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temjin9876
01-08-2003, 07:24 PM
Are the JBA shorty headers any good. I would get longtubes but too much labor and PITA to get transmission out afterwards.

Also where is a cheap place to find them.....also one more thing, what is the difference in performance between the ceramic, jet black, and stainless finishes? What difference does it make?

cheers

tcrews
01-08-2003, 09:32 PM
From what I've read and seen they are fantastic for a shorty style header. If I didn't already have FMS shorty's I'd have these on my car.

The differences will be the temperature they can sustain more than anything else, no performance difference at all. If you are or are going to be blown then get the jet-hot coated ones or the ceramic coated. The stainless will tend to turn color after a while from the heat though so if looks are important (like you can even see the headers....) then still get the jet-hot or ceramic coated.

I prefer the 1 5/8" units (over the 1 1/2"), they will cost more but will offer better performance especially in the upper rpms.

Not sure of the best/cheapest place to get them.....sorry.

temjin9876
01-08-2003, 09:48 PM
thanx for the info.....any other takers on this one?

smashedheadcat
01-09-2003, 10:48 AM
Get Hooker Long tubes from www.seanhylandmotorsport.com and never look back. :D From what i've seen, the long tubes are definately superior to the shortys on 4V motors. Although, JBA does make great products and seem to be the best in the shorty business (for 4v's), i'd still go with Hooker long tubes. Sean Hyland says that you don't have to remove the headers to get the trans off, unlike BBK's.

temjin9876
01-10-2003, 12:44 PM
you can take the tranny out like normal? Thats a big plus. That was one of my biggest gripes about LT headers.

I have talked to my mechanic and we are making a gameplan. Hooker Longtubes, BBk shorty H w/cats, Anderson Powerpipe (I saw some amazing gains with this), Pro-M meter, diablo chip, and a tune. He thinks we might be able to make 310 rwhp with this. :thumbsup: Right now I am at 278 with just pulleys and 2 chambered flows.

Do you think getting a whole catback will be worth the gain over the welded in flows I have now?

thanks

Snake98
01-12-2003, 12:45 AM
I paid $555.00 for JBA shorty's at Century Performance, thats was the best price i could find after searching the net for 2 days. Go with the 1 5/8" in ceramic finish, there is no room in the engine bay so you need lotsa protection against heat.

My car pulls harder in the top end now and it has a nice grunt up there also now. I havent noticed any heat increase at all compared to the stock manifolds either.

A word of advice: it took me and 2 of my buddies 17 hours on our backs to install those puppies. Even with the engine jacked up an inch off the motor mount, we still could barely get a hand up in there....we ended up cutting and grinding a wrench down to palm size and hand turning the bolts which werent even visible. Ford wanted $528.00 in labor to install, and that sounds a lot more reasonable now.

here's the link to Century's website.....good luck:thumbsup:

http://www.centuryperformance.com/detail.asp?product_id=JBA-1625-6JB

temjin9876
01-12-2003, 12:45 PM
I am going to get the hooker longtubes but I dont know what shorty h-pipe to get. Will the BBK shorty h-pipe w/cats match up and fit right with the longtubes? what about the mac?

OneNasty99Vert
01-12-2003, 08:04 PM
I paid 560 for my JBA's through Steeda and gain a whopping 1.5 rwhp on the dyno....:mad:

smashedheadcat
01-12-2003, 11:40 PM
I believe that Sean Hyland sells the matching x-pipe to go with the headers. I didn't see a H-pipe on the site, but i didn't look too hard. I think the best thing to do, would be to call up sean hyland motorsport and talk to them and see what they've got to offer, or recommend. I hear the H-pipe's work better with chambered mufflers (flows, mac) and x-pipes work better with straight through mufflers (borla, magnaflow, bassani). But my car sports borlas and bbk's h-pipe and sounds fantastic. So I guess nobody ever told my car that rule. :D

temjin9876
01-13-2003, 09:11 AM
thanks for the input

by the way, when will your car be back in action? I too blew an enigine at a VERY bad time but was saved by the kindess of my dealership. Hope it works out for ya:thumbsup:

peace

smashedheadcat
01-13-2003, 09:29 AM
The car's making some progress. There were a few problems when it came to getting me a rod. Those problems are worked out, and my engine hit the machine shop last thursday. They said it'd only take a few days at the machine shop, and then everything should start going together. I've also saved up a decent chunk of change living off of Ramen and easy Mac. So i'll be able to give them some more $$. Then, tax returns will help out a lot. Then, shortly thereafter i'll ship out to war and hopefully save enough money to completely pay this thing off or come dang close to it.