Ramhorns vs. headers

[Supertommy68]

I have the original "ramhorn" style exhaust manifolds on my 72 C10 350. Its not souped up or anything, just a driver. Father in law says put headers on. Which is better? Also, I had dual exhaust put on way back when. Each side goes straight to the back, no crossover. Father-in-law says "you have to have a crossover pipe". Really?

[fastwillie 696969]

daily driver and no problems ,why change it if your happy with it ,

[Eddie H.]

For an unmodified, or mildly modified engine, ram horns are a good choice. ( low maintenance and no leaks). Dual exhaust are fine, with or without a crossover pipe, although a crossover is supposed to give you a little better flow and sound quality.

[faribran]

fastwillie summed it up......... i like my rams horns.. and i have had headers..

[Supertommy68]

I've seen how much room the headers take and prefer mine the way it is, but the exhaust needs some work towards the back and I thought about modifications. Plus, Father-In-Law is "helping" me with the truck. He is a big GMC guy (has 1-71 runner and 2-71 builders). He says crossover pipe helps "equalize the exhaust pressure". I'm no gearhead but I second-guess him all the time. Probably why we get along so well....

[storm9c1]

H-pipes help with sound more-so than performance. X-pipes help with performance. All probably overkill for a truck/car that is stock or very mild. I've added H-pipes on cars to fix bad exhaust drones at certain RPMs.

As for ramhorns, I'm a big fan of them for stock/mild engines. They are pretty much maintenance free. You could work them over for a little better appearance and performance. Low RPM engines (5500 and less) work just fine with ramhorns. If you want something that spins at 6000+ RPM with a Holley 750, heads, intake, cam, etc, then you'd be wasting time/money by NOT using quality tube headers. Cheapo headers are usually never a good option over ramhorns IMHO.

[Supertommy68]

Thanks for all the info everyone. Based on all this, I think I will leave the ramhorns on there. I'll probably do the crossover to keep pops happy. Its a 4x, so I'll have to pick a suitable location. As stock it used to run single down the driver-side frame rail, with a Y-pipe to the passenger side right in front of the torque converter I think. Could maybe do "H" there. I think "X" might be hard to get in there. Thanks again Oh one more thing, should I upsize it? Right now its 2".

[GASoline71]

Stick with the ramhorns unless you're making other performance upgrades. While you're at it... clean them ramhorns up and hit them with some of the High temp pain from the Eastwood Company. They'll look factory original...

Gary

[rickpilgrim]

On mild 350's we like 2 1/4" pipe in duals and yes, we run an H pipe but it is for a mellower exhaust note.

[BigDan3131]

Hang on to your Horns if you ever decide to upgrade later on as they are kinda hard to find and when you do well $$$.

[1972RedNeck]

I run 2 1/2 ram horns. Here is a dyno comparison between ramhorns/headers.

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/sh...hp?tid/256915/

[Supertommy68]

cool dyno video. I like how calm they are when putting the fire out. I have cherry bombs on this thing now, I think 2". Any suggestions a different setup?