra kit on my #3 MM. Just a few notes to consider...

The Cobra exhaust kit from Reinhart is manifolds, 2.5" OD exhaust "Y" pipe with two high flow cats, flowing into an "X" pipe connection between the L&R pipes, then back out to dual pipes into Magnaflow 18" mufflers. Most use the stock 2.25" OD OEM tail pipe over the axle, then add resonator delete tips.

If you have four cats, it's stock manifolds. The Cobra manifolds do not bolt up to the stock exhaust pipe. If your crossover pipe is shaped like an "H", that's the stock pipe too.

Peek under your hood, if the manifolds are ceramic coated and appear a bright semi-gloss gray, they are Reinhart manifolds. If brown and rusty, prolly not.

Peek under the car as well, if you have ony two cats visible, you may have the whole Reinhart kit in place. If you count four, no.

IMHO, upgrading to the Kook's mid-length headers, or, the Stainless Works long-tube headers may not be in your best interest, if staying N/A.

Yes, you will gain power from any of the three mods, but there will be a shift in where the torque drops off and picks up, a trade. You will suffer a change in low end torque (which moves the car off the line) and it will move up the RPM scale. At the end of the dyno pull/quarter mile run, you will have more power/be faster, but your launch from a dead stop (track or street) will change. A Stallion 3500 stall converter and 4:10 gears help this, but it's still a loss of low end power.

With headers, the longer the tube, the greater the trade, more power shifted higher up the RPM scale. This is not always beneficial to a N/A car. The Cobra manifolds do the least amount of trading places, but power is still earned.

The Cobra kit is almost half the cost of headers, once you include install time. The Cobra kit can go on in a little as an hour, maximum of two, if you have tools and talent. Never heard of anyone doing a header kit install in under 6 hours, important to know if you are paying labor.

Just more 411 on it, good luck in your decision.

Thanks! It is everything I needed to know.

I guess that there is no improvement for me to make. :shake: I like the sound of my stock set up more than anything else.

(I had Flowmaster Deltaflow 40s with and without delete tips for 4 months or so and switched back because I like the stock sound so much.)

I was planning to order long tube headers and get a custome exhaust done using OEM Mufflers and quite Cats (2 OEM if possible).

I plan to stay totally stock engine wise (no tune, no chip, nothing) so I guess that I would be better off just staying with the stock setup since I would be hurting the low end power which I use more often since I don't race the Marauder.

Oh well. :alone: (I have never felt so sad when I found out that I wouldn't need to spend any money to get the results that I am looking for.)

RocsMerc
10-22-2006, 09:18 AM
I probably should have mentioned that I also have the JLT intake setup and I have no future plans of supercharging. I posted pictures of my exhaust on my members gallery but I couldn't figure out how to post them on this thread. (I'm still a newbe with this forum stuff.) Here's a link to my gallery. http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/browseimages.php?do=member&imageuser=5893

Also if anyone else sees anything else that's not stock, tell me.

RocsMerc
10-22-2006, 10:06 PM
I just figured it out, lol.

Here's my custom X-pipe
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/5/8/9/3/PIC_0033.JPG

This is one of my two cats
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/5/8/9/3/PIC_0034.JPG

and this is a pic of my exhaust manafold
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/5/8/9/3/PIC_0035.JPG

94_302
10-23-2006, 04:29 AM
Yeah those are the stock manifolds, I thought they might have been cobra manifolds, just not Reinhart cobras. Anyways opening up the exhaust I would say depends on your budget and goals. But if you change the manifolds to either cobra manifolds or headers you will need a new x-pipe or even more custom work to the already custom x-pipe.