1. 2WD or 4WD? Not interchangeable. This is the commonest ordering error on headers.
2. What year? 1981-1984 and 1985-1995 take different kits.
3. Does it have to pass emissions? Some of these are 50-state legal and some are explicitly not.
Our own design, our most popular product, and the best value bolt-on for a 22R whether the engine is stock or built. Expect a 10-15% power increase, concentrated in the top of the powerband where these trucks struggle most.
Built from 304 stainless 1 1/2" tubing with a 1/2" thick header-to-head flange — the flange thickness is why it stays sealed rather than warping away from the head like thinner headers do.
The 4WD 1985-1995 kit is 50-state legal, C.A.R.B. EO D-462-1. If you live somewhere that tests, that number is the one that matters — and getting an EO number is neither quick nor cheap, which is why not every header on the market has one.
4WD 1985-1995 · 4WD 1981-1984 · 2WD 1985-1995 · 2WD 1982-1984
Tight on space? The 20R/22R/RE shorty header kit — roughly a 10% gain, and not smog legal.
We have been building race headers for over twenty years and this is the best one we make — but it is not for your truck unless your truck is a race truck. The long tube design builds real torque and the 1 5/8" primaries flow for high-rpm horsepower.
You can run them wide open, or use the flange supplied in the kit to fabricate a free-flowing exhaust behind them. We do not recommend these for daily drivers. High-rpm race applications only.
4WD Pickup or 4Runner · 2WD Pickup
We also stock the Trail-Gear Rock Ripper header: polished stainless, 1/16" tubes into a 1/2" head flange, TIG welded, supplied with gaskets, connectors and pipes. Available in smog-legal and non-smog versions:
Smog legal — 4WD 1989-1995 · 4WD 1981-1984 · Toy Headers 4WD 1981-1987
Non-smog — 4WD 1985-1995 · 4WD 1979-1984
If you are weighing it against ours, the LCE Street header is the one we designed, the one we build, and the one we stand behind.
Running boost, the exhaust manifold is a different part: the CT20 stock replacement CNC turbo manifold, the same manifold flanged for a GT25 turbo, and the T3 manifold for a 40mm external wastegate. If you are not running an external gate, the V-band block-off kit or the CNC block-off plate closes the port. The rest of the turbo hardware lives on our 22R turbo page.
Our Pro Flow mufflers are built on MagnaFlow construction and are the same muffler used in every LCE Pro Flow exhaust system: 100% stainless, a straight-through perforated core wrapped in stainless mesh and packed with acoustical fibre fill, in fully welded lap-jointed seams that do not crack or distort.
What that buys you is a deep tone that does not degrade over time — the packing does not blow out and leave you with a rasp two years later.
Straight-through, 2 1/2": 14" satin · 18" satin · 14" polished. In 2 1/4": 14" satin.
Want it quieter? The three-chamber versions trade a little flow for noticeably less volume — worth it on a truck you drive to work: 2 1/2" 14" · 2 1/4" 14".
If the tone is right but there is a boom at cruising rpm, a resonator is the answer rather than a bigger muffler. Ordered with or without inlet and outlet tubes depending on whether you are welding it in:
With tubes and flanges: 2 1/2" x 30" · 2 1/4" x 30".
Bare: 2 1/2" x 18" · 2 1/2" x 24" · 2 1/2" x 30" · 2 1/4" x 24".
If you would rather not fabricate, the Pro Flow system for the 1985-1995 Pickup and the 1990-1995 4Runner system are 409 stainless tubing, the straight-through Street Max muffler and 3/8" flanges, ceramic coated, and designed as direct-fit with little or no modification.
Plenty of 22R owners fabricate rather than buy a kit — a lifted truck, a custom cab, a race chassis. We sell the raw material for it, which most catalogues do not.
Tube and bends: 304 stainless tubing, J-bends in 409 stainless (.065 wall), 2 1/2" 409 stainless U-bends and 3" mild steel U-bends on a 6" radius. For the last inch of alignment, an 2 1/2" flex coupler.
Collectors: 4 into 1 merge collector and a 3 into 1, 1 1/2" to 2 1/4".
Flanges and joints: the head flange we use in our own headers — 1/2" thick, 1 1/2" or 1 5/8" ports, with a groove cut on the head side so your weld penetrates properly. Note the 1 5/8" "Race" flange has no air injection mounting locations and is not smog approved. Then 3/8" 2-bolt flanges, 2 1/4" 2-bolt connector flanges, 2-bolt stub connectors, and 2 1/2" and 2 1/4" clamps.
Hanging it: 3-hole rubber exhaust hangers and 2-hole tailpipe hangers.
Fabricate an exhaust and you have to put the O2 sensor somewhere. Two ways to do it: weld in the factory 2-bolt sensor using the kit — 3/8" steel flange, 1.75" bolt spacing, studs, nuts and gasket — or convert to a threaded sensor with the 2-bolt to thread-in adapter. For threaded sensors from scratch, the weld-on bung and plug kit; for the factory flange style, the weld-on 2-bolt flange. Spare O2 sensor gaskets are worth having.
Header gasket sets, matched to which header you bought — the Street set carries the head-to-header gasket, the collector donut, two air injection gaskets and the O2 gaskets and studs; the Pro set carries a 2-bolt OE collector gasket, a 3/8" collector flange and new collector bolts:
Street — 1985-1995 · 1975-1984. Pro — 1985-1995 · 1975-1984.
Use studs, not bolts. Header bolts back out with heat cycling, and a leaking header sounds like a much more expensive problem than it is. The exhaust header stud set, the 22RTE turbo manifold stud set, and OEM mechanical lock nuts.
Running the factory manifold instead? Use an OEM-style gasket rather than paper — these are cut for the late (1985-1995) pear-shaped exhaust ports: 1985-1995, OEM 1985-1995, 1975-1984 and the 22RTE bottom-mount turbo gasket. Collector donuts for the stock manifold: single or a pair.
Collector gaskets by flange size: 2-bolt x 2" · 2-bolt x 2 1/4" · 2-bolt x 2 1/2" · 3-bolt flat 2 1/4".
Joining a header to the rest of the system: the LCE header connector pipe. It fits our header and no other — adapting it to another brand takes non-reversible modification. Note the old 2WD style used slip-fit flanges at both ends and the new style uses weld-on flanges with a slightly different bend; every 2WD header we have sold since 2023 uses the new style, so if you are ordering a pipe for an older install, call us before you buy.
Read the labels carefully — "47 state" and "CARB legal" are different things and only one of them will pass in California. And measure your existing converter before ordering: yours is either 12.5" or 17.5" flange to flange.
47-state: 12.5" x 2", 12.5" x 2.25", 17.5" x 2.25", and 1981-1983 with thermal sensor.
CARB legal: 1984-1995, 17.5" x 2.25" — CARB EO D-193-105, stainless, and it ships with two OE exhaust gaskets. For 1995 and older trucks only; it is not correct for OBDII.
Test pipes — 12.5" and 17.5" — are stainless with the same high-temp ceramic coating as our headers, for off-road and race use where no converter is required. Gaskets are not included. One honest note: a test pipe adds mid-range and top end, but a catalytic converter will always give you more bottom end. On a crawler that is not the trade you want.
A header puts a lot more heat into the engine bay than a cast manifold, and on these trucks the starter, the wiring and the brake lines all live close to it.
Exhaust wrap kit for the header itself, aluminized heat screen (36" x 40") for a firewall or floor pan, and aluminized sleeving to protect individual lines and looms: .75" x 3', 1.25" x 3' and 1" x 36" shroud.
If the air injection system has been removed or has failed, blank it off properly: the air injection block-off set or the premium stainless block-off plate, which lets you take the tubes off above the manifold and seal the ports cleanly. To keep it, the adapter kit for 1981-1984, its manifold adapter gasket and the air injection gasket.
On carbureted engines, the heat riser kit connects a heat riser tube to the stock air cleaner and works with any header on 1.5" primaries; 1.5" x 36" tubing separately.
Blanking off emissions equipment will fail an inspection. Do it on a truck that does not need to pass one.
Full range across every engine we build for: LCE headers and LCE exhaust. Back to the 22R catalogue.
