SCstanger

I plan on installing a set of JBA shorty headers saturday( weather permiting). Anyone on the forum install shorties on their 05, themselves? For those who have, i was wondering if there were any unforseen obstacles to installing them. Also if anyone has some tips tricks or hints to help with installation would be greatly appreciated..Thanks

SCstanger

Begining yesterday evening I took on the task of installing a set of JBA shorty headers. As I had stated before, the 05 is my first dealings with the mod motor and its very tight compartment. During the last two days I have learned quite a few lessons. 1) make friends or find someone with a shop and a lift. 2)Header installs on this motors require mondo patience 3) If ya have the option, pay someone to install em.
After all was said and done, I fired her up with hope of not hearing that ticking sound associated with a header leak..Thankfully the seal is good and no ticks...Oddly, it seems the x-pipe and macs were much louder and had much more drone with the stock manifolds..Now with the JBA's, there's no drone and a good crisp muscle car sound..I thought it would have been the opposite, much louder but its not ..strange...next install..underdrive pulleys ...

Martin123

Hey, thanks for the info. I'm having a set of JBA shorty equal lenght headers installed (by my mechanic) next Thursday of Friday. I'm kiknda curioius haw their going to sound with the borla cat-backs.

When I received the headers, the instructions reccomended the use of steeda motor mounts. Was this an issue for you?

Ohh, and of course, did you feel a difference when you took her on the road?

SCstanger

Martin..Getting your mechanic to install them is deffinetly the smart thing to do..I honestly didnt notice any difference as far as keeping the stock motormounts ...Before, with the stock manifolds, the exhaust was loud and shakey, like it wasnt placed on the hangers even though I knew it was installed and hung correctly. Seems the JBA's smoothed out a lot of exhaust noise and oddly enough made it a little quieter...Yeah, i'm scratchin my head on that one too ..As far as feeling the power difference, I cant really tell at the moment but in the next two weeks I will be having the car on a dyno. i'll post the results when it happens ..

Martin123

I felt alot more shake after I installed the borla cat-backs so hopefully then that will be taken care off. And thanks alot as far as not having to replace the motor mounts. I'm not ready to spend another $289 on those things.

hibbitsb

I decided to install the JBA shorty headers myself. At least on the V6, it wasn't too bad of an install. I didn't have to remove the the cat pipes. But I did have to loosen the bolts on the support at the rear of the tranny to do the drivers side. Thankfully, there are no leaks. However, now it idles very rough. Something is clearly not right. I've checked and rechecked everything. Checked all vacuum, plug wires, retightened all bolts, flashed and reflashed the computer. Still rough on idle. [sm=dontgetit.gif]

Does anyone have any ideas?

CrazyAl

When you say you reflashed the computer, did you get a NEW tune from your tune shop (header tune) or did you simply re-load your previous tune (which does nothing)?


I installed longtubes on my car a few months ago. I'd say it was an easy job, even without a lift. It took me 5 hours. So long as you have a 5mm socket and a 13mm gear wrench, it's easy, just time consuming.

As for the motor mounts, I doubt that you need them. If you do, don't waste your money on the Steedas. Buy the Prothane "bullet" motor mounts. They are functionally identical to the steedas, but they are HALF the price.

SCStanger, as for the power difference, I wouldn't expect much. The best the magazines got out of the JBA shorties was only 5 HP. If you want power, longtubes is where it's at.

hibbitsb

I used the previous tune setup for 92 Octane and my Steeda CAI. I realize it would change anything, I was just grasping at straws. When I called the custom tune shop I didn't talk with the actual guy that does the tunes, but his assistant didn't think a new computer tune was necessary. I only have 23,000 miles on it, but this morning when I fired it up it smelled a little like rotton eggs. That makes me think I'm having some O2 sensor problems which may explain the whole issue. Any thoughts?

Timmay!!!

Shoulda went with longtubes. Shortys are 90% of the effort for 20% of the gain of L/Ts and about 60& of the cost. Unless you comare a really crappy shorty to a really good LT like Kooks or Dynatech.

hibbitsb

Point taken. I certainly can't disagree with you. Of course you are looking at the complete redo of the exhaust system in order to go with the long tube headers. I really couldn't do all that at this time.