For Your Street Motors: Who Here Chose Manifolds And Who Here Chose Headers?

[TorRed]

I've been trying to decide whether to go with HP manifolds or headers on my 383. I'm still deciding whether to stroke it or not, but I'm heavily leaning towards a mostly stock appearing car & motor. I google imaged "Roadrunner Motor" and was very surprised that most of the pics had manifolds, only a few with headers. I know I'll lose a lot of HP/TQ which is why I'd consider stroking it. This is my first poll so let's see if it works, but which way did you go with your street car? Any details as to why, what other choices you made for the motor based on manifolds, etc. would be appreciated as well.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Sahara]

On a relatively stock engine I don’t think you lose a lot of horsepower or torque if you choose high performance manifolds over headers.
I chose headers, but my build went way over what I needed and I ended up with a really big engine. If I had to do it over I would go with a smaller engine and hp manifolds.

 

[#41]

2 have headers, and 2 have cast manifolds, so I chose none of the options. As I a morph into a old man I have less and less tolerance for dealing with headers on big block B mopars.

 

[fesser]

For the record, I hate headers, maybe because I last had headers on cars in the 80's and admittedly, they weren't top quality because I didn't have a lot to spend. Hated the heat, the frequent leaks, burnt plug wires, etc. Like TorRed, I was leaning toward a stock appearing engine (440) for my Coronet including intake and HP exhaust. I ended up buying a stroked 400 that had been dyno'd and was faced with the reality of removing horsepower and torque from a known performance level, to go to stock appearing. I couldn't do it. I will be running headers again for the first time in a long time. What's weird is when I was planning on building the 440 to look stock, I was o.k. with leaving horsepower on the table, but once it was documented power, I couldn't make myself take it away.

 

[6PKRTSE]

All of my cars have headers except my 440 New Yorker and my trucks. On the street I honestly never noticed any performance improvements by the butt dyno. At the track they are worth maybe a few of tenths. They do make plugs and starter swaps a bigger pain.

 

[TorRed]

They do make plugs and starter swaps a bigger pain.

Yeah they do!

 

[Coelacanth]

I am sticking with the original HP manifolds on my '70 Charger's 383 Magnum. Heat, issues with fitment, burned plug wires, starter motor and plug access issues all seem to outweigh the small performance gains, unless you're drag racing...or just want to brag that you have headers. They DO look much nicer, though...

 

[dadsbee]

5 out of 6 with manifolds. That'll be 6 out of 6 if I ever find the time to get the headers off the 340 Swinger. I was tired of headers by the time I was 20.

 

[33 IMP]

For your 383, keep the manifolds. For a stroker 383, imo, headers are mandatory!
I have stock exhaust on my stock "performance car", cause it's all f.i., pollution controlled etc. And I have never heard a good-sounding exhaust on a late model fuel injected car.
Got a performance exhaust on my turbo diesel pickup, but no headers.
On my hotrods, they all have headers, two of them custom built, cause nobody makes headers for my engine/chassis combo.
So I guess I have to vote "both".
Edit: for your "mostly stock looking" stroker 383.... stealth heads, performer intake with the names ground off, paint it all turquoise (the lo-po color), and run the stock aircleaner, black plug wires, and valve covers...... and day two headers. Lots of 383s got headers as their first mod. And the turquoise 383 used a holley, instead of a Carter, so you could use as big a holley as you want, as long as it's a 4160 to appear stock (4150 if you want it to run better).
2nd edit: I built a 511 rb with manifolds. It was a dog. Very disappointing. Never again.

 

[Macdon221]

Headers....the trade off is a few more HP...for many many fitment problems. IMO

 

[gtx6970]

All my cars have run manifolds

But none are race cars / hot rods either

Just cruisers

 

[copper67sat]

I went with 68-69 HP manifolds on my mostly stock 67 383. Main reasons are that I like the stock look and didn’t want to deal with getting headers to fit.

The cam is only slightly warmer than stock. With the factory 4 bbl intake and stock heads, I suspect the engine is more flow limited there than on the exhaust side.

 

[4mulas]

My first choice is what I have on hand, if anything. Then manifolds if you can find them and if they aren’t 1200-1400 dollars. So mostly if I’m in a time punch I buy headers…. Begrudgingly

 

[TorRed]

Edit: for your "mostly stock looking" stroker 383.... stealth heads, performer intake with the names ground off, paint it all turquoise (the lo-po color), and run the stock aircleaner, black plug wires, and valve covers...... and day two headers. Lots of 383s got headers as their first mod. And the turquoise 383 used a holley, instead of a Carter, so you could use as big a holley as you want, as long as it's a 4160 to appear stock (4150 if you want it to run better).

A close to stock looking "day two" is definitely one of the paths that fits my "mostly stock looking" goal. The car had headers, aftermarket air cleaner, U.S. Indy mags and a Stewart Warner Stage I tach when I bought it in 1974, so a day two look is part of the car's 70's history for sure. Thx

 

[hunt2elk]

If just a stock 383, run the factory manifolds. If stroking the motor however, headers for sure. I have strokers in all my cars and use TTI C5 ceramic coated headers. The ceramic coating helps quite a bit with underhood temps.

 

[eldubb440]

headers......... because they look cool......... I'm a day 2 kinda guy

 

[Dodge-Scatpack]

I just took the headers off my 383 Bee. Car came with them installed. I’m putting back the original manifolds. Full length headers on a big block are a pain especially when you need to perform normal service. For a basically stock engine, I don’t believe there is really much of a performance benefit gained. Other than looking good, they are more of a hassle for my application.

 

[Dave6T4]

Manifolds. I have never run headers, because of the use of my cars; cruising and car shows. I have listened to some of my friends gripe about their headers.

 

[sc440]

Depends on what you want to do with the car. Headers will give you more power. I just built a 440 10:1 compression, tf 240’s with hp manifolds it runs great will smoke tires easily, the key is the cam have one ground for your combo. That said I am sure headers would still make a little more power, just depends on what you want.

 

[threewood]

I have headers on both my 318 Poly and 440. I like the looks and find them both easier to swap plugs. No issues with plug wires touching or burning. The 440 set is a ceramic coated Jegs. Fit pretty good. Mini starter is easily r&r'd. The Poly set are TTI ceramic. Great fit. The only downside to headers is transmission maintenance is harder if you are messing with the linkage.