Vegasjay

I finally got around to installing my headers! Sorry no Pics as of yet, one thing at a time! First of all it sounds killer! My exaust system consists of: JBA Long Tube Headers, JBA Offroad H-Pipe, Stock pipes over the axle and Magna-Packs out back with 3 1/2" chrome slash-cut tips. The best way I can describe the sound from inside the car is a cross between Steve Mcqueens car (Bullet) and a stock car (NASCAR). It has that awsome gurgle when you shift gears! From outside it now sounds like an American Muscle car Good thing I have the shaker 1000 as it has to be up quite a bit to even hear it! I rarely listen to it though because I'm to busy listening to the motor It does sound like it has a slight lope to it now. Now for the install, it was intense. I have reasonable wrenching experience and it was a major job! It took me 16 hours in my garage useing a jack and stands. It would have been a lot easier with a lift! It was very tight and a lot of componates had to be removed and/or moved. All the JBA parts are very nice and of the highest quality I highly recomend them. I'm heading to the Dyno this weekend I'll post how they perform. The car definately feels like it pulls harder though! I am concerned the computer may be haven a bit of a hard time with all the changes. A tune is deffinatly in order! I'm workin with my Ford performance tech to help me out with the computer in the 05, its far more complicated than the past pony brains...Again sorry about the pics I'm doin the best I can. If you have any questions ask away! I'll post any info I can.

2005RedGT

must
have
sound
clip

SurfnSoCal

sound clip, and what did you need to remove to install these new headers....big job? bolt on?

swingle007

Man, 16 hrs.....better be a heckuva good performance boost to endure that kind of labor....I was considering it myself, but even if a shop could do it in 5 or 6 hrs. the labor cost would be outrageous....thanks much for the info and I hope ya enjoy it amigo.....great that at least one of us gets to enjoy the JBA's.........

Vegasjay

Thanks John! I sure will! For those who think these headers are a "simple bolt on " installation are in for a real suprise! There not. The steering rod and rack have to be moved. the motor lifted and lowered a dozen times, the starter removed ect and the pasenger side, that was the major pain. I've installed headers on late model vehicals before but these were among the hardest. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from installing them just be aware of what your geting into and be prepared, i.e. a lift would be real handy! The sound and power is well worth it!

CanuckStang

Did you get a decent price on those expensive units? I hope so, cause holy crap are they alot of money on JBA website. Thats gonna be my first MOD aside from Rims and tires. Nice work, I hope you get some big results from a tune.

Vegasjay

AJ-USA had them for 890.00 dollars. They are silver ceramic coated, the H-Pipe was 148.00. That was the best price I could find. Way better than the 1599.00 on JBA's site. Thier web site is www.ajusa.com.

CanuckStang

Thanks Vegas for the info. Whats next for your car?

Vegasjay

After my wallet recovers I'm in dire need of a flash tunner. My computer is fighting all my changes fuel/air mixture ect. I'm not reaching full HP potential because of this. I want to run a Diablo predator but there not going to have it out till the first quarter of 05 I might have to go with the SCT tunner, but there's no dealer in my area. Not sure what to do quite yet? Any sugestions anyone?

lodom

It wouldn't hurt to contact JBA, and see what type of tuning they did on their test car. They probably had the same issues you have, assuming they tuned their car after the installation and didn't just rush the product to market.

DozerzPony

Nice, can't wait to see the pics and hear it. Very curious to see the HP results!!!

as for SCT....go to their website and use the dealer locator...even if it's a million miles away, some will mail order. The one I am using is in San Fransisco and will give me lifetime cusom flashes over the email for free. (because I also bought the cable and software)

acadian

If you don't mind... what dealer in San Fran? That sounds like a great deal. ANd I'm not too familiar with SCT or tuning. How does that work? They send you the unit with the cable, and then how do they send tunes over the net? It's a code that you type into the unit after plugging it into the car's computer?

SurfnSoCal

I am wondering this as well...

Vegasjay

I have contacted JBA and I must say I'm not very pleased with their support. :angry: They are not giving me a straight answer. All I want to know is how they corrected the computer to their products spec's. Thier's no way they could have an accurate dyno with out making adjustments to the cpu! If they could tell me what they did I would be more than happy to buy the necessary componets to make it right! They should make it much more clear what will be needed to make your car run "right" after useing thier products!! One thing for sure is modding must be done carefully and be WELL planed out. I thought I had done my homework but I guess I'm paying the price for being a ginuea pig!! :notnice: Another thing is for sure without a "Tuner" your mods will be worthless, this cpu WILL NOT tollerate it period! Any gain you initially get will vanish quickly as the cpu aggresively tries to correct itself and thats a fact! Yes my car is running, but no wear near full potential. That idea about mail ordering a SCT tuner is a very good one! Thank you! Now I just need to find a very good tuner to work with my car via phone and come up with a solution with the mods that I have and plan on doing (much more carefuly I might add!) Calling any good tuners are you out there? Please help!!

SixtySix

There are a couple of SCT dealers down here in Phoenix. A weekend getaway maybe?

Mongoose

Wallet recovery I guess. That is a hit for sure. Can't Shelby put you on to a tuner? Please keep us informed about JBAs help or the lack of. I would inform them you are posting here too and the whole world is going to know the true results. looks like you had a heck of a time installing them. I would hate to pay someone for 18 hours labor. How long would it take you to do the next one?

Vegasjay

Shelby's deffinatly on my call list along with Pauls High performance and Roush. After doing mine and picking up some tricks plus I fabricated a tool to remove the studs(exaust manifolds). I could probably do the next one with a lift in 7-8 hours. I still havent recovered from this one! Any other suggestions for good performance shop?

ccs

JBA is not really in the business of tuning, and they did not do anything in that regard when putting those headers out. I will tell you it is common to install hard parts like that, and see little peak HP increase, until the tuning is done. I've seen failry regularly, O increases, until the tuning is done, but not always, and as you will continue to see as time goes on, the tuning will be more and more necessary to get any of the improvements in performance out of these cars. We will be testing the first set of JBA shortys in January, along with the exhaust and specific tuning for it, and I wish I had some numbers with longtubes for you, but on our test car, it's got to be 50 state legal.

jim

blksunshine

VegasJay,

Try this guy for the tuner. He has then in stock and the price is great.
Justin Starkey
Velocity Mustang Performance
Phone 321-206-9369
www.VelocityMustangPerformance.com

gt5000

acadian can I see some pics of your car witht he black stripes u added, because thats what i want and i would really like to see it, it would be greatly appreciated. Email them to me if you wan't or have time @ xshadowbane17@hotmail.com, again thanks and i appreciate it alot if you could.