[77nova64]

Im going to be looking for headers for my 77 nova soon, and was wondering what the advantages/disadvantages of shorty headers or long tube headers would be. Which would be a better choice for a daily driven car? The car currently has the Y pipe set up. I may or may not keep it. Im not looking for all out performance, just a reliable set of headers.

[willys36@aol.com]

This has been covered in great detail on this board. I did a quick search and came up with the following links. In summary, there is no 'best' header/exhaust system for every application. Engine design is a compromise - a header that works best in normal driving would be a bad choice for a high RPM racing engine. Peak torque is highly dependent on header length. The longer the primary header pipe, the lower the peak torque RPM. Detroit's compromise is to use a header log that has no primary pipes so doesn't have as high a torque as it could have but also doesn't 'peakie' torque characteristics.

http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php...=headers+by+ed

http://hotrodders.com/showthread.ph...ghlight=exhaust

http://hotrodders.com/showthread.ph...ighlight=header

http://hotrodders.com/showthread.ph...ighlight=header