Corpo

how come my JBA's cost so god damn much if they aren't top of the line?

mine are ceramic coated, sorry about the thread jack btw.

CrazyAl

I have no gripe with the workmanship of the JBAs. They are well made. However, what gets me is WHY, oh WHY did they use 409 stainless? 409 is a very cheap grade of stainless steel. Some people call it a mixture of mild steel and stainless. That isn't entirely accurate, but the point is that it has worse thermal, mechanical, and rust-resistant properties than 304 stainless does. 304 is much more rust resistant. It's stronger at elevated temperatures, and it has worse thermal conductivity. 304 stainless doesn't need to be coated becasue it naturally has poor thermal conductivity. I would put JBA in the "top of the line" category if only they used 304 (or 320, but that is unheard of in off-the-shelf headers).

jay0heavenly

I have two dumb newbie questions. From what I'm hearing, most of the Long tube headers are for off road use only. Are the SLP (Street Legal performance) long tubes good for highway and on road use???

Secondly, what in the world does catted mean??? Like a catted X pipe etc.?

cheftjpeck

Headers are for off road use if put on without cat converters.
catted means that cat converters are on the pipe or header end. catted x pipe is an x pipe with cat converters on it.

CrazyAl

cheftjpeck's post is good, but I wanted to add a little bit of info here.

According to Federal law in the US, if you make ANY (and the key word is ANY) change to the OEM emissions control system, it is illegal if you operate the vehicle on public roads. The catalytic converters are considered part of the emissions system. You are not allowed to move, modify, or remove the OEM cats. According to the law, it doesn't matter if what you replace them with has the same (or lower) emissions than stock, the law simply says you can't alter it.

Thus, ALL longtube headers are not street legal, becasue they require the removal or relocation of the stock catalytic converters.

However, even though it is technically illegal, it is very rarely enforced, so long as you have catalytic converters in place.

An "off road" setup has no catalytic converters at all. It is illegal, and obviously so.
A "catted" setup has catalytic converters. It is technically illegal too, though in practice it is OK. A catted setup will usually pass a smog test or inspection.

"SLP" might stand for "Street Legal Performance", but that is just a brand name. Their headers are no different than anyone elses.

vsop

Actually there are CARB Legal LT's.. Just not for the S197's.. The reason being ford went with the cats extremely close to the engine, thus we don't have things like smog pumps on the engine. Which was a good thing. But because of this no LTs for our engine will be able to get CARB certified. Only the shorties can.

I really don't care as here in FL we have zero emmisions and no inspections..

CrazyAl

Right you are, I just didn't want to confuse the issue. We're talking about S197s here, and there are no legal longtubes for this car.

jay0heavenly

Crazy Al your the man... I finally understand it now. I'm a first time stang owner and although I have always loved cars I never got too involved with the terminology inside the field. The headers and the x pipe are a long way away anyway, but this is definitely good to know for when I do get them.

desslok40

I went with SLP LT headers / X-pipe for two reasons:

1: Price, for $599 for headers plus $229 for X-Pipe I get T-304 stainless ceramic coated Headers, a true X pipe with Hi Flow CATs and 1.75" diameter (better for future SC or NOS).

2: Local shop has alot of experience with SLP installs = (did not bend me over on install), some other area shops wanted $800-$900 to install, Gearhead Garage was half of that and did a great job !!

With the MAC Axlebacks my GT sounds SICK!!!!!!!!!!! at idle or WOT, I will be posting clips soon.

Here are some pics of LTs installed and under-car shot of X-pipe w/cats.


[IMG]local://upfiles/30381/C8A9E36AEC894F748C54E4A029B5BD8A.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/30381/00418E15CB1C46BD90ABAA1A1563DEEE.jpg[/IMG]

06 Black Beauty

CrazyAl, How did you like the Dynatech header and catted X pipe. I've been looking into those. I have Mac axle backs and I'm on the fence for which LT headers to buy. the other choices are either Kook's or JBA's. I've heard both the Kook's and the JBA's and the JBA's sounded deeper. I like the fact that the other 2 are 304 stainless. I'm in Maryland so I have to pass emission and that is one of my biggest concerns.