Long tube headers are a key element for those track cars or machines, which spend a large quantity of their time in the greater end of the rpm range.
It is decided by the style of a long tube header that whether a new spot needs to be found in order to install it or it can put it in the place of a catalytic converter. This is one of the major reasons why long tube headers are regularly on fifty state legal.
Another reason that long tube headers are not legal frequently is due to their sound. Racecar enthusiasts or car enthusiasts in general, fall in love with the sound of an exhaust, which has long tube headers attached to it. But the neighbors of such people are not fans of such loud noises, due to which either they tell the owners of such cars to lower down their noises or in extreme cases, call the police to dissolve the issue.
Long tube headers are generally quite difficult to install, solely because they can be quite long in their lengths, and also to install them, you would need to interact with other parts of the exhaust.
But you can learn How to install long tube headers in a car exhaust easily by just simply following the steps that will be mentioned below in this article.
If you finding the best long tube header, We recommend the Pacesetter 70-2266 Long Tube Header for Chevrolet/GMC
Benefits and Drawbacks of a Long Tube Header
Like any other thing in this world, a long tube header has lots of benefits and some drawbacks attached to itself.
The Benefits of a Long Tube Header
- An exhaust of a car that has a long tube header installed, its performance would be greatly better than a car, which has a normal exhaust.
- In race-cars, revving is considered as a big thing, so a car, which has a long tube header attached to its exhaust, it will have a high and improved revving sound.
- Car enthusiasts love their exhausts to make a loud and impressive sound. So the only reason such people use a long tube header in their exhaust, is that they could make extremely loud sounds and maybe able to make another car owner’s jealous by it.
- A long tube header can increase the horsepower of a car by 20 to 30 horsepower, without any types of other modification are not done to such a car.
Drawbacks of a Long Tube Header
- Most of the time, it is extremely difficult to install a long tube header. The reason for this is that there are many other components in an exhaust, which should not be damaged while attaching the long tube header in the exhaust.
- As mentioned before, due to the position of a long tube header and the magnificent sound that they are capable of producing, these are considered illegal in some states of America and also in some countries around the globe.
- If a long tube header is installed in the exhaust of a car, whose engine is turbo boosted, then there are high chances that engines of such cars can be badly damaged due to the installation of a long tube header.
- As long tube header is capable of increasing the horsepower of a car, thus this would result in jugging up more gas in its engine, which further results in an increase in the gas consumption of a car.
Tools Needed to Install Long-Tube Headers in Car
- A-lift or jack stands
- Torque wrench
- 3/8 drive extension
- Swivel
- 15mm deep socket
- 13mm deep socket and wobble socket
- 10mm deep socket
- E6 inverted Torx socket
- T40 Torx bit
- Thread locking compound
- Anti-seize
- Zip ties
Installing a long tube header
Below are the steps mentioned by which you can learn how to install a long tube header inside the exhaust of your car?
- Remove the negative terminal of the car and let it cool before you lift it and make it stand on jack stands and wheel chocks
- Go under the car and remove the header pipes from the exhaust manifolds. Make sure no other components have blocked the area, where the exhaust manifold is connected
- Now go towards your car’s engine and disable all the sensors and tubes from the exhaust manifold
- Unscrew the manifold from your engine block and once the bolts of the manifold are unbolted then lower the manifold through the engine compartment
- Now slide in the headers into position. Each shape of the header fits differently, so you might need a helper to complete this step
- After the header is in position, then loosely screw the bolts in the header.
- When the header is aligned, then fully screw the bolts in their positions inside the header.
- Connect all the sensors and tubes that you have to detach before in step 4 of this process
- Go under your car and tightly screw you exhaust systems to your long tube headers
- Now start up your engine and make reviving sound
Bottom Line
Like any other car accessory on the market, long tube header is quite a costly accessory and their price can also go up to a couple of thousand dollars. So before you purchase this accessory, do think about it as this accessory is mainly for people, who want to boost the performance of their cars and make loud revving engine sounds
If you tend to purchase this accessory, then you can learn how to install long tube headers inside the exhaust of your vehicle easily, simply by following all the steps mentioned above in this article