Headers or Ram Horns? (1 Viewer)

[Sunnyside up]

For my FJ40 I have a 383 stroked motor and want to decide between the advance adapters block hugging headers or can I go with a Ram horn?

I hear the headers will increase noise and heat

therefore I was thinking RAm horns may be an option.
Any motor heads out there that can help with some advice? I hear ram horns won’t allow enough flow. Not sure if that’s true or not

it’s not like I’m going to be speeding around. The motor was free so I took it. My old 350 motor is a leaky, Smokey old dog.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Rams horns flow pretty well...not as good as headers but really not terrible and they fit in the narrow FJ40 engine bay more easily. Ultimately if your truck is never going to go off-road you could consider headers that run outside the frame rails but you’ll need to cut your inner fenders to go that route.

There are some larger 2.5” Ram’s horns you might be able to squeeze in instead of the standard 2” horns which will flow a bit more.

Ultimately, unless your 383 is 500+ horsepower you probably won’t notice a difference.

If you ARE taking the truck offroad you want the exhaust inside the frame rail and tucked up as high as you can get it. A bit of restricted flow/increased back-pressure will also marginally lower your torque band - also better offroad.

My truck has a stock 350 (195 horsepower, standard truck cam). I’ve got the smallest intake runners I could find in an Edelbrock SP2P, and the smaller 2 inch Ram’s horns into 1.5” exhaust. It flows just fine and keeps the torque low.

 

[B y r o n]

If you decide to go with 2-1/2" rams horn manifolds here is some additional information. Here is the exhaust I built.
Post #15 has a short video/sound bite of the exhaust.

If you decide to go the header route check out Sanderson who supposedly build some of the tightest block hugger header available.

 

[reddingcruiser]

Old School SBC - Ram horn manifolds all the way. I'll admit to craving up a perfectly good set of fenders to run headers 40 years ago, but I would never be that PO again.

 

[Warloc]

I ran ram type manifolds on my V8 conversion to start with. Had two different exhaust pipe configurations and both had clearance issues. I even broke a manifold on the Rubicon trail and had to do half the trail with it. IMO the only way to have a clean set up that is the best for off road is over the frame rail headers that require fender modification, no big deal. The mufflers sit under my running boards, it’s not loud, no exhaust fumes and it short and sweet. I even cut my running board supports and had a half round tube welded in so nothing hangs below the frame. Someone posted this set up is not for Off roading, I don’t think so, it is the bomb for rock crawling.

 

[ferg]

I used shorty block hugger headers. My issue was with poor collector flange gaskets (Mr Gasket white, fragile) Cure was better gaskets and good exhaust shop that made internal 'fittings'. No more blown collector gasket. Was back in the mid 90s so no info.

 

[BrianSanDiego]

I ran ram type manifolds on my V8 conversion to start with. Had two different exhaust pipe configurations and both had clearance issues. I even broke a manifold on the Rubicon trail and had to do half the trail with it. IMO the only way to have a clean set up that is the best for off road is over the frame rail headers that require fender modification, no big deal. The mufflers sit under my running boards, it’s not loud, no exhaust fumes and it short and sweet. I even cut my running board supports and had a half round tube welded in so nothing hangs below the frame. Someone posted this set up is not for Off roading, I don’t think so, it is the bomb for rock crawling.

Hey fender-well header bro! Happen to remember which mufflers you have? I've got dynomax super turbos, which are not real loud, but a little quieter would be nice. Thx