flyingt

I want to get a pair of shorties, but not sure which ones. I don't want to spend the money for JBA's, so I am trying to keep it simple. What are the thoughts of Ford racing, BBK's or MAC's shorties. I am trying to keep the mods as cheaply as I can since I have a ton to do. Thoughts??? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

brad810

I am looking at the mac shorties for my ROUSH. By the way nice car.

flyingt

How do you like the underdrive pulley and tune? I am starting to like BBK's chrome headers, plus they are under 400, so a cheap mod and back to you; sweet car.

hamidlmt

My installer raved about the fit and finish of the JBA titanium ceramic coated shorties. You can find good deals on them if you look around.

flyingt

Did you feel any diff. with the shorties?

F1Fan

Flyingt,

If you are looking for the most bang for the buck (and who isn't?), add a name brand cold air intake with an air deflector shield first, you only got half of what you should have with your ECU programmer. The best of the shorties out there are IMO the JBA shortys, anything less than the JBA's and you can should yourself the trouble and expense. Even the JBA shorties are only good for 12-15HP tops and the cost per HP is relatively high compared with say adding and electric water pump and Steeda flapless CMCP's assumming you can do the installation yourself. It's not that Ford's stock cast headers are good it's just that in order for headers to work they need to be longer than a typical shorty can be made. Heck for LESS than the price of the Ti coated JBA headers you can buy both a Steeda CAI AND an top of the line (OEM reliabilty, NOT a race track only part), electric water pump and you can install both of them in your driveway yourself with the simplest tools in your tool chest. These two items are worth at least 10HP more than the headers can produce alone AND they will cost you a LOT less if you factor in paying for a header install vs. a driveway bolt-on installation for the CAI and water pump.

On the otherhand JBA shortys do fit perfectly and they look great in all finishes, plain SS or either of the ceramic coated versions. I bought the Ti colored finish and am pretty happy the way they look in the engine compartment. They also work pretty well for a shorty. You can hear the headers working under the hood and the exhaust will sound a little bit different even with all of the stock exhaust components attached.

When picking out your shorty headers look for the longest primary tubes you can find and for tubes that are close to the same length.

Good Luck!

gianf

I just had the JBA titanium ceramic headers installed, along with an X pipe and flowmaster super 40 mufflers. I am thrilled with the results.

Steve

Gearhead Garage

I bought a set of ford racing shorties that I have not installed yet. I ported the welds and matched them so they are perfectly smooth.

I will sell them to you for a great price.

You can call me at 480-497-8811 or shoot me an email at matt@gearheadgarageinc.com

Thanks,

Matt

281GT

F1fan explained it perfectly. The difference between the stock exhaust manifolds and the shorty headers isn't significant enough that it's worth the money. Certainly shorty headers will provide an increase but the hp per dollar is lousy. I plan on doing a good CAI like the C & L one along with a Predator tune, then eliminating the cats and going to long tube headers. The HP per dollar on a setup like this is much better.

hamidlmt

I felt a nice difference with shorties.... very noticeable power gains. Plus, a great sound improvement! Really surprised me when I first revved 'er up.