Hitman's Pontiac Trans Am Forum
Trans Am Information => Aftermarket Questions => Topic started by: kjkjkcjkcj on February 24, 2018, 08:59:52 AM
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Hoping I could get some assistance on here
I am giving up on my Hooker Headers and am contemplating going back to either the stock manifolds or picking up either Pypes or RAR ram air manifolds. My Current Motor Setup is mostly stock with a .03 over bore and #62 heads so my compression is much higher. I also have a 2.5" true dual exhaust all the way back to flow masters.
How much power do you think I would lose by going back to the stock manifolds and would it be worth buying the Ram Air manifolds? What does the clearance look like with the Ram Air manifolds with the starter motor? I am sick of the heat soak....
Thanks in advance for the help!
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is heat soak your only reason for not likeing the headers? if so there are other remedies to fix that... i have headers on all my cars & none have heat soak issues. replacement oem type starters can be crappy quality out of the box, so they will benefit from a heat shield or heat wrap product. also too much advance timing can be a major contributor to hard starting when hot. check timing or try a heat shield before condeming the headers.
a 2nd option that is much less work than swapping out the headers is a mini starter, they are cheap & will usually cure any stock starter issues, i run a summit brand mini on my 11:1 stroker motor with BIG round tube hooker super comps, the tubes come within 1" of the starter & it has never showed the slightest sign of heat soak issues.
as for your question, on a mostly stock engine you wont lose too much power changing to a ram air style manifold, but going back to stock logs will be a more substantial loss, but again for a stock engine hard to say how much.. maybe 20-25hp? i would definitely look into the starter itself first or try to protect it from the heat before swapping out the headers... ram air manifolds are not cheap!
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I already have a power master mini starter which I just had rebuilt and put two heat shield wraps around. Also I put a 850 CCA battery in it and replaced all the battery cables. Do you know what the clearance is like with the RAR or Pypes manifolds? Will they give me more clearance near the starter? Also, is their any difference between the RAR and Types? It looks like the RAR ones are $100 bucks more.
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very strange you are having heat soak issues with a mini starter & 2 layers of heat wrap, i think something else is going on there, like timing. have you checked & confirmed your initial timing? i have headers on a mild built 400 in my 78 ta with a cheap stock starter & no heat shield & it never has any heat soak or hot start problems... & the summit mini starter on the 11:1 stroker motor has the header pipes very close & it also does totally fine in the hottest summer temps & dragracing with a less cca older battery. so im at a loss for why your mini starter with double heat wrap on a less compression/hp motor is causing you problems.
sorry i cant comment on the clearance of the ram air style manifolds, im sure its better than headers, but for the cost of them & work involved with swapping & then needing to make up pipes to connect to them, i would be looking for other reason why theres a problem, because there should not be any issues with a mini starter on a basically stock engine... those things can crank over 13:1 motors with 600+hp!