sirhk100

I have a 6 mile drive to the exhaust shop. If I drive it there with just straight headers that dump out both sides of the bellhousing think it will do any damage? I swear I've heard about possible engine damage driving with just straight headers and nothing more on other vehicles in the past. Any thoughts?

(My exhaust doesn't use the crossover tube, I have straight open headers and need to have an exhaust shop build something to connect them to my exhaust system basically)





You can see the exhaust flange for the tubing going back to the muffler and to the top left of it you can see the drvr side header exit.








Sooooooo, any harm besides ringing ears driving it about 6 miles like this???

theMonch

I drove mine 12 miles with open headers to the exhaust shop no problem. Just take it easy on her and you'll be fine.

The "theory" on this is that if you run it without an exhaust you can burn out an exhaust valve. I think it is BS personally and have never heard of this happening, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any merit to the theory.

Story goes that when you release the throttle cold air is sucked up the header via backpressure directly into the chamber and this cold air hitting the valve could cause a burnt valve.

sirhk100

Yep, that's EXACTLY what I'd heard too... That letting up on the gas will suck in cold air and damage valves. Just wasn't totally sure. I definately won't be hot rodding it to the exhaust shop, it's going to be loud enough as is!!! LOL Well unless I happen to hit a red light and a lowered import car pulls up next to me. I might have to blip the throttle once or twice cause I'm pretty sure it's mandatory at that point even though the import car would probably still smoke me!

dntsdad

I think that I would have a hard time driving with open headers from not pounding the throttle just to hear it roar.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

It will be LOUD! Did that with a 22RE. I can't imagine a V6 with dual straight pipes.

:wabbit2:

sirhk100

I've had it in my garage at idle and it's LOUD... Then blip the throttle up to like 2K a couple times and it's just that much LOUDER!!! LOL I have headsets with microphones that I use in the truck when offroading with an audio input and I doubt those will even be enough to drown out the exhaust. LOL

Considering the truck is caged bumper to bumper and flat black it will at least be intimidating for those 6 miles! LOL

sheepdawg58

hell if you think thats loud ya dont wanna listen to a BBC fire up... heh.. only thing id be worried about is where is the 02 sensor? i dont guess it will hurt that bad to get it to the shop.

sirhk100

Yeah but a BBC at least has that badass sound that we all probably wish our 3.4's made!!! LOL

O2 sensor not being in the mix didn't even cross my mind. It's in the exhaust pipe that goes nowhere and is plugged in too. LOL I guess I won't stress if it runs a little crappy until I get the exhaust plumbed up since the O2 won't really be reading anything correct.

xxxtreme22r

if it's only like you say about 10 minutes driving etc etc, you should be fine. Although it will run rich without the 02 sensor. Not sure if this will help but it wouldn't hurt to unplug the actual o2 sensor (front one if you have 2). You don't want that plugged in when the engine is running and not measuring anything. With it unplugged the ECU will run the motor slightly rich to help "save" the engine.

sirhk100

Thanks for the heads up on the O2, I'll unplug that tonight. And yes, mapquest shows it 6.3 from my door to the exhaust shop I'm going to have do the work for me.

"I swear officer, I'm on my way to the exhaust shop right now to get it fixed!!!" Think they'll believe me even if it's the truth? LOL

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Ask engine builders and high performance race car guys if that is a "BS" theory

JamesD

You will not have ANY problems other than it will be louder than earmuffs. Drive it like you stole it!

James

theMonch

I just drilled a tiny hole into one of the headers and safety wired the o2 to the end. It actually registered and went into closed loop.

hamish_18

BBC with only headers is LOUD! But it sounds badass lol. So are there any engine builders on here that can say that running with just open headers is bad?

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Alright, not sure why this thread brings out all the swearing, but lets knock it off.

No more cussing, implied cussing, censored cussing, etc etc.

Lets try "Its very loud" instead of "its loud as *insert letters and cussing here*"

Next person gets a vacation, Kthx

BoredOutnJackdUp

i had my exhaust off because the weld broke on my 94 dodge ram with the 5.9 gas v8
and it sounded like a damn monster truck hahaha. But i had to drive it like that until i got it fixed and was too hot to weld (115ish degrees) so i just drove it and nothing bad happened. As long as you have headers on and not just running literally nothing you'll be good.

RMA

lol .. is there a thread we can do this in orrr no ..

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Nope, per teh rules everyone agreed to

osucycler

I did this as well no problems at all. I had the O2 sensors zip tied under the hood.

Swimmerboy2112

iTrader: (2)

We had to do this once with my friends S-10 4.3 it's LOUD!! lol but the truck was fine.