[Freddy's challenger]

Hey guys, so yesterday I decided to pull the trigger on some kooks longtube headers with the catless midpipes. The total cost was just over $1800, and man, I’m excited but am also feeling some buyers remorse. The reason I decided to pull the trigger, is because I’m doing a road trip up to Iowa to visit my grandparents. My grandpa has always been a hotroder, and owns a massive shop which includes: tools for fabrication, paint booth, lifts, and basically every tool known to man. I’m sorry if this question has been asked countless times, and I know it’s subjective, but people who have had them installed, were they worth it overall? The pros for me is: spending time with my grandpa working on the car together, hp gains (with the tune ofcourse), and a very loud exhaust setup. I appreciate the input!

 

[Nuke]

I don’t have the upgraded headers like this, so take my comments with a grain of salt obviously:

Are they going to be worth it? Eh, yes and no...probably more on the no side it sounds like.

If you’re just going off performance gains alone, the $1800 price for parts alone is definitely not worth it. However, any seriously upgraded LX with a Hemi will need this mod, so if you plan on continuing to mod for more power, this is an essential mod that will have to be done sooner or later...might as well do it now, right?

Then there is the value you mentioned of spending time installing them with your grandfather. That’s tough to assign a dollar value to, but it’s likely pretty close to priceless, so that definitely pushes the average back toward the “worth it” side.

At the end of the day, as long as you didnt do anything stupid like pawn your mom’s wedding ring or cash in your kid’s college fund to come up with the $1800, then the relatively high cost for parts isn’t so bad.

You gotta pay to play in this day in age. Just make sure you aren’t working 2 shifts and eating bologna just to make the internet payments on the credit card used to make the purchase. It’s never a good idea to leverage yourself to that level, especially over car mods. 🤓

 

[Freddy's challenger]

I don’t have the upgraded headers like this, so take my comments with a grain of salt obviously:

Are they going to be worth it? Eh, yes and no...probably more on the no side it sounds like.

If you’re just going off performance gains alone, the $1800 price for parts alone is definitely not worth it. However, any seriously upgraded LX with a Hemi will need this mod, so if you plan on continuing to mod for more power, this is an essential mod that will have to be done sooner or later...might as well do it now, right?

Then there is the value you mentioned of spending time installing them with your grandfather. That’s tough to assign a dollar value to, but it’s likely pretty close to priceless, so that definitely pushes the average back toward the “worth it” side.

At the end of the day, as long as you didnt do anything stupid like pawn your mom’s wedding ring or cash in your kid’s college fund to come up with the $1800, then the relatively high cost for parts isn’t so bad.

You gotta pay to play in this day in age. Just make sure you aren’t working 2 shifts and eating bologna just to make the internet payments on the credit card used to make the purchase. It’s never a good idea to leverage yourself to that level, especially over car mods. 🤓

thanks for the input! Yeah so I’ve thought about it, and the only additional performance mod I’ve considered is possibly a cam down the road. But I’m not planning on adding a blower or anything like that. It’s certainly a bag of mixed emotions lol. Thankfully I didn’t have to take out any loans or put myself in an uncomfortable position financially, but the $1800 price tag is certainly painful. I got out of college about 5 months ago, got a good job as a software engineer, but this purchase definitely put a dent in the savings lol. I’ve looked around the forums on different brands of headers, but it seems the general consensus is you get what you pay for. And it sounded like arh and kooks were the best fitting / quality headers. I was just shocked to see how expensive the midpipes were as well. But hey, like you said, you gotta pay to play with the big boys.

 

[myystanng]

Hey guys, so yesterday I decided to pull the trigger on some kooks longtube headers with the catless midpipes. The total cost was just over $1800, and man, I’m excited but am also feeling some buyers remorse. The reason I decided to pull the trigger, is because I’m doing a road trip up to Iowa to visit my grandparents. My grandpa has always been a hotroder, and owns a massive shop which includes: tools for fabrication, paint booth, lifts, and basically every tool known to man. I’m sorry if this question has been asked countless times, and I know it’s subjective, but people who have had them installed, were they worth it overall? The pros for me is: spending time with my grandpa working on the car together, hp gains (with the tune ofcourse), and a very loud exhaust setup. I appreciate the input!

I would have tried to find them used and also you really need a few mods to make it worth something.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gouge93]

Ditto what Nuke said. Pretty much agree with all of it.

If it's not breaking the bank to get the headers, performance gains aside, your situation with your grandpa and his shop make it more than worth it IMO. I'd have zero remorse if I was in your position.

I still have the memory of installing headers on my old Ram in a garage with my best friend at the time back in 1995. Heck, I'd of paid $2000 back then for that experience. Having to unbolt the engine and raise it up to get the drivers side in, forcing it back down denting in one tube, wrapping the headers before hand and itching for weeks afterward from the fiberglass, and most of all the sound of the rumble when we first started it up once we were all done.

 

[72/340]

Damn, $1800 for headers?? For that you can get an E85 conversion, tuner, and unlocked PCM.

 

[Freddy's challenger]

Ditto what Nuke said. Pretty much agree with all of it.

If it's not breaking the bank to get the headers, performance gains aside, your situation with your grandpa and his shop make it more than worth it IMO. I'd have zero remorse if I was in your position.

I still have the memory of installing headers on my old Ram in a garage with my best friend at the time back in 1995. Heck, I'd of paid $2000 back then for that experience. Having to unbolt the engine and raise it up to get the drivers side in, forcing it back down denting in one tube, wrapping the headers before hand and itching for weeks afterward from the fiberglass, and most of all the sound of the rumble when we first started it up once we were all done.

yeah that’s what really makes it worth it to me. A few years ago, I actually bought him some longtube headers for his corvette. Although it was a royal PITA to install those suckers, it was a fantastic experience forsure!! Thanks for the input.

 

[Freddy's challenger]

Damn, $1800 for headers?? For that you can get an E85 conversion, tuner, and unlocked PCM.

yeah it was very expensive. A big piece of it was the midpipes, I looked around but had a hard time finding them for much cheaper. I also looked to find a set used, but not much luck there. But even seeing old posts, they still seemed to want 14-1500.

 

[72/340]

yeah it was very expensive. A big piece of it was the midpipes, I looked around but had a hard time finding them for much cheaper. I also looked to find a set used, but not much luck there. But even seeing old posts, they still seemed to want 14-1500.

If it makes you happy its worth it and that's priceless.

 

[Freddy's challenger]

If it makes you happy its worth it and that's priceless.

thanks for the input, nice pcp scatpack btw 💪🏽

 

[72/340]

Ditto my Mopar brother in purple!!

 

[72/340]

Curious, are you keeping the active exhaust? I'm thinking of doing Flowmaster mid mufflers and the Khaos eliminator kit.

 

[Freddy's challenger]

Curious, are you keeping the active exhaust? I'm thinking of doing Flowmaster mid mufflers and the Khaos eliminator kit.

thanks man!! And I'm honestly not too sure. I've thought about it, but I feel like its nice to have at times. I actually tried that little trick where you pull fuse 36 right after you cold start to keep the valves open. I didn't really notice a huge difference. But that's also because I'm always driving around in sports mode with a lead foot lol. Thats one reason why my gas mileage is so horrible, I average around 10 mpg 😄

 

[Competition!]

Yes worth it. Hopefully gramps can help cut down on the install cost.

 

[A Guy]

I think Grandpa will be the one to ask if it's worth it...after they are installed

A Guy

 

[Freddy's challenger]

Yes worth it. Hopefully gramps can help cut down on the install cost.

oh forsure, he usually tells me what to do and where to find all the tools. And I do the labor haha, always learn somethin new!

 

[Freddy's challenger]

I think Grandpa will be the one to ask if it's worth it...after they are installed

A Guy

lol, very true! I bet it will be a yes! I’ll start up a post logging the experience with plenty of pictures 💯😎

 

[Gila Hemi]

I don’t have the upgraded headers like this, so take my comments with a grain of salt obviously:

Are they going to be worth it? Eh, yes and no...probably more on the no side it sounds like.

If you’re just going off performance gains alone, the $1800 price for parts alone is definitely not worth it. However, any seriously upgraded LX with a Hemi will need this mod, so if you plan on continuing to mod for more power, this is an essential mod that will have to be done sooner or later...might as well do it now, right?

Then there is the value you mentioned of spending time installing them with your grandfather. That’s tough to assign a dollar value to, but it’s likely pretty close to priceless, so that definitely pushes the average back toward the “worth it” side.

At the end of the day, as long as you didnt do anything stupid like pawn your mom’s wedding ring or cash in your kid’s college fund to come up with the $1800, then the relatively high cost for parts isn’t so bad.

You gotta pay to play in this day in age. Just make sure you aren’t working 2 shifts and eating bologna just to make the internet payments on the credit card used to make the purchase. It’s never a good idea to leverage yourself to that level, especially over car mods. 🤓

And what's wrong with bologna? Hmmmm?

yeah that’s what really makes it worth it to me. A few years ago, I actually bought him some longtube headers for his corvette. Although it was a royal PITA to install those suckers, it was a fantastic experience forsure!! Thanks for the input.

Anything that you can do together with your Grandpa is priceless!

 

[trippytro]

If you thought the vette install was a PITA

Kooks probably has smooth fitment...i would hope


My shorty’s went on like a slug moving through peanut butter

 

[ChuckDSRT8]

As a family project heck yeah worth it. I'd give anything for a chance to do something like that with my dad.( he passed away)