Project White 5.0 Liter Mustang – Bolting on More Power with Borla Long Tube Headers
In our last edition of Project 5.0 Mustang, we added some basic bolt ons being a cat back exhaust system from Borla and a cold air intake from AEM. We got excellent results for these mods. In this week's edition of Project Mustang, we are continuing to work on the engine with the addition of some long tube stainless steel headers from Borla.
In the Coyote engine tuning world there are numerous options when it comes to headers. Short tube headers are easy to install but they don't produce the optimal power gains and with additional mods, like camshafts don't quite work as well. Long tube headers make more power and complement more mods down the road but are much more difficult to install.
Just how much power can you expect with long tube headers and just how hard are they to install? Read on and find out!
Read More About Project Mustang!
Borla's long tube Mustang headers are made of stainless steel for a long service life. They feature smooth mandrel bends so no crush downs at the bend for good flow. When I was a young man stainless headers were almost unheard of outside of the high end racing world and headers were typically made of thin wall mild steel. On a dally driver they would rot out after just a few years of use. Nowdays cars are a lot more expensive and last a lot longer. Nowdays cars engine compartments are a lot tighter so it is much harder to install headers. All good reasons for them to last longer! Stainless steel has half of the thermal conductivity of mild steel which both helps power production by making the scavenging pulses more powerful and reducing overall engine compartment heat. 
The flanges on Borla's header are thick waterjet cut stainless fully welded to the header's primary tubes. These flanges will not warp easily and will allow good gasket seal. In the old days the flanges would be thin mild steel and would warp and leak pretty quickly. Old school long tube headers were also prone to cracking. Not these!
Both 02 sensors are relocated to the header collector. The collector is a stamped formed part with smooth internal transitions for good flow. 
The header's crazy looking bends are to achieve an equal length and to make sure it all fits in the tight confines of the Mustang engine bay. The DOHC Coyote head is much wider than the old school OHV head of the older Windsor motors thus everything is much tighter in the engine compartment.
