Please help me select proper headers for supercharged 2010

[Mojo88]

Car is 2010 supercharged Roush 4.6L 3V (forged internals), dyno'd 625rwhp, so about 700 at the crank. I want equal-length long-tube headers. My main goal is to get a nice smoooooth exhaust note and I've always had good luck when using 'tuned' headers.

Also looking for good fitment and relative ease of installation. Plus I would like the headers to take as much heat as possible out of the engine compartment, I kinda think ceramic coated might be best for this???

Size-wise, I am thinking 1.75" with 3" collector. I know that may seem small, but I am not interested in every last HP at max RPM. I want mid-range punch and smooth drivability.

I intend to re-use my existing 2.5" stainless steel system (Pypes hi-flow cats and x-pipe and Corsa muffs). I will TIG the system as needed for proper fitment to the headers, and likely add a couple of SS braided flex couplers just after the cats.

Many thanks for any help! Dave F. in RI

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

Please read the rules of this forum before posting... Any questions concerning what parts to buy are not considered as tech !

 

[06JET]

I can recommend KOOKS long tube Headers. Also I've read about good results with American Racing Headers (ARH). After you buy and have made your modifications to mate with you current exhaust, have them ceramic coated. That would mean installing them twice but worth it in the long run. Just remember, modifying them may undo the tuning the manufacture spent time engineering into them.
And ......Your first post should be to introduce yourself. Read the rules around here or expect to be beat on a lot. The best advice to give you is to search, search and search old post. There is a lot of valuable info here, you just have to find it.

 

[Mojo88]

Please read the rules of this forum before posting... Any questions concerning what parts to buy are not considered as tech !

Sorry bud, I actually DID read the rules when I joined, but I must have forgot/missed that one. Too many dang rules everywhere nowadays...... Mod, feel free to delete (or move) the post as required. Thanks

OK, I found the strongly worded post by stkjock about not asking for parts recommendations in this forum. Very sorry. Is there anywhere here to ask questions like this? I looked through forum list and this (a place to ask a question) is not obvious.

I can recommend KOOKS long tube Headers. Also I've read about good results with American Racing Headers (ARH). After you buy and have made your modifications to mate with you current exhaust, have them ceramic coated. That would mean installing them twice but worth it in the long run. Just remember, modifying them may undo the tuning the manufacture spent time engineering into them.
And ......Your first post should be to introduce yourself. Read the rules around here or expect to be beat on a lot. The best advice to give you is to search, search and search old post. There is a lot of valuable info here, you just have to find it.

Thanks for the advice. I just did intro post.

I would not be modifying the headers at all, I would adjust the cats and pipes to mate up to the headers.......... thanks again

 

[stkjock]

Sorry bud, I actually DID read the rules when I joined, but I must have forgot/missed that one. Too many dang rules everywhere nowadays...... Mod, feel free to delete (or move) the post as required. Thanks

OK, I found the strongly worded post by stkjock about not asking for parts recommendations in this forum. Very sorry. Is there anywhere here to ask questions like this? I looked through forum list and this (a place to ask a question) is not obvious.

Chat is the place for this type of question, thread moved.

The best quality true LT for these cars are made by ARH IMHO.

 

[86GT351]

A lot of manufacturers make a great product for these cars. I have done many installs with Kooks with great success. Sadly budget is always a factor. I can tell you there is a reason why the big manufacturers like Kooks, ARH or others charge appropriately.

 

[Mojo88]

Chat is the place for this type of question, thread moved.

The best quality true LT for these cars are made by ARH IMHO.

Thanks for the answer about where to post, and for moving the thread, and for the header recommendation, and for not biting my stupid head off!!!!!!!!!

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I found these intriguing headers (pic below) on eBay. They are mid-length, between shorty and full LT. These look like closeout items so maybe I could get a deal. I would TIG in my own hi-flow cats and O2 bungs. These actually look like somewhat easy install and appear to be made by Kooks. They are only 2.5" collector, but that's what I currently have anyway. I'm mainly interested in producing that magical tuned exhaust note.

What do you guys think?

 

[GTAmuscle]

I think the only downfall of the ARH is when you have to use the lower engine mounts? There's just not as much clearance with them as you would have with the Kooks.

 

[06redgt]

The best quality true LT for these cars are made by ARH IMHO.

That's a good point...the Kooks are technically 3/4 length LT's. I have Kooks with an off road H and stock mufflers and like the sound.

Not sure how much clearance there is with ARH, but I was glad I could get my trans out without taking off the Kooks!

 

[QuickShift281]

My choice would either be ARH or Stainless Works.

 

[46addict]

So you made 625whp with stock manifolds? Not bad. How much boost are you running, out of curiosity?

 

[Mojo88]

Chat is the place for this type of question, thread moved.

The best quality true LT for these cars are made by ARH IMHO.

Thanks for moving the thread, and the recommendation and for being kind after I violated that rule....

A lot of manufacturers make a great product for these cars. I have done many installs with Kooks with great success. .

....There's just not as much clearance with them as you would have with the Kooks.

That's a good point...the Kooks are technically 3/4 length LT's. I have Kooks with an off road H and stock mufflers and like the sound. ...

Looking at an interesting Roush/Kooks system on eBay (pic below), it appears to be 3/4 length. Somewhat small, but probably still better than my stock manifolds. I'm not really looking for more power though, so this might be just the ticket. for me. I mainly want the nice tuned sound. I would TIG in my existing hi-flow Pypes cats. What do you guys think about this setup?

Thanks very much for the comments gents!

So you made 625whp with stock manifolds? Not bad. How much boost are you running, out of curiosity?

That 625whp dyno run was done at shop from previous owner. It said "SAE corrected" on it, so I am always a little suspect at the numbers. I recently had it tuned (to pass emissions) and dyno'd by Pete at Performance Dyno in Loudon, NH. He said he was conservative and got 540rwhp, thought he could get to 600. But he said boost was too high at 24psi. Car was setup on 2.7" Metco pulley. I swapped that out for a 2.9" pulley, to drop the boost a little. I used Pete's tune to pass emissions in my state (Rhode Island), then loaded the power tune back in.

 

[Pentalab]

The 2010 Roush 540 hammer + also stage 3 cars came with forged eng + 8.5:1 CR and almost 15 psi boost with the roush TVS-2300 blower. At the time, the agreement between Roush + Ford was that Roush couldn't rate their eng the same as the 550 crank Hp that the GT-500 was rated at....so roush rated it at 540 crank hp. Typ the roush forged engs would dyno 618-625 RWHP ( 710 crank hp).

If you look at VMP's 2010 roush forged eng dyno charts, after just a 93 tune, and nothing else, the increase in rw tq/hp from idle to 6.5 krpm was a substantial increase.... except that the 2 x curves ( roush + vmp tune) converged very close together > 5 krpm. That is where the eng runs outa air due to the oem stock 2010 air box.... ( which already had a K+N panel filter).

Before adding LT's, the panel filter really needs to be replaced with a cone filter. Same scenario also happens on the roush blowers for the 5.0 eng. Roush offers a 575-625-675 crank hp option for their 3 x hp configs. The last 2 get the cone filter. The oem panel filter on the 11+ 5.0 engs flows less air than the oem panel filter on the 2010.

You could get a substantial increase in hp /tq from one end to the other in the rpm range..with just a vmp tune..and with oem roush exhaust setup... ( IE: no lt's).

I used JBA titanium ceramic coated LT's and mating JBA high flow catted H on my 2010 auto with Roush M90 blower. That was one mod that actually did something. Blatantly obvious increase in tq from idle to wot. Huge reduction in eng bay heat too. Oem cats are at base of eng bay..which run blazing hot per the aeroforce gauges. New high flow cats reside below driver + pass seat..and also run hot. The ceramic coated 8 x LT primary tubes are warm to the touch after taking the car for a romp, with blower on... 2 blocks from the house. I can push down hard with 4 x fingers..onto any of the 8 x primaries, with eng just switched off 1 min b4. Touch anything else, like blower casing, roush aluminum intake manifold, al eng block, al heads, etc, and you burn your fingers off.

The JBA LT's are longer than kooks. The kooks are sorta midway between a true LT....and a shorty..and optimized for the higher rpm range of the eng.

For the 05-10 engs, JBA only offers the titanium / silver ...ceramic coated stainless steel LT's with 1 5/8" primaries and your choice of either 2.5" or 3.0" collector. The titanium ceramic option is good for more heat vs the standard 'silver ceramic'... and hardly any difference in price. The titanium ceramic option is battleship grey in finish...and both options are coated inside and outside.

But that oem airbox is the bottleneck for hp/tq > 5 k rpm. The VMP tune would provide a bigger bang for the buck vs any LT install. For the ultimate config, VMP /Lito tune + LT's + cone filter is fully optimized for max hp/tq..right up to redline. But the oem 2010 roush tune + forged eng is already a tire shredder..with no traction in 1-2-3 on the street with roush 275 rear tires.

 

[Mojo88]

.. I have done many installs with Kooks with great success...

.....There's just not as much clearance with them as you would have with the Kooks.

That's a good point...the Kooks are technically 3/4 length LT's. I have Kooks with an off road H and stock mufflers and like the sound. ......

I'm looking at Roush/Kooks 3/4 length headers. It's a discontinued item, but seems like it would work for me.

So you made 625whp with stock manifolds? Not bad. How much boost are you running, out of curiosity?

It was 24psi at recent tune session. Tuner (and me) thought it was too much boost, so I put on bigger pulley.

The 2010 Roush 540 hammer + also stage 3 cars came with forged eng + 8.5:1 CR and almost 15 psi boost with the roush TVS-2300 blower.........

Hey, that's a terrific post. Very informative. Thanks for the info. My car (Roush 'Hammer') has cone air filter CAI upgrade from JLT and 'power' tune, plus a meth kit. I can't seem to post a pic yet, probably not enough posts. Thanks again!!