Is it difficult to swap out headers with shorty headers in 92 gmc?

[1sick92]

I have a 92 gmc and i wanna buy some shorty headers off of summit but i don't know how difficult the swap might be. I have heard of people having to take the motor out and then swap out the headers has anyone replaced their stock headers with shorty headers?

[cancritter]

shortys wont be a issue..one will go in from top other from bottom if l remember right..only issues may be bolts rusted on colectors...welcome to site

[1sick92]

Thanks i will look into to some headers now. I want to run a dual exhaust on my truck and my only issue was that! thanks!

[cancritter]

lve found that duals will rob you of low end torque..bin der done dat and went back to single 3 in,,,also with duals you have gas tank to contend with so routeing of exaust will have to be on passangers side...may wana consider a 3inch single exaust..will be cheaper

[Doober]

Were your duals with shorties? I'm considering longtubes and an x-pipe in the future for mine.

[cancritter]

Were your duals with shorties? I'm considering longtubes and an x-pipe in the future for mine.

had the shortys on my old 88 with single stock exaust &tbi spacer...noticible diffrence on stock engine...this is the engine that now resides in my 91....
my 91 had the duals with dynomaxs mandrels bends and 1200$ outa my pocket for it....turned out to be louder than what l wanted..kinda cheap and obnoxious soundin..also had a noticible drop in low end tourque....ended up going back and haveing duals taken out and forked out another 600$ for my present 3in single with 1 dynomax...low end tourque came back and it has a real nice sound and rumble as opposed to the dual dynomaxs....headers are hooker longtubes/aftermarket ceramic coating....hooker oem cermaic coatings arent all that great for wear so when they started showing age had them recoated localy and have had no issues since..great headers..hooker coulda steped up a tad on coatings though

bought a x pipe for mine as well but never ended up useing it re the room restriction on passangers side and where they should be placed..if you do go for that route try to get as small mufflers as you can for fit and dump both out in front of passengers side tire for a good look...think part of my issues with duals were in part to me routeing my duales kinda oem style over rear axel and out each corner..lota extra pipe there

disclaimer....this is what l did and what happened when l did it and how l reveresed it...nothing more nothing less...

[Doober]

I had a single 2½" with a Thrush chambered muffler that exited right in front of the muffler, aimed at somewhat of an angle. It looked decent and sounded good for a high mileage v6.

[907 Chevy]

I'm going back to a single exhaust as well. The only thing is I can't decide between 3" or 3.5" pipe. I'm hoping my engine will produce close to 400hp in its present configuration after I dial in the spark advance tables on a chassis dyno. I'll probably piece the system together from mandrel bends with a high flow cat and a straight through muffler.

[cancritter]

think 3.5 will be to big...thinking 3.5 may give you little more up top but may sacrifice some low end torque..just a gut feeling..would stick with the single 3 in as its kinda a proven system for our trucks

[nick613]

Some kits will give you bolts to fasten the header to the engine, in that case you'd be much better off using studs and nuts. Also some of the cheaper headers come with crappy gaskets so I'd go pick up some good ones beforehand.

[907 Chevy]

Pretty much what I was thinking. I don't want to sacrifice any low end to gain top end power as this is my dd. Prob go with a well built 2.5" to 3" wye into a 3" system dumped before the axle. Actually designing the system like that,the only bend required after the wye would be the turndown at the end of the pipe. It oughta flow reasonably well for its size.

[nick613]

Pretty much what I was thinking. I don't want to sacrifice any low end to gain top end power as this is my dd. Prob go with a well built 2.5" to 3" wye into a 3" system dumped before the axle. Actually designing the system like that,the only bend required after the wye would be the turndown at the end of the pipe. It oughta flow reasonably well for its size.

Thats pretty much my exact setup for my 305 TBI, really nice lowend and sounds great. I'm running a magnaflow high flow cat and a magnaflow 16" muffler.

[Swims350]

any headers with the flat flange require cutting and welding, you want some direct bolt ons for around the summit price, check ebay, they got stainless shorties for like $125 shipped and they DO NOT rust, thick flanges and NO gaskets on the bottom.

[Doober]

The only issue with studs/nuts is some headers have issues with typical 9/16" nuts, that's why header bolts use a smaller, flanged 7/16" head. If you can get/find 3/8"/1/4" studs you should be ok though.

[907 Chevy]

Thats pretty much my exact setup for my 305 TBI, really nice lowend and sounds great. I'm running a magnaflow high flow cat and a magnaflow 16" muffler.

Is it pretty loud with that 16" magnaflow? I was thinking about a 24" muffler cuz I'm kinda over loud exhaust. I'm def gonna be stepping up to long tubes.

[nick613]

Is it pretty loud with that 16" magnaflow? I was thinking about a 24" muffler cuz I'm kinda over loud exhaust. I'm def gonna be stepping up to long tubes.

Not too loud, you can hear the engine over it at idle no problem, under and around 2000rpm you can barely hear it in the cab, near and over 3000rpm its pretty hard to keep a conversation going.

[907 Chevy]

Is your engine stock? If so mine would be a good bit louder with the heads and cam. I may try out the 24" case magnaflow and see how it sounds.

[nick613]

Is your engine stock? If so mine would be a good bit louder with the heads and cam. I may try out the 24" case magnaflow and see how it sounds.

Ya totally stock

[winfred]

i have that big 6"x24" magnaflow and it sounds good, mid length flotech headers into my own built 2.5" mandrel y pipe into single 3" muffler, no cats but it would probably be a little more mellow with a pair of small ones. amazon has the best price on that muffler at under 70 delivered

[1sick92]

lve found that duals will rob you of low end torque..bin der done dat and went back to single 3 in,,,also with duals you have gas tank to contend with so routeing of exaust will have to be on passangers side...may wana consider a 3inch single exaust..will be cheaper
Thanks now i will reconsider the dual exhaust i thought it would increase performance but looks like thats not the case

[cancritter]

it cost me 1800$ to learn that lesson

[SolMan98]

Thanks now i will reconsider the dual exhaust i thought it would increase performance but looks like thats not the case

lots of factors involved. Especially with a stock motor. If you want to run duals, just don't go nuts with the pipe size. 2.25/2.5 is plenty and you won't loose torque.