Ported manifolds vs. modded Mustang headers...

phils89sc

Registered User
I am at a fork in the road. I have a set of the 1996 Mustang 3.8L stock headers. I also have the stock manifolds on my 89 SC. My question is, should I get my manifolds ported, or should I mod the stang headers?

I know the stock manifolds look pretty good ported (cudos to those on the forum that port these, they look great!), but ever since I have worked on engines, I have heard that exhaust headers work best (flow wise) if all the primaries share a common collector. Supposedly this helps scavenge the exhaust gasses better than those that do not share a common collector. Is this true on a supercharged/forced induction engine? Also, how would this common collector affect flow/exhaust sound?

Which way should I go?

thanks

Phil
 
Even after porting the stock manifolds, the collector area is still only 2 inches. I have some ported manifolds and they did not make a noticible difference in the track results versus unported manifolds.

I just got the MAC mustang headers, I figure it will be a good step up from the ported manifolds in terms of flow. And they're only $219, roughly a third the price of Kooks.

Some stock mustang headers would have been even cheaper, but I figured why would I want to take the header from a N/A V6 and use that, when even the N/A V6 guys are getting rid of those headers? :confused:
 
I've ported a few sets of manifolds, and I do use a pair on one of my cars (with a noticeable gain in power). If you install the Mustang headers, won't you need to change your downtubes due to the different angle on one of the collectors?

-Rod
 
mustang headers

Last week I ordered a set of long tube MAC mustang 3.8 headers.
They should be in any day.
I plan to install them and then modify hopefully only one but maybe two of the tubes and make them work in the SC.
I'll let you know how it works out.
 
I have the 95 style stock mustang header/manifold in my 89 SC. I have stock heads and cam no port work. Dyno numbers are in my sig and were achieved with the stock 60mm TB. I recentlly added the 75mm TB and gained 1.5 lb of boost and now pushing 14.5 lb. So I got 217 HP at 13 lbs of boost when the Dyno was ran. The exhaust consists of 95 Mustang headers, 2.5" downtubes into 2.5" Dynomax high flow Cats, Borla XS Pro dual 2.5" in single 3" out muffler , 3" under tthe tank and then the 3" Ys to dual 2.5" tips.

It can get on the ricey side at certain loads. Outside the car has a V8 rumble. I think two more rear mufflers are in order. My friends alll like the way it is and don't want me to change it.
 
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