are kooks headers really that bad?

tondog

Registered User
man!!! i was just reading the 3rd page of the post "cheapest way to 300hp" and geez!!!! everyone was knocking the kooks headers. ive gotten mixed reviews about them. in one post a bunch of people talk about how good they are and another how bad. whats up with that? i just bought some jet hot coated kooks. they are on their way and i sure as f*** hope that these things flow better than stock and keep the underhood temps a bit cooler, with the head work i have done!!! $675 isnt cheap!
 
Oh the Kooks will flow better than the manifolds, but take a look at the manifolds. Is that really saying very much? Why settle for something that just flows a little better than the manifolds? Besides that flow is only PART of the equation, there are several other things that go into a good and sound design for headers and this is where the available headers[the ones you can buy right now] DROP the ball! When headers are designed properly you WILL NOT have a loss of low end power, or a loss of power ANYWHERE in the rev range of the motor. When designed properly you will have noticable increases throughout the rev range. I don't understand why people can not get that through there heads. When designed properly and built properly headers will give your engine the MOST HP to $$ kick of ANY other bolt on part! The problem is that NONE of the headers being sold for this car are designed right to begin with! So you WILL have loss's of performance in some area's of the rev range and there will be SMALL gains in some small area's of the rev range, but it DOES NOT have to be this way!
 
Well lets see. First off, usually 3/4 of the headers that are delivered aren't built right. Second, they are a ripoff, you can get other headers for cheaper and have marginally less performance gains. Thirdly, they are only worth about 8 hp
 
I guess I must have the ONE good set of Kooks headers out there..They fit great and sound great and definately added mid to top end performance...As far as PROPERLY designed headers..... Lenght, colector size, and primary tube size all have to do where you are going to gain your extra HP..Or give up some.... Theoretically you would need various size headers for each level of modifications you made....Thats why they make a crap load of different headers for small block v8's..Youll have 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 1 5/8 1 7/8, 2 inch primary tube headers..Some equal lenght some non equal lebght, shortys , long tubes......But guess what..We have a v6 motor in a car that isnt prodiced anymore..We are even lucky to have a header option. And if they give you 8 hp on a stock motor..That's dam good..Once you start getting into higher boost and higher HP numbers thats when the stock manifolds are going to show there weaknesses. Try using stock even ported manifolds on a car such as coy millers..Dyno it..Then put on a set of kooks headers....Lets see what happens.....For a basically stock car... yeah..There a waste....But if you plan on going fast (*buy a v8)..But if you plan on going fast with an SC..Your going to need all the help you can get:O)
 
well

As his car is now? running 11.6?...Dammmm..And was that 8hp peak, or across the board..Id actually be interested in seeing those dyno sheets...Its hard to believe that on an 11 second car headers only made 8 hp..Especially being the outlet diameter on the stock manifolds is 2 - 2 1/4 inch correct?
 
i love my kooks headers, they added a VERY! nice sound to the car and improved power in the mid and upper rpm's.
They fit perfectly and reduced the temp under the hood alot....i also have coated headers and they are pretty nice

i would have to see the dyno sheet on coys motor to beleive the 8hp gain with headers over a stock manifold

todd
 
I though the 8HP gain on some of Coy's motors was for the shorties vs. the long tube headers, not headers over the stock manifolds. I know Coy runs the long tubes on his dyno with the temp probs in each header pipe near the cylinder head. I also believe the long tubes move the torque up the RPM range as opposed to the shorties.

Is Coy running Kooks on his car? I thought he had a set of long tubes like mine, that were some of last ones Bill Hull had made.
 
gldiii said:
I though the 8HP gain on some of Coy's motors was for the shorties vs. the long tube headers, not headers over the stock manifolds. I know Coy runs the long tubes on his dyno with the temp probs in each header pipe near the cylinder head. I also believe the long tubes move the torque up the RPM range as opposed to the shorties.

Is Coy running Kooks on his car? I thought he had a set of long tubes like mine, that were some of last ones Bill Hull had made.
At last, the man with the elusive set of headers replies! Long tubes should give a boost throughout the rev range unless the primary tubes are sized a little too big in diameter. The collector will play a large role in this as well. George are your headers installed on the car right now? I know you are doing some blower work and thought I had read somewhere that you were going to pull the engine. I am very curious about the headers you own. Do you know the diameters of the primary tubes? How about the lenghts of the primary tubes? The diameter of the collectors? Since you have a set of the only long tubes out there and you have driven the car you know how they perform. I would like to use the data from your headers to use on my model to see if the results you got from using the headers are the same results achieved on the model. [ to test the accuracy of my model] The results so far are VERY close on small block Chevy's and small block Fords. However unless I can confirm results with a known SC no one takes my data seriously. I always hear "well thats on a Chevy" or "thats on a 302" I know it does not make any difference, but you cannot get people who do not understand the workings of an internal combustion engine to understand this. Thanks.
 
MIKE 38sc said:
there are several other things that go into a good and sound design for headers and this is where the available headers[the ones you can buy right now] DROP the ball! When headers are designed properly you WILL NOT have a loss of low end power, or a loss of power ANYWHERE in the rev range of the motor. When designed properly you will have noticable increases throughout the rev range. I don't understand why people can not get that through there heads. When designed properly and built properly headers will give your engine the MOST HP to $$ kick of ANY other bolt on part! The problem is that NONE of the headers being sold for this car are designed right to begin with! So you WILL have loss's of performance in some area's of the rev range and there will be SMALL gains in some small area's of the rev range, but it DOES NOT have to be this way! [/B]

Such a long reply but yet no examples.

I've checked out the medium-length Kooks headers. They are
expensive and they look nice, but those 2 things dont matter to
me. What matters is their design. You don't like their design.
Fair enough. But tell me why. Specifically (i.e. the start of the
primaries is off, the bends are too sharp, the bends lose
diameter (non mandrel), the primaries are too short, the
collector doesnt come to a point, etc, etc). Give me SOMETHING
to chew on here, throw me a bone :confused:

Gaston
PS-George, answers those Qs, i'm curious :)
 
OHH BOY!

Lets say we design a set of headers that are optimum on a stock motor......They WILL NOT BE OPTIMUM FOR ONE WITH HEADS CAM INTAKE ECT....That being said...Which kind of motor do you feel the Kooks headers are no good for?..NONE???...In my opinion for a stock motor there overkill..Oh yah..I do like my Kooks headers which still look new to this day:O)...And fit wonderfull mind you..Sure there expensive...Too expensive..But there not a mass produced item..And our choices are limited:O)
 
Re: OHH BOY!

Damon Slowpoke Baumann said:
Lets say we design a set of headers that are optimum on a stock motor......They WILL NOT BE OPTIMUM FOR ONE WITH HEADS CAM INTAKE ECT....That being said...Which kind of motor do you feel the Kooks headers are no good for?..NONE???...In my opinion for a stock motor there overkill..Oh yah..I do like my Kooks headers which still look new to this day:O)...And fit wonderfull mind you..Sure there expensive...Too expensive..But there not a mass produced item..And our choices are limited:O)

uhhh..so whats your point? That they are made for cars with
ported heads and new cam? Since when is that a bad thing?

Gaston
ps-next time be more clear
 
I love my headers. I have them on a motor that has bolt ons and nothing more. I think they sound awesome and perform excellant. When buying headers dont always look for lots of hp but for sound.

todd
 
cheeriosluvr said:
When buying headers dont always look for lots of hp but for sound.

haha. Sorry but I will always look for which header makes the
most power with my combo.
 
i know as do i but you cant slam the ONLY company that will make headers for our cars....SC arent that popular thats why they dont make dick to buy, but what we have we need to work with

I love my headers....

todd
 
Clearer??

I think if I was any clearer i'd be invisible..But here we go

For those who complain about Kooks headers

#1 be lucky anyone makes anything for these cars being they are no longer in production. Realize we are not driving mustangs here.

#2 expect to pay premium prices for any type of bolt on that is unique for our car regardless of quality, looks, or performance because of #1.

#3 Kooks may be expensive but they know what there doing. They are not going to make a set of headers that will work optimum on a stock motor period. I dont think any company in their right mind would. And if they did..Price would be the same due to #1. Also to note my freind Gus had the first set of SC headers made by Kooks and he paid over $1000 for them...Still want to complain>??

SO whats my point? Stop complaining and be happy someone is making something for your *OBSOLETE* car. And as far as quality goes..You should look at what other company's offer for cars such as mustangs..Im not going to mention names but quality sucks as does fitment. Ever spend $300 for a set of Mass produced headers and have too use a pry bar to get them to fit?..I have..And would I put Kooks headers on an SC motor I plan on keeping relatively stock?....NEVER for that price...But I dont plan on keeping my car stock
 
Re: Clearer??

Well you can always make your own headers :)

Kooks makes good stuff but for some reason the collector on the
supercoupe headers I saw in person weren't their good merge
collectors. Its as if they cheaped out or something. Yet the price
is in line with some of the race 5.0 LTs.

As far as the 3.8L Mustangs, the MAC LTs have good bends and
fit good. The collector isn't great but its on par with the BBK's
of the world. They do tend to rust out eventually. But at $250
I can't really complain (I own a mustang).

Gaston
 
Back
Top