[JRyan]

Years ago, in the '80's, Jere Stahl used to send out a monthly newsletter to customers with alot of good technical information. Much of it was related to his recent Dyno Testing with headers of all types. We have to remember that Jere was the originator of the Stahl "total tuned headers" and was considered to be the guru of that time with regard to headers.

I remember in one of the tech articles that he mentioned making over 2200 dyno pulls with various engine/header combinations. So he had it all figured out, and all his previous success was well-founded -- right? Not in his words! This isn't an exact quote I'm sure, but it's pretty close; "After 2200 dyno pulls, I found out that neither I nor anyone else knows a damned thing about headers".

Now with computer technology and simulations, people can get better predictions for the correct header, but I know of $3,500 headers, done with computer models, that are hanging on the garage wall, and the old Hooker Supercomp headers with homemade primary extensions and collectors are on the car and FASTER. Now it may be that you'd luck into a problem/solution like Jeff Lee did that would make the $3,500 headers faster, but if the luck didn't occur, you might go through alot of A-B-A testing and without multiple changes (which is usually a no-no), you would never find the sweet spot. I think that was Jere's suggestion. Tune around what you have, and it won't be that far off.

Need proof? How many of you have changed cams, intakes, head flow, converters, or whatever, and have picked up a bunch of ET and never touched the header? Was it right for ALL of those possible combinations? Probably not, and who knows why! Some people have actually gained hugh amounts of HP on the dyno with headers, and SLOWED DOWN on the track. So I guess that you, your car, and the ET slips are the experts on what header is best. Got a ton of money? Try all the headers you want. If you don't, tune around what you have.

Jerry