AFE twisted steel headers and y pipe

[TruckStig]

Does anybody have experience with the AFE twisted steel headers and y pipe? They're factory style "shorty" headers and according to the AFE "in house dyno results" they provide better gains all throughout the rev range than their own long tubes do. I take any manufacturers provided dyno results with a grain of salt, but what's with them showing better results on these than their long tubes when almost every person on here says that 1 7/8" long tubes will give you the best gains all throughout, even on a 5.3? 

 

AFE twisted steel            AFE long tube

 

I called AFE today to make sure they would fit my RCSB and was told they will fit but they're on back order. So the dilemma now is, are these my best option if I don't want to give up any low end hp/tq? Or should I cancel my order and look into Kooks, Texas Speed....or even the Stainless Works with the x-pipe? I also ordered an AFE momentum pro intake and Black Bear AutoCal as well.

 

I'm mainly looking for experience and/or results from headers on this specific platform to compare and not opinions based on fluid dynamics, back pressure, scavenging theories, etc....but I'll gladly hear what anybody has to say.

[Nasty]

To be honest at that price id go with american racing 

[TruckStig]

Based on what? I'm just curious. 

[Nasty]

3 minutes ago, TruckStig said:

Based on what? I'm just curious. 

Price and quality.  Im sure afe are nice but nithing beats the quality of arh or stainless works

[TruckStig]

I gotcha. I caught the aFe on sale for $1300 with the cats. Stainless works are still having their sale, but I don't want to spend the same or more if I could potentially lose in the low/mid range. I had aFe downpipes on a twin turbo BMW I had a few years back, the quality and welds were great and they looked perfect when I removed them and sold the vehicle.

Edited November 29, 2018 by TruckStig

[Nasty]

2 minutes ago, TruckStig said:

I gotcha. I caught the aFe on sale for $1300 with the cats. Stainless works are still having their sale, but I don't want to spend the same or more if I could potentially lose in the low/mid range. I had aFe downpipes on a twin turbo BMW I had a few years back, the quality and welds were great and they looked perfect when I removed them and sold the vehicle.

I get it  if you want even cheaper and good quality you can go with texas speed. I know a lot of people with them and they sell the hell out of them and i think they're 800

[TruckStig]

It's not really about the price, I do want quality headers....I just want what has the best gains over all (even in the low/mid range) not a header that sacrifices in the low end for slightly better gains in the top end.

 

I know the topic has been discussed several times, I'm just curious about experiences with these specific headers and want to see why the aFe dyno results on these were better than their long tubes. There was a big difference in gains between the 2.

 

I'd buy the stainless works with the x pipe tomorrow if I knew for a fact there would be better gains without any sacrifices. Even when it comes to SW with the x pipe vs the Texas Speed headers..... I'm not sure there would be gains from the x pipe on the SW vs the y on the TS but the quality from SW alone would make me go that route if there are no performance draw backs. 

[SILVER SLED]

Keep in mind that the 385hp and 420hp 6.2 use the same exhaust manifolds.  So your 5.3 manifolds will flow 420hp easily. The exhaust restriction on a 5.3 vs a 6.2 is in the y-pipe and back.  So unless you have immediate internal engine mods planned on your 5.3, money would be better spent on a 6.2 y-pipe and larger 3.5” cat back exhaust that would fit a 6.2. 

[Nasty]

3 minutes ago, TruckStig said:

It's not really about the price, I do want quality headers....I just want what has the best gains over all (even in the low/mid range) not a header that sacrifices in the low end for slightly better gains in the top end.

 

I know the topic has been discussed several times, I'm just curious about experiences with these specific headers and want to see why the aFe dyno results on these were better than their long tubes. There was a big difference in gains between the 2.

 

I'd buy the stainless works with the x pipe tomorrow if I knew for a fact there would be better gains without any sacrifices. Even when it comes to SW with the x pipe vs the Texas Speed headers..... I'm not sure there would be gains from the x pipe on the SW vs the y on the TS but the quality from SW alone would make me go that route if there are no performance draw backs. 

Headers in my opinion are all the same gains. They all use more or less the same size piping. Go with arh then. Again just my opinion

[TruckStig]

Cool, thank you for the input.

[qwank]

Yeah, headers are headers, you just have to decide how much you want to spend on quality and if you want short or long tubes.  

[TruckStig]

So the general opinion is that the Dyno results from aFe and the difference between their short and long tubes on a 5.3 are simply invalid and should be ignored? 

 

The only reason this confuses me is that they have no reason to skew results when comparing their own products making the cheaper one seem like the better option... right?

 

Does anyone have before and after Dyno results or have experience with both short AND long tubes on the 5.3? I'm hearing that a header is a header, is everyone saying that a 1 3/4" shorty style with a y pipe will be the same as 1 7/8" long tubes with an x pipe?

[Nasty]

15 minutes ago, TruckStig said:

So the general opinion is that the Dyno results from aFe and the difference between their short and long tubes on a 5.3 are simply invalid and should be ignored? 

 

The only reason this confuses me is that they have no reason to skew results when comparing their own products making the cheaper one seem like the better option... right?

 

Does anyone have before and after Dyno results or have experience with both short AND long tubes on the 5.3? I'm hearing that a header is a header, is everyone saying that a 1 3/4" shorty style with a y pipe will be the same as 1 7/8" long tubes with an x pipe?

Shorties are pointless.  1 3/4 if yours not built. 1 7/8 if you are bullt.  

[300 Blackout]

Does anyone have before and after Dyno results or have experience with both short AND long tubes on the 5.3? I'm hearing that a header is a header, is everyone saying that a 1 3/4" shorty style with a y pipe will be the same as 1 7/8" long tubes with an x pipe?

There are tests posted online of short vs long in a 5.3. Short and long are not the same. You will get bigger gains with long. The main reason is scavenging. No short tube could match a long tube in scavenging.

I completely understand your concern about not wanting to lose low end for high end gains. I had the same concern when looking at headers. In the end, I found short tubes simply can’t keep up with long tubes. You aren’t losing anything as far as low end gains since BOTH short and longs will produce more than stock, however, the longs will continue to gain power as RPM increases whereas the shorts will fall flat.

If you don’t quantify the gains each produce, then yes, one could say the biggest gains of shorts are in the low end and longs are in the high end, however, once you quantify those gains, you see the longs are producing just as much as shorts in the low end and even more in the high end.

A better way that I conceptualize headers is that they are the foundation of future modifications. A turbo, blower or cam will have a much greater impact on power and won’t know the difference between aFe, Stainless Works or ARH as long as they are big enough to let it breathe. However, slap a shorty header onto the stock exhaust and your blower, cam, turbo will begin to choke.

If you have the money, I agree with the others to go with Stainless Works or ARH. Buy once, cry once. Build the best foundation for future power mods and you won’t have to spend that money again.

[300 Blackout]

Shorties are pointless.  1 3/4 if yours not built. 1 7/8 if you are bullt.  

Pointless for power gains compared to longs? Perhaps.

Useful for me to get rid of my rusted out stock manifolds and replace them with something a little nicer for under $200?...Yes, yes they are!