A closer look at the discontinued FRPP shorty headers...

[cluscher]

I have had the same setup as Robert M on both GT500s I've owned. My first GT500 was merely an upper 2.6 pulley car with frpp tb and L&M plenum. That car made roughly 540/525 on the dyno. After I swapped to the shortys mated to the full 3 inch JBA system I made 575/585 on the dyno (no cats). Yes, they were different dynos and conditions, so attempting to quantify the actual gain is futile. But the bottom line is it was definitely a worthwhile mod, and for me the power to torque ratio was most surprising. My hunch is the 3inch system alone was primarily responsible, so who knows how much the shortys played in the end result.

I run the same setup on my current GT500 with the wick turned up on a built motor with cams and a 2.8 Kenne Bell. I have a full Griggs RT chassis so the shortys were used instead of long tubes for fitment and ground clearance reasons. I haven't had that car on the dyno yet, but the exhaust system seems to be working pretty well on that application. I make 15-16lbs of boost with the large KB upper pulley and stock lower.

 

[Tob]

I have a set of ceramic coated shorties here on a shelf. Let me know if you want pics. They came off a car, so I have no idea of production date.

-Tim

Tim, if you can clean up the typical carbon residue at the ports I'd be interested to see if they were as sloppy as mine in terms of some of the weld beads being a bit of an obstruction. And if you can square up the headers for photo purposes, I'd be interested in seeing the passenger header from the outside (so I can compare it to some of the shots of mine) as well as the driver inside (to see if the clamshell was recontoured at all for clearance).

I have had the same setup as Robert M on both GT500s I've owned. My first GT500 was merely an upper 2.6 pulley car with frpp tb and L&M plenum. That car made roughly 540/525 on the dyno. After I swapped to the shortys mated to the full 3 inch JBA system I made 575/585 on the dyno (no cats). Yes, they were different dynos and conditions, so attempting to quantify the actual gain is futile. But the bottom line is it was definitely a worthwhile mod, and for me the power to torque ratio was most surprising. My hunch is the 3inch system alone was primarily responsible, so who knows how much the shortys played in the end result.

I suspect that eliminating the converters was a major portion of the gains you saw (as would anyone else) but I'm quite sure the shorty headers played an important role as well. Regardless, a 60 foot pound gain from the exhaust changes you made is rather impressive. Is the coating still looking pretty good?

 

[cluscher]

Coating looks perfect. It holds up impressively well.

 

[Teddy O]

It's perplexing to me that these shorties fit some cars better than others. I always think of mass produced items as identical, but seeing the varying geometry here in both the headers and the cars is interesting.

Also, this thread is an excellent explaination as to why I can't find a manufacturer offering shorties for my car. From a business standpoint, they just don't make sense. Great "article" Tob, thanks.

 

[Tob]

The term perplexing is indeed wholly appropriate here Teddy. In terms of "variance" I think the factory does a pretty good job joining each sub-assembly into what eventually becomes a completed vehicle. A lot of people talk about slop but to be quite honest I haven't seen it with this car. Quite the contrary with our beloved GT500's, as there isn't the room for any slop. Note the concern in the following video with fitment when readying the assembly line for the '07 GT500. Pay particular attention to the long "alignment pins" used for assembly line purposes.

[video=youtube;8hnX31B34sQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hnX31B34sQ#t=27[/video]

Regarding making a business case to make a shorty for this latest generation of GT500 - we are well past that point and as such are not likely to ever see it happen again. FRPP did well to jump on the bandwagon early but in my view, they failed to validate/verify issues that should have triggered a revision before the part was ever released. Note that FRPP abandoned the part and as such couldn't take advantage of the increased economies of scale that would have taken place were this piece to have been advertised and sold for all years GT500, '07-'14. The exhaust manifold stayed the same throughout production but FRPP decided to let this one go.

 

[BMR Tech]

Tob, you were going to share some stuff today I'd be combing over? Just saying.

 

[Tob]

This week....not necessarily this day.:uh oh:

I'm working on it though. The only hint between now and then that I feel comfortable revealing...

 

[F8L SN8K]

Mike certainly can get a hold of things that many others can't. I love dealing with Mike at BuyFordRacing. Chuck and Jason at Watson are also great to deal with. All of them have been able to get me those very hard to come by items. Mike always goes above and beyond.

As always great write up and great attention to detail TOB.

 

[Tob]

SVO, Ford Motorsport, and FRPP have had a slew of people come and go as time has passed. Mike is the constant that ties them all together for me and as such, when I order a part from him I love nothing more than to get the lowdown on whatever Ford piece I couldn't wait to get my hands onto. If he ever leaves it won't be the same for me. I noticed your support of him and said something about it the last time I talked to him. He said nothing but good things about you.

As far as the writeup, thanks, and I'll try to do better. My satisfaction (or sometimes lack thereof) in this piece won't be complete until somebody involved in managing it can rationalize some of the decision making that was made on it.

 

[Teddy O]

The term perplexing is indeed wholly appropriate here Teddy. In terms of "variance" I think the factory does a pretty good job joining each sub-assembly into what eventually becomes a completed vehicle. A lot of people talk about slop but to be quite honest I haven't seen it with this car. Quite the contrary with our beloved GT500's, as there isn't the room for any slop. Note the concern in the following video with fitment when readying the assembly line for the '07 GT500. Pay particular attention to the long "alignment pins" used for assembly line purposes.

[video=youtube;8hnX31B34sQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hnX31B34sQ#t=27[/video]

Regarding making a business case to make a shorty for this latest generation of GT500 - we are well past that point and as such are not likely to ever see it happen again. FRPP did well to jump on the bandwagon early but in my view, they failed to validate/verify issues that should have triggered a revision before the part was ever released. Note that FRPP abandoned the part and as such couldn't take advantage of the increased economies of scale that would have taken place were this piece to have been advertised and sold for all years GT500, '07-'14. The exhaust manifold stayed the same throughout production but FRPP decided to let this one go.

Tob, my phone refused to play this video, so I just now had a chance watch it at home.

I thought it was fascinating, even my wife enjoyed it. I eat this kind of stuff up, what those SVT guys do is so interesting. I'm going to have to search around for any more similar videos .

As far as shorties, you're right about us probably never seeing another one. It hasn't really sunk in with me yet that the S197 is officially discontinued, and the focus is now on the S550.

Thanks for all the information.

 

[Robert M]

The term perplexing is indeed wholly appropriate here Teddy. In terms of "variance" I think the factory does a pretty good job joining each sub-assembly into what eventually becomes a completed vehicle. A lot of people talk about slop but to be quite honest I haven't seen it with this car. Quite the contrary with our beloved GT500's, as there isn't the room for any slop. Note the concern in the following video with fitment when readying the assembly line for the '07 GT500. Pay particular attention to the long "alignment pins" used for assembly line purposes.

In the past there have been variances at the rear for sure. During the Alcoa widening craze, many who chose to go all the way out to 11.75", 11-7/8" or even like me 12" found that once they widened their Alcoa's, the tires they chose would not fit without rubbing (always). I remember one forum member went to 11.75", then tried 335's no way fit. He ended up down at the 315 width and still could not get away from rubbing.

I first tried 335's and had them on my car for a few weeks, about 100 miles before I decided there was a little too much bulge for my liking so I backed down to 325's which I have had on my car now for over a year, maybe two. It seemed that there were variances in the body jigging, enough to tighten up the rear wheel well area's enough that some could go to the wider size rear tires and others could not, same Alcoa widths, same 8.8 axle (mounting point), same exact tire sizes compared. On some GT500's it did not matter how much centering/adjusting you did to the axle, the wider tires were not going to fit without rubbing............other cars, no problem.


R