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Cheap Headers:

[VC] "MAC Shorties. Around $150 a pair ceramic coated and they look great and fit well. I got mine from D&D Performance (A great Mustang parts source if you don't already know them) and they have held up wonderfully. No complaints."

[WN] "The extra bonus with the macs is by some strange chance they happen to perform the best. Better than the 500 buck bassani's and everything else in the test I saw. I am sure it was luck and not engineering, but might as well take advantage of it.
Of course as with most everything, what is good for one setup isn't always what is best for your setup. Just like a recent head comparison. The Air Research 165 heads beat out all the others, including Edelbrock victor jr's, tfs, and even their own bigger 185 heads, despite the fact that they flowed better at all lifts. For a 300 hp motor they must be the way to go, but I doubt that would be the case at 500 hp motor."

[MC] "I tried to go the cheap way and bought a used set (that were supposed to be MAC). After I fought motor mount problems for over a week I decided to look at some pictures of MAC's installed. Looking at Velocity's pictures and my headers...The used ones I had were Not MAC and the right one hit every motor mount I tried!"

[BL] "Actually, my Mac's hit on my convertible motor mounts, but all you have to do is grind a little material off in the offending area (on mount). No problem."

[MR] "I highly recommend Dynomax unequal length 1.5" diameter shorties from Jet Hot Direct. Cost was $209 in July '99."

[MC] "didn't even consider the equal length after reading about them being a B-itch (cooking wires, being hard to access the plugs or being close to the foot boxes). I'd go unequal length in any brand.

Be aware! I had to do surgery on my right side J-pipe to get it in the correct location. Many people have let the local muffler shop make the adjustment."

[SG] "Flowtech 1-5/8" ceramic coated unequal length shorties. Fit fine, decent finish, one-piece flange (Mac have individual flanges which are prone to warping). Part #32107 from Summit Racing $214.95 (on 3/9/1999)."

[RA] "the ffr book says to use mac unequal length for a no-frills fit"

[1630] "my equal length MACs did fry a wire... no way to keep the boot off the header tube. i carry a spare wire now."

[RT] "

The HP difference is 2 hp from what I've been told and the un's are so much easier to work with. The Mac equals I had on first where supposed to be ceramic coated but it burned right off, no way they where. I think the guy that sold them to me just told me what I wanted to hear so make sure when you buy them. I went with the FMS shorties, they look good and fit well and they ARE ceramic coated."

[VC] "the 1 5/8" is the way to go, unequals do indeed have a performance disadvantage to the equals by a whopping 2-3 HP as Russ said. Not worth the pain in the a$$ in most books. You can get them HPC coated, which as far as I know is some kind of ceramic type coating. They have taken lots of abuse and rocks and brake fluid and everything and look brand new. I can't say enough about how impressed I am with these headers."

[MR] "IMHO the smaller, 1.5" diameter, headers will give better performance, (torque, off idle) with a stock 5.0 EFI than the 1 5/8"."

Stage 8 Bolts

[MS] "I have just recently pulled my headers off my car and was wondering if re-installing they with Stage 8 header bolts was really recommended."

[PM] "I would recommend using a REALLY good gasket behind the headers so there isn't any expanding/contracting of the gasket. I used Earl's aluminum gaskets that are "stable."

The stage 8's were fairly easy to install, no problems."

[AV] "I have stage 8 header bolts and those thick- aluminum gaskets. My car has about 3,500 miles on it and, I haven't had any header (or exhaust leak) probs."

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