Renegade Hybrids Shorty Headers-Are they any good?

Has anyone installed the Renegade Hybrids shorty headers on their vehicle? If so, are you satisfied with them? I have a Moroso oil pan with a remote oil filter and hydroboost so there are a lot of hoses on the driver's side of the car. Is there enough clearance for all this stuff? Is there enough room for the steering shaft? My car uses the 1/2" subframe spacers.

I currently have the original converted Hooker headers on my 5.3 LM4 swap. They work OK but make everything on the driver's side of the engine impossible to work on. They are also very close to the Hydroboost system. The Renegade Hybrids version looks like they would perform better than the ones available from Texas Performance Concepts. I don't really want to spend $2000 for long tube headers. Some feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Gil

Can't comment on the fit or function of either brand you mention.

Do you have a picture of the RH shorties?

Have you considered the tubular manifolds that TPC offers? They are <$600, IIRC.

These headers from Renegade Hybrids look like they would probably flow better because they go into a collector when the TPC units are more like a manifold.  Fit is critical but I would like a performance improvement too.
I currently have the modified Hooker 2312 headers on my car and the right header is good but the left one makes reaching anything on the left side of the engine just about impossible.  The left header is also very close to the brake master cylinder.

Those mid-lengths may have a small performance advantage over the TPC tubular headers, in theory. Look like the RH might be a tighter fit though, you think?

Do you have a cam or head work?

I have a Brian Tooley Stage II truck torque cam in the LM4 5.3. The rest of the engine is stock. The guy from RH said there is plenty of room for the steering shaft and anything else on the left side. I have a remote filter, oil cooler, and hydroboost so there are a bunch of hoses that the exhaust has to clear.

So, not sure your engine is at a point where headers will make a noticeable difference, from what you already have.
I would spend the money on heads and a big cam; once you get the revs up a good set of headers will allow the gasses to flow....

I've installed 2 sets of the RH headers. They fit with plenty of clearance. They will perform very well with your existing cam. They won't perform as well as the longtubes, but you aren't trying to make big power. I have one client whos making almost 500whp with the RH headers.

Thanks for the information. I will order a pair. What are your thoughts on flex pipes in the head pipe? Is there any benefit of a flexible versus a solid head pipe? The head pipe I have now is a solid pipe but since I have to make a new one, now is the time to change it if necessary.

I use flex pipes on both sides. The ones I didn't have cracked the pipes. One broke a Kooks header off at the collector

Thanks for the information Bob. I will put flex pipes in the new head pipe when I make it.

So are those headers in the picture the actual Renegade Hybrids units? Am I correct that there is a three bolt collector on each side that goes to a V band clamp, then the flex pipe, and both sides connect to the Y pipe? Is the head pipe 2 1/2" diameter pipe? Is the exhaust pipe 3" or 4" after the collector? Thanks for the picture. Gil

Those are TPC manifolds. I was just showing how I use the flex joints. I don't have any pics of the Renegades.
I use V band clamps on all connections. I cut off the 3 hole flanges. Those are 2.5" all the way to the y pipe, then 3" out to the back of the car.

I have not used V band clamps before but I think I will incorporate them in my new exhaust. Do they also give a little more adjustability to the Joint?

gwistrup wrote:I have not used V band clamps before but I think I will incorporate them in my new exhaust.  Do they also give a little more adjustability to the Joint?  

They only allow turning but not angling if that makes sense. The flanges butt up flat against each other. Main reason I use them, is that they are leak free and no gaskets to burn out. Plus removing and installing is way simpler.

It makes sense to use vband clamps if it can give you more space here at header connection. But flex is another thing. The starter is rotated but it's a cm from the header.

I elected to get the ceramic coated version of the Renegade Hybrids headers. I did not cut the flanges off to put V-band clamps on because I did not want to burn the coating. I installed the headers last weekend and they were a challenge to install ( so much for the ceramic coating! I scratched the crap out of them) but I have about 2 CM clearance between the starter and the right side header. I am going to make a heat shield to go in between the starter and header. I will also wrap the wiring on that side too with heat insulation. They claim that ceramic coating helps to keep the heat inside the header. I hope this is true. I used the DEI header wrap on my old headers and it worked well. I did not wrap the new headers and I am certainly not going to remove the new headers to wrap them.

Ceramic coated helps but it is tricky to deal with in the vehicle to install. Here is the other side of the header y pipe hitting the steel control arm on passenger side. Gimme a break 1 cm on either side, lol can only fix half of it, or as you mentioned cut the ceramic coating and weaken the flange for room. It's still laughable I find this and the steering shaft going through the other header with heat frying u joints and rack vibration issues about all I have left to re-engineer. And besides cutting the hood up for cooling! Can't wait.

Ahh, the challenge of trying to fit something big into a small space. Did you use the subframe spacers? I don't know if that would help with creating more room. I have the original style engine mounts that use stock Chevy rubber mounts on the engine and I had to put some shims under the mount where it attaches to the subframe to raise the engine from hitting the rack and then I needed to use the subframe spacers to lower the engine enough to close the hood. It's interesting that all these cars seem to be a little different. My car is an '88 so it has aluminum control arms. That may make a difference from an early model with steel control arms.