Are Longtubes really not worth it?

[Zack]

For years Ive been reading about Cobra owners saying that LT's are a waste of time and money. I never really understood this at all.

On my Marauders, I usually picked up 30-45rwhp with Kooks LT's, yet Mustang owners report minimal gains if any at all. Still, not making sense to me.

Same engine! I dont get it!

I have a BNIB set of Kooks for my Mach 1 which is getting the Ported Eaton and E-85 conversion.
Am I really wasting time and money with the Kooks?

Click to read more...

 

[01bluesnake]

not sure about everyone's personal results, but i felt a big gain in mid range, and harder pull to redline. i could throw it on the dyno and see what i picked up with them. my last dyno was 318hp and 320tq, since then i added the long tubes over stock mani's, and replaced the o/r x with an o/r x for the kooks. no tuning was done when i installed them, because my afr's were still in safe area 12.9-13.1(n/a)

 

[Zack]

Thanks, keep the thoughts comin'

 

[03GEETEE]

Lots of Cobra guys are making 550-600 to the tires with stock manifolds. The problem is while they wont give you 35rwhp at the peak what they do for the entire motors rev range and effieciency are totally worth it on ANY car. Cost and time to put it also steer people away from them, but I wouldnt have it any otherway. I would put longtubes on my lawnmower if they made them.

JTR

 

[Synyzter]

Lots of Cobra guys are making 550-600 to the tires with stock manifolds. The problem is while they wont give you 35rwhp at the peak what they do for the entire motors rev range and effieciency are totally worth it on ANY car. Cost and time to put it also steer people away from them, but I wouldnt have it any otherway. I would put longtubes on my lawnmower if they made them.

JTR

I loved my Longtubes on my T/A. I'm hoping to pick some up for my L down the road. A lawnmower with LTs would be sick! :headbang:

 

[Maniak]

Cost and time to put it also steer people away from them

JTR

i think this is the main reason why people dont do it

 

[03GEETEE]

i think this is the main reason why people dont do it

Totally agree....

I had a fun time sitting in my chair with a beer a 1/4 socket putting mine on while the motor was on the stand LOL!

JTR

 

[WhtSuperStang]

personally that is the 1 thing i regret about my car....i wish i never did long tubes...didnt feel any gain after i did it and all i got to show for it was a pia install and a constant combat with it being too damn loud

 

[01bluesnake]

i'll see if i can get my car on the same dyno it was on last time for results before and after. maybe sat i can dyno it. i would like to see the changes in the powerband and hp and tq.

 

[1badass96gt]

On a N/A 4v long tubes with a tune will definitely gain some good power. I don't know if its the best bang for the buck or not. My dad saw good gains when he put them on his 99 cobra. And if I were to pick up a 4V I'd add them.

 

[Maniak]

Totally agree....

I had a fun time sitting in my chair with a beer a 1/4 socket putting mine on while the motor was on the stand LOL!

JTR

:lmao::lmao:

i wish i could have put mine in like that! i got so frustrated doing mine just gave up lol

 

[Bob_Kurgan]

long tubes are DEFINETELY worth it!

 

[blck10th]

long tubes are DEFINETELY worth it!

i did not need them

 

[Since 1964]

I always said not to spend the money. BUT!!! The sound alone is worth it.

 

[VenomInside]

I didn't do em. I really didn't want to spend the $ when it could be put to a lot of better uses.

 

[scca_stang]

headers in general are worth the upgrade... but I do not feel that I can justify the extra pain in the ass install for long tubes over shorties... shorties are a lot easier to install and can yield similar gains.

 

[Tom]

-snip- shorties are a lot easier to install and can yield similar gains.

True with 03/04's?

If so, daddy will pick some up.

 

[ITLLOWNU]

did before and after dyno on mine and they netted 26rwhp and 19rwtq

peak tq came in 500rpm lower and peak power was at redline with no signs of falling off. were as before , it peaked and began to fall at 5200rpm

and actually the car got quieter than with the manifolds, not much but enough to notice..but ive always noticed on all my cars that that would happen. but the sound was 10 times better and cleaner:biggthump i think it has something to do with better flow and low backpreasure but i really have no idea

 

[Zack]

Thanks for all the replies. I knew I wasnt crazy.

Cant wait to put em' on!

 

[01bluesnake]

did before and after dyno on mine and they netted 26rwhp and 19rwtq

peak tq came in 500rpm lower and peak power was at redline with no signs of falling off. were as before , it peaked and began to fall at 5200rpm

and actually the car got quieter than with the manifolds, not much but enough to notice..but ive always noticed on all my cars that that would happen. but the sound was 10 times better and cleaner:biggthump i think it has something to do with better flow and low backpreasure but i really have no idea

X2

mine got alot more mellow tone, quieter, and sounded and hell of a lot better. almost no rasp= farting sound lol.

 

[scca_stang]

True with 03/04's?

If so, daddy will pick some up.

I can't speak about 03/04 for sure... my statement was generally speaking.

 

[hj16]

huge pain in the ass to install them with the engine in the car.... but I felt that they were worth it. I dont know what the LTs gave me exactly because I did it with a Cat Back and Mid pipe at the same time... but the gains were fairly substantial.

Finally got the pig dyno'd yestrerday at the GTG. The numbers werent what I expected at all. The only additions were Kooks LTs, X, CB.

Old #s = 421rwhp/451rwtq
New #s = 458rwhp/492rwtq

Not to shabby eh? Mods are RR 2.90, CAI, Diablo, plus mentioned exhaust.

Peak TQ changed from 451@3500 to 492@3250, Peak HP changed from 421@5900 to 458@6100.

HP gains were a constant 30rwhp from 2750-5500, then gains increased steadily till reaching a max gain of 45+rwhp@6300

The max TQ gain was 50~rwtq@3000 and slowly tapered till 4000 where the gains remained constant at 35rwtq till 6400

 

[03GEETEE]

I love the people who post up how frustrating it was and how they didnt have any gains when you dig deeper to find out they have both sides leak, nothing is torqued right and they bought 200.00 headers on egay.

Classic!

JTR

 

[1badass96gt]

headers in general are worth the upgrade... but I do not feel that I can justify the extra pain in the ass install for long tubes over shorties... shorties are a lot easier to install and can yield similar gains.

True with 03/04's?

If so, daddy will pick some up.

No its not accurate for the modular engines. Not sure why but the modulars do not respond nearly as well as pushrods. Shorties are basically a waste on 96+ cars.

 

[IZZy]

I have 1-7/8ths kooks long tube headers on my stock 03 motor, we'll see what kind of difference they make on my car when I get tuned