I agree, my dad and his friends always put it this way; GM spent more money on designing the parts on a car than any aftermarket people did, if you change one part then you have to change another, for example if you put on headers then you have to change the jets in the carb then you have to change the cam 1/2 the time.After modifying a 396 I wound up with a 443 and it didn't last 2 years before I had troubles ( bleprinted, dual highrise twin 650 dbl. pumpers, H.E.I., calif. cam.,laser balanced / hand polished crank, short stroked, distorted piston, custom ported heads, hand tuned headered pain in the backside). It was shiny for the car shows but it turned into a british car "drive one day work on it two".
Headers, in my opinion, are for racing applications only. For a street driven vehicle, there's no significant power gain and are more trouble than they're worth. Get some good ram's horn manifolds and save yourself some headaches!
Scott
