It's a 1984 2.4L carb 4x4 pickup with about 200,00 miles. I bought it when new 31 years ago, never did much work on it. Started getting coolant leakage to the oil, so decided to do a timing chain/cover replacement and put on a new head gasket.

I'm no mechanic, but I'm trying to do a full desmog. Ripped all emissions tubing off, pulled off the intake manifold (with carb attached) and loosened off the (original) exhaust manifold. I invested $300 in a refurbished cylinder head which I'm waiting to receive in the mail, and I'm currently trying to clean old gasket material off the engine block.

My question is about the exhaust. The old manifold is pretty rusty and old. Should I put a header on there? Or might it be okay to clean-up the old manifold? I've been shopping online a bit, but cant figure out which header (which part number) would be correct for the vehicle. The LCE headers look great, but might be a bit beyond my price range.

 

The pacesetter is cheap but the gasket sucks. LCE are apparently worth every penny. Look into a hooker. Are you wanting longevity or sound?

 

Thanks very much for your reply!

I will look again at Hooker. I wasn't sure about the quality of Pacesetter.

Basically I want something easy to install, that's solid and won't wiggle off or be leaky, and maybe would give a little extra horsepower over the factory manifold.

 

Personally I would choose a header that duplicates the factory 3-2-1 aka "tri-y" exhaust. Only Dough Thorley and Stan's Headers are the two aftermarket ones I know of.

 

I've been admiring the LCE street header from what I've seen online. But by the time block-off plates, new mounting bolts, and tax are added, the whole thing would run around $500. Way beyond what I can really afford. (But then again, Old Betsy would surely be new kind of beast with that sucker!)

How much luck do you think I'd have just cleaning the mounting surface of the old exhaust manifold? Or is it best taken to be a shop for a proper resurfacing?

 

The LC header is legit. Very well made. It may cost a fair amount but in my past of buying aftermarket parts, you get what you pay for. It fits perfectly and sounds great. No regrets from me. I looked at DT, and they just don't compare. Pacesetter makes a cheaper header, but it's just that, cheap.

 

If you don't have the budget for Stans or LCE, stick with the Toyota oem manifold. (NOT aftermarket! I had one crack horizontally after 3 years. )

Confirm the surface is true and flat, and use the OEM gasket or a remflex.

 

^This. Just commented in another thread. Remflex works great too.

Factory manifold is not worth replacing unless you want something purdy under the hood. Go 2" pipe from the factory downtube > 2.25" high flow cat > 2.25 straight flow muffler. An aftermarket header won't be noticeably better for power than this. It'll just sound like marbles in a tin-can under your hood.

I do have a thorley right now and it sure looks nice. But it doesn't offer anything more than the above setup for gains. And as for 4 to 1 headers forget about it. If anything you lose low end with those.

 

I disagree with andykrow. When I added the LC header it make a noticeable change on the low end and allowed for better uphill speed. The exhaust sound does change a lot. You will hear a lot more air rushing sounds, but hey welcome to aftermarket exhaust manifolds. That's the nature of the beast.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Due to my tight budget, I'm going to just clean up my old original exhaust manifold. Its mounting surface is pretty rough, with rust and bumps. So far, I've taken a wire wheel to it and tried to smooth it with some 180 grit sandpaper.

I think I am going to use the gasket that came in a CNS (via amazon.com) kit. I hope this brand is ok....I've already bolted the head down on their head gasket. I'm also going to plug the antipollution "air pipe" holes in the exhaust manifold using LCE block-off plates.

Wish me luck that she holds together.

 

This I may do at some future date (assuming I can even get the motor up and running again). The cat has already been replaced by a LCE "test" pipe, but the other pipes and muffler are pretty crappy and at stock size (1.75" ?)

 

It's mounting surface is pretty rough? But you're just going to wing it anyway? Then why'd you even ask?

I would have used the remflex and new studs if you didn't want it leaking from the rear in 2 years. Good luck indeed.

 

Not trying to argue here, just curious: Did you upgrade the whole exhaust or did you already have a free flowing setup when you put the header on? The first couple times I bought headers I was upgrading the entire system, and then of course I noticed a big difference. Then on another truck (w/22RE) Ted @ engnbldr suggested I keep the factory header and just do the free flow 2" > 2.25" setup. Same improvement as the previous trucks at less than half the price. Then I cracked that factory mani, and found a used thorley to slap on there. Didn't notice a thing other than more noise under the hood. (tailpipe is noisy whether or not you have the factory manifold...)