ghunt

One thing you absolutely have to keep in mind about that article was that they did the install on a supercharged car. The Mac's (and probably the Kooks) had 1 3/4" primaries as opposed to everyone else's 1 5/8" primaries, so of course they made more power. On an n/a engine that would really just translate to more high RPM power and less low RPM torque.

Anyway- I like my JBA's a lot but they were not without their faults.

First off I have noticed that JBA has changed their flanges to have slotted bolt holes...I guess mine were old stock because they did not have the slots, but a cut a couple anyway to simplify my one-man installation. I did get a hell of a good deal on them though, and maybe that was the reason.

Installation was time consuming, but not overly difficult. I did it all on jack stands. When you take out the starter and motor mounts and raise the engine a touch, you have a LOT more room.

The oil dipstick was the biggest pain in the *** of the whole job, I fought it for awhile, finally pulled it out with vise grips and ordered a new one.

If you do this job with anyone's headers I recommend stage 8 bolts...you don't realize until everything is back together that getting at the bolts to tighten them after it's all done is almost impossible without removing everything again.

Also, after install my driver's side collector was about 1/4" lower than the passenger side, and a little shorter. So that skewed the H pipe a bit and kinda tweaked the exhaust a little but it wasn't too difficult of a fix.

The H-pipe I got was used so who knows what had been done to it (the drivers side hanger had been cut off for some reason so I had to make a new one and weld it on), I had add a couple inches of pipe to the driver's side of the H-pipe to aid clamping it to the headers and help it get a better seal. I also had to cut off a stud sticking off the floorplan because it was hitting one of the cats and preventing the H-pipe from being bolted up.

I won't lie, it's a big job, you gotta set aside time to do it. But oh that sound

Also, after 6-7 months of all-weather driving I'm seeing a little rust staining on the collectors, which I had anticipated with the 409 Stainless, but the headpipes look good as new.

Tommyc

I'm very happy with my bbks, they still look like new about a year after installed. I spent way too much time worry about which ones to get and listening to sound clips.
I have a small sound check here -

americaniron

I had the Kooks very early on during my mods when I ran naturally aspirated, and still have them on my all out built motor. They have been a great mod all through this time.

Like someone mentioned before, it's a time consuming install, but not overly difficult. It took me about six hours, and I went slowly since it was my first time, and I didn't want to backtrack. For me there were no snags, and everything went smoothly. I did have a lift at the base hobby shop, which I'm sure helped quite a bit.

lindsay@borla

Hi Twist154,

We definitely have some long tube headers that could go with your ATAK exhaust! We found the best performance with our part #17237 using an x-pipe. You can expect about a healthy 30-40 gain in horsepower & torque, along with an even more aggressive tone. As with our exhaust systems, our headers are made of high quality, 300-series austenitic stainless steel, and are also backed by our Million Mile Warranty.

Please keep in mind these headers will remove your cats, so your car will no longer be street legal. It’s okay to run without cats, but I’d recommend getting your car tuned if you want the CEL to go away. You can get a hand held tuner, aftermarket catalytic converters, or you can get a custom dyno tune for your Mustang. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call at 805-986-8600. Happy motoring!

http://www.borla.com/products/mustan...rt__17237.html

Twist154

This is the kind of information I have been searching for. Thank you all for your help.