My truck is a 1980 chevy pu c10. I want to know the pros and cons a shorty/midlength headers to long tube headers.  

I need new headers; i currently have the flowtech truck headers   on this motor and i have clearance issues on the drivers side with my tranny crossmember plus the flanges at the heads are getting warped so i was thinking of using a mid length or shorty block hugger header so i can customize my exhaust further for clearance.

Do you guys have any suggestions? I was thinking maybe a nova II header may fit in my engine bay, with mid length i think would be better than shorties, and i have tons of room to make my pipes plus they look cool.


Here is the motor I have built:

1970 chevy 350 4 bolt main from a dumptruck- bored .060 over

Stock chevy 350 crank and rods

Cast aluminum Speed Pro 10:1 flat top pistons (with 4 valve reliefs)

Chevy cast iron heads from 1 1976 400 small block with the valves bored to 2.02 and 1.6(from 1.9 and 1.5) and the heads were planed about .010 - .015 (thus my effective compression ratio is approx 10.2:1)

Crane Energizer cam .500 lift, 302 adv duration (246@ .050”) 106 degrees overlap with the matching crane hydraulic flat tappet lifters and a noisy gear drive

Stock length Crane 3pc chromoly push rods

Jegs long slot roller tip rockers (1.5:1 ratio)

Holley street dominator dual plane intake manifold (no egr) with an open center 2” aluminum spacer on top

Accel billet aluminum distributor and accel super coil/ cap and rotor

Barry Grant Speed Demon 750 cfm carb with 73pri and 76sec jets in it 14x6” round air cleaner

Vacuum canister for my power brakes (cam does not have enough vacuum at idle)    

The motor will turn 7000rpm easy and that is the advertised top rpm of the cam with valve float set at 7200rpm

The motor is in a 1980 chevy fleetside c10 pickup- weight with me in it is 3700 lbs,

Turbo 350 tranny with a 3200 stall converter

Chevy 12 bolt rear end with Richmond 4:11 gears and I am running 29” or 26” tall slicks (I have both sizes)

My best 1/4 mile time was 13.79 @95 mph (at about 2/3 throttle because my cable was hanging up)

It ran consistent 13.79 or 13.8 runs last time i ran, and i have since fixed my throttle cable problems so the butterflies will open 100% now.

I am currently installing a 16 gallon fuel cell


Any help is appreciated!!
-James  

Check out this article by David Vizard. It should answer most of your questions as well as debunk a few myths about headers.
http://www.superchevy.com/technical/engines_drivetrain/exhaust/0505phr_exh/index.html