JBA Shorty headers vs. Long tube headers

JBA Shorty Headers vs. Long Tube Headers

  • JBA Ceramic Coated Shorty Headers

    Votes: 8 26.7%
  • BBK Ceramic Coated Long Tube Headers

    Votes: 6 20.0%
  • Hooks Long Tube headers

    Votes: 12 40.0%
  • SLP Ceramic Coated Long Tube Headers

    Votes: 4 13.3%
  • Pypes Long Tube Headers

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .

BlackBeauty44

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My next mod to finish off my exhuast is a pair of shorty headers and I already ordered my MRT H pipe but should I be considering and good pair of Long tube headers. The only thing holding me back from LT's is the cold start issue and ground clearence issues. I do live in NJ and the roads are pretty good in the Monmouth County area but going over a speed bump at the local supermarket a little to fast and i hit my damn front sway bar :bash: so what do you guys think??
 

03slobra2

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As per what the guys at KB told me... don't waste your money on the headers... just open up the rest of the exhaust and your good. Unless you are making 700+hp doesn't make since
 

90goldtsiawd

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Bassani mid-lengths should be on that list... But yeah if you're not looking to make 600+rwhp look into some other mods before you do the headers.
 

racebronco2

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I'm kind of curious too if long tubes are worth it over shorty's?

Shorties are worth about 7 hp and long tubes are about 14 hp. The long tubes will drop you boost a little cause their more efficient. Not worth it unless you do the work your self or installing headers at the same time you're doing a rebuild.
 

mrspeedy69

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How much HP can the shorty headers handle? I've read that if you're up over 550 or so you need long tubes. I've also read that you don't. But are shorty headers good for 600+ hp?
 

SlowSVT

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I've posted on this topic so many times so I just pasted this here to save on the typing

"Headers of any veriety don't seem to add much power on these cars unless your putting down big numbers. With the amount of mods I am putting in my car kept me looking at the stock maifolds shaking my head. Those things look soo restrictive. I was having a hard time with bolting that back in with the bigger intake, blower and free flow exhaust on my Cobra.

My plan is to keep this car emission legal which ruled out mid-lenghts and LT. Plus I did not want to deal with clearance issues and scraping. The JBA have a C.A.R.B registration No. and with my JLT catted H-pipe should help get me through a smog test.

For me the JBA SS shorty headers is the best choice. They need a bit of re-work before you install them to maximize flow and minimize the chance of leaking.

One thing you need to do is take a die grinder and smooth the area where the exhaust enters the flanges. On the rear most port there is some nasty metal overlap that needs to be ground away which will improve the flow on that port quite a bit. I'm an sure 90% of the guys overlook this and just bolt them on. I'm sure cleaning up the JBA will allow the pipes to make more power them what most people have been measuring. They will also allow you to swap mid-pipes because they mount up just like the stock cast iron manifords. With LT your choice here is rather limited.

The other problem with the JBA is that the flanges on each port are not level. I put a straight edge across them and measured as much a .025" between them. That is where your future leak will occure. A friend of mine has a 36" diameter disc grinder. I put the flanges across that and ground them till they were level within .005".

The re-work is a bit of a hassle but at the end of the day you will have a nice set if headers that should be easier to live with.

JBA won't make as much power as the LT will but they have advantages over the LT and should be considered."


Part of another post

"Also I would retain as many of the stock exhaust studs on the GT500 heads as possible. Removing them and installing bolts will increase the likelihood of stretching the aluminum threads in the head which can make your life a nightmare. I was able to retain all but one of the studs on the 4.6.

The stock exhaust gasket is suppose to be the best but I am going to see how well the fiber gasket seals. The thin metal gasket will conduct more heat back into the head where the fiber gasket should insulate it better. I plan to run it for a few hours then re-torque them even if it means I have to lower the engine on the K-member.

My understanding is that it's best to cure the ceramic coating in stages so I put them in the oven and heated them up to 200 degrees, then cooled them to, then 300, 400 and so forth."

......and this

"One big thing you should do regarding fastening the headers to the engine. If you can't retain the factory studs is to install Helicoils where the bolts will be threaded into the aluminum right from the get-go (put 2 of more in if the hole is deep enough). I get scared every time I torque bolts into that stuff due to thread stretch and the inevitable stripping that occurs soon afterwards "
more

"The JBA’s are also C.A.R.B. approved with a plaque card rived to them stating such. The nice thing as Robert pointed out is they put the mid-pipe flange in the same place as stock which gives lots of options for exhaust combinations."

I had a set of Hooker LT on my Challenger and they were nothing but a pain in the ass :cuss:

Perhap there is something written here you will find useful :beer:
 

snakerider

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Nice info slowsvt. I also kept all the studs and only used 1 bolt from the jba kit. because the design of the jba headers didn't leave me any other choice. Yeah 1+ for the jba shorty headers is alot of different combo of exhaust setup you can run. Because you can use any regular size mid-pipe.
 

96stanggt

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It's no secret that most of the fastest guys at the track with both Eaton and TS cars run aftermarket headers. It's been said time and time again the numbers on paper don't always look that impressive because peak rwhp/rwtq isn't that much for the cost and install PIA. But what everybody fails to look at are the huge areas under the curve where the headers are beneficial, the car with the better power curve wins everytime.
 

SlowSVT

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It's no secret that most of the fastest guys at the track with both Eaton and TS cars run aftermarket headers. It's been said time and time again the numbers on paper don't always look that impressive because peak rwhp/rwtq isn't that much for the cost and install PIA. But what everybody fails to look at are the huge areas under the curve where the headers are beneficial, the car with the better power curve wins everytime.

Not sure where that is coming from.

I've seen quite a few back-to-back dyno sheet between engines running headers vs. stock manifolds and the two almost overlapped one another from 2000 rpm to redline. Bigger gains come from a catback exhaust. MM&FF measure a measly 10 hp gain with headers on a 500hp engine with an open exhaust

Anyone who is a serious drag racer who wants to get an edge over the competition will run LT's but he's not going to win by a large margin because of it. On the street it would most likely come down to who's a better driver
On Hellions compound supercharged/Twin turbo they were making almost 1200 hp on the stock logs :eek:
 

IronTerp

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It's no secret that most of the fastest guys at the track with both Eaton and TS cars run aftermarket headers. It's been said time and time again the numbers on paper don't always look that impressive because peak rwhp/rwtq isn't that much for the cost and install PIA. But what everybody fails to look at are the huge areas under the curve where the headers are beneficial, the car with the better power curve wins everytime.
Totally agree......And the VAST majority of these folks are running long tubes. To each his own, but IMO long tubes are more beneficial to these cars than many give them credit for.
 

96stanggt

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Not sure where that is coming from.

I've seen quite a few back-to-back dyno sheet between engines running headers vs. stock manifolds and the two almost overlapped one another from 2000 rpm to redline. Bigger gains come from a catback exhaust. MM&FF measure a measly 10 hp gain with headers on a 500hp engine with an open exhaust

Anyone who is a serious drag racer who wants to get an edge over the competition will run LT's but he's not going to win by a large margin because of it. On the street it would most likely come down to who's a better driver
On Hellions compound supercharged/Twin turbo they were making almost 1200 hp on the stock logs :eek:


I've never seen a car with before/after graphs of headers that didn't have the curve affected substancially. Like I said we're not looking at peak gains, as they may only be 10-15rwhp. We're looking at the areas under the curve where there may be 20-30rwtq/rwtq gains. You're really trying to compare the Hellion Turbo kit to an Eaton in terms of headers are you?


Totally agree......And the VAST majority of these folks are running long tubes. To each his own, but IMO long tubes are more beneficial to these cars than many give them credit for.


Agreed.
 

BWH2003

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The reason you typically dont see a huge increase in power is the fact that people are still running the same pulley after the header install. If the car is at 25 psi of boost and making 700 rwhp but with a header install is now at 22 psi and 720 rwhp that is gaining power while having a boost reduction. Not only can you increase the boost back to 25 psi but even more power will come from that increase. It seems that you wont make power with the longtubes but you will and it will get the exhaust out of the cylinders more efficiently.
 

BWH2003

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My next mod to finish off my exhuast is a pair of shorty headers and I already ordered my MRT H pipe but should I be considering and good pair of Long tube headers. The only thing holding me back from LT's is the cold start issue and ground clearence issues. I do live in NJ and the roads are pretty good in the Monmouth County area but going over a speed bump at the local supermarket a little to fast and i hit my damn front sway bar :bash: so what do you guys think??

What do you mean by cold start issue? I have yet to hear anything about that and my car starts fine.
 

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