BBK or Kooks/ARH

[Teej281]

Longtube headers for a cobra...which one? op:

Friend just decided he is going longtubes and wants BBK's. I tell him they are junk, seeing that they dent a primary on the drivers side for steering shaft clearance, the welds protrude into the primaries at the flanges, and their fitment just sucks and they hang. I'm telling him to go with kooks or ARH but to no avail. Just trying to get some opinions here fellas. Thanks!

 

[mi_l123]

kooks

 

[Tims97SVT]

Your compairing apples to oranges. Your talking about a $500 set of headers to a $1000+ set of headers. Power to price... what works and what does not.

 

[old ford guy]

Tims right !

Apples and Oranges !

but Kooks by far !

 

[Teej281]

I guess if bang for your buck means fitment and quality don't count, then bbk would be ok. Macs would be better than bbk in my opinion and they are in the same price range. Bbk is junk, even for the price.

 

[Tornbtwentwo]

I have BBK's on a 96 and the fitment is great. there was weld into the primarys and i just ground that out myself. No big deal. but my only complaint is the ceramic coating is wearing off and they are starting to rust. and they are only 2 years old and not driven in the winter. other then that i thought they were worth the money.

Never installed any kooks but from what i have heard they are Very nice

 

[Tims97SVT]

Also let's see proof of a hp gain with a kooks or arh over a mac or bbk.

 

[NateV8]

The poll should be Mac or Kooks/ARH. BBK is oke:. I'm happy with my Mac though.

 

[lgonz051]

i have bbk on mine, yeah i did it because of the money id save, i bet there is maybe a 5 hp increase from switching to kooks. But they sound great and fitment was not a problem. However if i can go back i would have gone with kooks and borla. But no complaints from the bbk's.

 

[Teej281]

I doubt once longtubes are installed you're not gonna take them off so I doubt there is gonna be data to suggest one way or the other, or at least that is reliable seeing that you can't really compare 2 cars with similar mods as tunes and such can differ. Plus you can get a stepped header from kooks or arh and that's where the gains are to be had from what I've read.

 

[Tims97SVT]

Your compairing apples to oranges. Your talking about a $500 set of headers to a $1000+ set of headers. Power to price... what works and what does not.

i have bbk on mine, yeah i did it because of the money id save, i bet there is maybe a 5 hp increase from switching to kooks. But they sound great and fitment was not a problem. However if i can go back i would have gone with kooks and borla. But no complaints from the bbk's.

Looking back why would you go to kooks? What's the reason if the bbk fit good and sound good.

 

[cobracide]

BBK? Come on not even in the same class as Kooks.. ect.

 

[encasedmetal]

kooks ftmfw- bbk aren't stainless, and all ceramic coating has to be redone after so many years-but it comes down to the materials underneath the coating- as for the pricing-I just got another set of the kooks 1 3/4"x 3" headers and they were 820 bucks shipped- there's a special on corral

 

[Schlangenbisse]

Is there that much benefit with buying a/f headers for our cars? Is it add HP, sound? What is it?

 

[Teej281]

Longtubes are decent for some midrange gains but not a great gain at peak. Sound as well.

 

[cobra=trouble]

what gains are headders over long tubes anyway ?
i was thinking of headder , but cash i tight rightnow i was thinking bbk's would fit my buget
but do kooks have bolt end on the ends of there collectors?

bbks are appx 530 bucks if kook can be found for 820 that is not 'that' much more.

im not looking for 800 rwhp btw boss50 build is not far away. trying to sell a car to finsh it off.

 

[Schlangenbisse]

Is there a specific setup that kooks headers works with? i.e. specific X pipe w/ cat back. Or will it work with well/sound good with anything?

Don't mean to jack your thread OP, just curious myself! Thanks :coolman:

 

[DarkMach1]

Kooks hands down. Like they always say, in 5 years come and tell me how good the BBKs are. I installed 1 5/8s kooks with a catted mid (previous setup was stock manifold and o/r prochamber) and the car made about 10-15 more hp in the low and mid range along with similar gains in tq, though it did make the same peak power, the blower was heatsoaked from driving around and dialing in the suspension. Same dyno with no change in tuning, running about 4 tenths richer (low 11s) and pulling a couple degrees of timing at the top, weather was about 20 degrees hotter(low 70s before LTs, low 90s after) and humidity was about 50% higher (35% before, 80% after). Very happy with the performance improvement and the sound is incredible.

 

[jcveron]

Kooks

 

[Root1022]

I would go with MAC or Kooks if it was me