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SSAC or Pacesetter Headers

smaller primary headers will make better torque. nothing wrong with s&s headers. ron is planing on going 11's this season with them.

as for the pacesetters there not that bad. all i did was clamp the y and its fine. its not hard at all. for the money i cant complain one bit.
 


dezldave961 said:
SSAC's are what dagger linked from ebay. They're selling for the same price as going directly to ssautochrome.com now, so might as well buy direct.

I've installed/uninstalled every style of header over the years for people, and there's a reason that the past 6+ I've done were all SSAC's. When installing, I swap in a ZZP flex, and use Torca AccuSeal clamps with copper RTV, and folks go on their way happy. There is ZERO welding involved if you want to install them as they arrive, though.

For a cat, it would need to be welded in. I did one last month on an '02 Monte SS and here's the line-up before assembly:

0319091825.jpg


The d/p needs to be cut so that the cat begins at the end of the last bend (leave 1-2" of straight on the d/p, since the cat can slide over it). Cut half of the expanded portion off the flange pipe off, right behind the end of the slits, to butt & weld the rear of the cat to that. Some care needs to be taken to keep things aligned, and you may not want to have the cat sit flat, since our tunnels aren't always wide enough to fit them straight.

I've got gobs of SSAC pics in various locations, if someone needs an example.

- Dave
Click to expand...

Can you please show some examples I am going to order this soon and what kind of MAGNAFLOW CAT did you use 3" to 3" right and at what angle should I install the CAT. Is it easier to have the cat put in before installation or should I have someone weld it later when it is on the car so they can mesure the angle. Also where do you get these Torca AccuSeal clamps. I just ordered the SSAC Headers. Mabey in a few months before I have to renew the Reg and go to Inspection then I will get the ZZP DP and put the cat in any differance in the Tuning for CAT or No CAT
 
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jacobmh27 said:
Can you please show some examples I am going to order this soon and what kind of MAGNAFLOW CAT did you use 3" to 3" right and at what angle should I install the CAT. Is it easier to have the cat put in before installation or should I have someone weld it later when it is on the car so they can mesure the angle. Also where do you get these Torca AccuSeal clamps. I just ordered the SSAC Headers. Mabey in a few months before I have to renew the Reg and go to Inspection then I will get the ZZP DP and put the cat in any differance in the Tuning for CAT or No CAT
Click to expand...

Yes, it's the 3" cat that ZZP sells. I don't think it's available much cheaper elsewhere anymore. You won't need a "dp" from them, just a 3" interlock flex section if the "tick" annoys you.

Torca AccuSeals are cheapest here: Mandrel Bending Solutions - ebay store

Tuning won't be much difference. It should flow pretty close at a modest boost level. I'll take pics of the car that got that setup in the picture installed, soon.

- Dave
 
2.25 (2-1/4) is for the crossover, two required. The 3" version would only be needed (2) if you were installing the "race pipe" from SSAC on the dp, rather than welding it together or welding a cat in place.

I'm sure ZZP will have flex's back in stock soon, as they use them for alot of things (headers, d/p's, turbo kits, separate sale).

- Dave
 


jacobmh27 said:
the only one they offer on the site is with a 3" dp
Click to expand...

All of the common headers use 3" d/p setups included with their collector design. They use an adapter at the cat-back flange to go to 2.5" for working with any stock/aftermarket exhaust meant to be interchangeable. If you had a 3" exhaust, you'd just need to do a different flange at the last piece of the setup.

- Dave
 
thanks I ordered the Clamps and the Headers so I hope to have them soon ZZP said 1 to 2 weeks till the Flex section is goingto be avail. I guess I will use it like it comes for now Cause my exhaust is getting loud because of the leak and starting to produce KR of about 2 to 3 degrees when under mid acceleration
 
Bio248 said:
S&S exit as 2.5". no step downs for an aftermarket catback.
Click to expand...

Yes, as why I mentioned "common". S&S is a very low volume part on the market. Even in 2003 I chose not to buy them, for a few reasons. Anywho, you can squeeze water from a rock with the right device, and you can squeeze low 12's from S&S's with enough mods to run 11's on 1-5/8" headers.

(I remember the days when 1-3/4" primary X-TOG's were not bought by anyone making less than 375whp, with good cause. Pretty sure P/S just grabbed pipe from their LS1 stash & started building for GP's, but don't let that stop the marketing of "better for s/c setups"... Ahh to watch the market evolve.)

- Dave
 


i like my smaller primaries and if my car ever runs 11s then ill have spent too much money on it. im good with 12s. i like torque, screw top end.
 
hey, finally a thread where people realize that bigger isn't always better. That's the biggest thing I don't like about the SSAC headers, they only come with 1 3/4" primaries.
 
i have the old school pacesetters and i think they are 1 7/8's not sure tho.

i bought them because they were cheap and frankly dident know anything about headers..
 


SSAC's primaries are 1-5/8in, just like SLP's & TOG's. This is the common size, as it was the best fit our exhaust port outlet, and seems to extract the proper amount for our engine airflow.

PS's and ZZP's primaries are 1-3/4in, as were Xtreme TOG's.

There were also a very limited offering of TOG Big Dog headers with 2" primaries... only the 10-sec s/c cars of JohnT (MP112/spray) and the BadSSEi (KB blowzilla) ran these, as far as I know. I doubt many others even attempted them, as folks like Jamhoney (Gen V) have gotten to low-low 11's with TOG's and X-TOG's.

- Dave
 
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are you sure the SSACs are 1 5/8? They list them as 1 3/4, but their specs are pretty suspect. If they are 1 5/8, that's good news.

I was thinking the Big Dogs were 1 7/8, too. Doesn't really matter, though, since they're long gone.
 
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I didn't guess these numbers, I know them. I've owned and installed over 10 sets of SSAC's myself, along with working with every other style I listed, except ZZP's* & Big Dogs (but I'm also old enough to remember reading their product description many times). SSAC's are 1.625" OD primary tubes (1-5/8"). Zoomer also confirmed this, back when they got popular and he thought he could buy a set to disprove their worth, and couldn't.
*will be installing a ZZP set for a customer next month, only because he didn't ask about options before ordering headers for $900 instead of $350

SSAC's description was some lazy marketing employee's sloppy copy-paste job of PaceSetter specs. I've emailed them asking to revise this number and the other error, since they short-change themselves by not properly saying how they're a 300-grade of stainless, NOT mild steel. Even though they obviously get alot of orders, it seems this description isn't something they're worried about editing.

- Dave
 
Well, as I said, that's very good news. I must have missed it when Zoomer was testing them, I've been kind of in and out of the community, but I was also around during the time of the Big Dogs. As I said, it's neither here nor there at this point, anyway. You've done far more on these cars than just about anyone around, so I'll just drop it.
 
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