68 340 Exhaust Manifolds vs TTi Shorty headers

[a-bodyguy]

I remember "back in the day" you would take your car to an exhaust shop and have them put your pipes on with either Headers or Factory Manifolds. The quality was terrible, and after they finished bending your 2 1/4 pipe over the Rear End, your pipe diameter was like 1 7/8 -terrible. Amazing what we have today with TTI, Dougs, Pipes etc. They are so sweet!

Back in the day you could get the 440 tail pipes as i recall they were 2 1/4 i bought those

 

[DionR]

What I'd like to see is one of these engines 408(?), all the goodies/tuned, do a Dyno and/or timeslips, THEN TAKE OFF THE HEADERS AND PUT ON MANIFOLDS/SHORTIES, - AND SEE HOW POWER/TIME THEY LOSE.

That would be a much more informative test than the old Hot Rod manifold test. Add the 318 manifolds and do the whole thing, too.

Just takes a BluePrint engine, a stack of manifolds and headers and some dyno time. Maybe someone should reach out to Holdener and see if he can pull some strings and get it done.

 

[a-bodyguy]

That would be a much more informative test than the old Hot Rod manifold test. Add the 318 manifolds and do the whole thing, too.

Just takes a BluePrint engine, a stack of manifolds and headers and some dyno time. Maybe someone should reach out to Holdener and see if he can pull some strings and get it done

That would be a much more informative test than the old Hot Rod manifold test. Add the 318 manifolds and do the whole thing, too.

Just takes a BluePrint engine, a stack of manifolds and headers and some dyno time. Maybe someone should reach out to Holdener and see if he can pull some strings and get it done.

Its been done 15 or 20 times over the last 25 yrs
you are beating a dead horse

 

[Super-Cuda]

Here's a pic of the 2.5 Adapter pipes TTi supplied with my shortie headers.

Very well made, fit is excellent with no dimpling or hammering required.

Easy install when done according to TTi instructions.

 

[Inertia]

Its been done 15 or 20 times over the last 25 yrs
you are beating a dead horse

I'd really appreciate a link to one, never seen stock manifold as the last test, after all the other improvements stepping up, then choking it with a stock exhaust manifold.
TIA .

 

[Inertia]

Another aspect overlooked with long tubes is just fuel mileage.
Headers make the engine more efficient, you need less gas pedal to drive, accelerate.
I wonder if there is any test of a daily drivers fuel consumption before/after headers.
Just normal driving.
If you consider your fuel saving daily with gas @ $5.00 a gallon, I wonder how long it'd take to "pay for the cost of headers", or the difference in type of headers, thru fuel saving.
Just musing . . .

 

[273]

That would be an interesting flip side to the testing of a basic stock 318 with manifolds, shorties, and then headers.

There's 2 dyno's of a stock 2bbl 318 (dyno trim) that I know of, but they only tested them with headers and made about 190 hp each, how much less with manifolds hard to say but I imagine would be around 10 or so hp less.

 

[Inertia]

There's 2 dyno's of a stock 2bbl 318 (dyno trim) that I know of, but they only tested them with headers and made about 190 hp each, how much less with manifolds hard to say but I imagine would be around 10 or so hp less.

That's kinda the "general guess" that's repeated thread after thread .
I would think a percentage would be more accurate to allow for engine size, hence the problem.
Hemi or 6 cyl, lol

 

[273]

That's kinda the "general guess" that's repeated thread after thread .

Most of this **** is a guess, unless you do your own manifold header shootout on your exact combo in car, it's varying degrees of guesstimation.

All we can do is take the few examples of various manifold vs short vs long vs diameter and make best guess. And as much as DoinR say the test is invalid it pretty much resembles what's happing with the other test out there, would it be better on a more built engine sure.

The 427-443hp LS I posted #41, 4.8l with heads and cam made manifolds 427hp, shorties 433hp and long tube cheap and expensive 443hp. Make what you will from it.

 

[DionR]

And as much as DoinR say the test is invalid it pretty much resembles what's happing with the other test out there

It's not that the test that is invalid, it's the application. What bothers me is when people point to that test and say things like "340 manifolds are only worth 6hp over 318 manifolds" without factoring in differences in the builds. That's what I rail against.

Absolutely, the test reflects what other tests have show with a steady improvement for the most part. Nothing wrong with the test there.

Use a ratio or something, but don't say this test reflects the actual HP difference on a completely different motor.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Not my experience at all .

I bought the same system as you, including X-Pipe ,down pipes , shortie ceramic coated headers, hangers and the stainless steel tips I got from Accurate exhaust products as suggested by TTi.

A call to TTi would have saved you a lot of headaches as that's what people advised me to do so I did.

Extremely helpful!

One major suggestion by TTi was to mock up the complete exhaust system on the floor before installing it.

I did this and boy-oh-boy am I glad I did!

Its so much easier to adjust the ends of the pipes so they slip together easier on the floor than when its mounted under the car.

Also, they advised to mount everything under the car and leave the clamps loose while adjusting tip location as clamps are tightened.

7 years since installed and system looks new and performs very well, no leaks.

TTi for me from now on.

Glad your experience was better. You bought the X pipe kit and I bought the H pipe kit. No amount of mock up on the floor would reveal the interference of the pipes with the car floor, or any other adjustments required to fit the car (I had it mocked up). The kit did not work out of the box, so I modified it to fit… (cut the offsets out of the pipes to get it away from the floor). But to have the ceramic headers tarnish after the first use (break in of cam and lifters) was the bigger disappointment because I read the warnings and cleaned any oils and fingerprints off before staring the engine the first time. I am not saying never again on TTI but I will not be quick to just “buy once cry once” with their products… that was not my experience.

 

[RT Dude]

In August reproductions will be out $850 Steve ivester

Is there a release date on the reproduction manifolds?

 

[Duster360LA]

Just a note on TTI shorties. I am putting a set in my 74 Duster (360 with a Tremec TKX) and am making mods to my zbar and clutch fork to get enough room for the DS adapter pipe to fit between the clutch linkage an torsion bar. Had to get a short clutch fork in the hope that it provides needed clearance.

 

[WymanV]

My 340 didn't come with any manifolds so when it came to exhaust I opted for the TTI shorties since either option was going to be pricey and I'll go with the performance bump (and sound) of headers. It's a 4 speed car and the fit of the extender was a little tight on the left side but it was certainly doable.

And totally worth it

 

[toolmanmike]

My 340 didn't come with any manifolds so when it came to exhaust I opted for the TTI shorties since either option was going to be pricey and I'll go with the performance bump (and sound) of headers. It's a 4 speed car and the fit of the extender was a little tight on the left side but it was certainly doable.

And totally worth it

View attachment 1716444250View attachment 1716444252

I changed my mind about shorties. The early ones were pretty universal and only worked on trucks and street rods. Those look like they fit quite nice.

 

[Super-Cuda]

Glad your experience was better. You bought the X pipe kit and I bought the H pipe kit. No amount of mock up on the floor would reveal the interference of the pipes with the car floor, or any other adjustments required to fit the car (I had it mocked up). The kit did not work out of the box, so I modified it to fit… (cut the offsets out of the pipes to get it away from the floor). But to have the ceramic headers tarnish after the first use (break in of cam and lifters) was the bigger disappointment because I read the warnings and cleaned any oils and fingerprints off before staring the engine the first time. I am not saying never again on TTI but I will not be quick to just “buy once cry once” with their products… that was not my experience.

What I was referring to by mocking up on the floor was to ensure the pipes slip together easily. I had to open up the ends a little in order to get more "wiggle room " once the pipes were in place. No issues after doing this getting everything properly aligned.

Also, what did TTi say about the tarnishing?

I have 8000 miles on mine and they look like they day they were installed.

 

[jrc4y4]

What I was referring to by mocking up on the floor was to ensure the pipes slip together easily. I had to open up the ends a little in order to get more "wiggle room " once the pipes were in place. No issues after doing this getting everything properly aligned.

Also, what did TTi say about the tarnishing?

I have 8000 miles on mine and they look like they day they were installed.

Yeah I’m curious too. That looks how mine went after the VHT came off. With coated headers I’d be pretty upset.

 

[boydsdodge]

I have real world feedback to provide on TTI shorty headers as I installed them in my 340 Duster with 727. I used the TTI head pipes and their full 2.5” H pipe dual exhaust. I paid up and bought the ceramic coated version so they would always look good, and they did up until I cleaned fingerprints off them before running, and ran the car to break in the new lifters. Within a week of the car sitting in the garage the coating on the headers appeared to rust…. Therefore looking crappy… ugh. But before that I had issues with header fitment, mainly passenger side. TTI says it fits with the oil filter direct mounted to the block, which is true… if you use a short oil filter and wish to pull the header to change said oil filter. Since I had no 90 degree factory adapter and everyone wanted $100 for a rusty one at the time I did an oil filter relocation kit instead. So then on to the full exhaust, which I had to cut and modify to remove the offset that pushed the exhaust into wanting the same real estate as the original floors… ugh. Drivers side… I am running manual steering box and had column shift, and bought the TTI Z bar, which has fully length adjustable linkage… so between it and the original trans linkage being adjustable and the throw of the shifter, plus drilling additional hole in the TTI Z bar I never could get the gears to line up on the column indicator thru the full sweep… so I went out and bought a floor shifter to shift my automatic by cable. I didn’t even complain about the oversized muffler hangers that don’t have the right angle or fit how described, so I went out and bought cheaper clamp on strap hangers for the mufflers. At the back I used TTI frame hangers. Still to this day the tips are not lined up after yet more tweaking of the pipes. Does it sound good, yes. Does it look good, better than rusty Headman Headers. Fit is ok, but nothing to write home about. If I were to do it again I would save the money and avoid TTI. I don’t know what I would go with instead. Always heard TTI was the best, and one should pay for the best… I’d like to see second best I guess…

This was my personal experience and I never called TTI with my problems, as I didn’t want to waste time waiting for their solution. It seemed clear, cut and weld… the headers fit as they said and to return this stuff would kill in shipping cost, so instead of going to war… I went to work modifying things to work…

Entire project I learned one thing, nothing advertised to fit ever fits, and everything advertised as universal fit was way easier to work with because it wasn’t supposed to fit, so no expectations of that fitting, but it did…

I am still running the TTI shorties and full exhaust, no complaints now except due to the modifications required I have exhaust leaks I need to revisit but until then, the windows are always down anyway.

Sorry to hear that you had a hard time with the TTI system. I need to say that I have installed a dozen maybe a bakers dozen sets of TTI systems with Iron manifolds, TTI Shorties, long tube and connected there exhaust pipes to no name headers. It has to be the easiest system and bang for buck improvement. I have done A-B-E-C and Imperial installs. The toughest one was the big block shorties, I did not read the fine print on the install as the customer supplied the headers and exhaust system. My surprise was having to order a clockable starter from Robb MC and then to fit the Robb starter having to grind the block. On the A-body with column shift a remember some adjusting of the shift linkage at column and a couple small things but no biggy. On the Imperial and C-bodies I had to remember to order the shifter bar that TTI supplies. I just gotta say that the TTI systems are well thought out and are a fairly straight forward ease to instal. Oh, on the A-body with long tubes, the oil filter can be messy, but I have changed the filter many times, got to reach from top undo filter stick finger in the filter mounting hole and lift out, for install I just do the reverse and you will have oil over your headers but only you will know that for the first few miles after the oil change. The other thing I forget is to order the floor plate for the muffler hangers, I ordered half a dozen last time to have on hand.

 

[boydsdodge]

Some more Cars that I installed TTI systems.

Sorry. Got carried away and have been told I am out of room. TTI can be expensive, but risking the same cost at a muffler shop for crap work, with mounts drilled through the floor, kinked bends, droning, noisy and just not a good experience I'd go TTI no problem, know what I am getting, fits great, looks great and I did it.

 

[boydsdodge]

Couple more, I on a roll with the pics. First here is the grinding the block for the Robb MC started that is needed with the TTI shorties.