I had a couple broken exhaust studs and decided to fix them, but didn't want to keep the manifolds if I had to pull 'em off anyway, so I installed a set of JBA headers from Mike T. I have a coulple problems/questions:

The passenger side collector touches the engine. I wouldn't think it's supposed to touch, and I wonder if the headers are getting bolted down right because of it (got a leak somewhere)

Driver side cats were about 2 inches away from the collector on the header even after pulling them up as high as I could...had to use a jack to get the cats high enough to bolt on (took lots of force). Is this normal? Will it cause any problems as the cats/exhaust system are now pulling down on the headers?


Here's how the install went:

5:30 am - woke up to put the truck in the garage - went back to sleep while the engine cooled

8:30 am - started removing manifolds (passenger side first). Had two broken studs on passenger side, they came out really easy with a pair of robogrips (couldn't make the vice grips work, not enough room in there)

10:30 - finished passenger side install, started drivers side. Removing the transmission dipstick made tightening the bolts on the passenger side 100x easier for me.

12:00 - drivers header is on & tight. Start struggling with egr tube...troubles begin, break out the words mom told me never to say....think I invented a few new ones too, good thing the kids weren't around.

3:00 - Cat's bolted to headers, and I'm DONE!! (I thought). Take a shower and go for a drive...hear a HUGE leak, sounds horrible, go home again.

3:30 - Huge leak was from the two small tubes connected to the egr tube, they must've fell off when I wasn't looking, because there's no way I forgot to put them back on

3:40 - cleaned up again and go for a drive, small exhaust leak somewhere...take a nap & post here.

It seems to pull quite a bit harder in the upper RPM range now, don't think I noticed any difference in the lower RPM range or any difference in sound.

The install was pretty easy other than the issues above. Short wrenches are a necessity...no way you'll get the bolts tight without a set (or atleast a 13mm one).

Now I can't wait for my chip & intake to arrive.

This site is great!!
Robert

 

I went out this morning to re-torque the header bolts (instructions say to let it go through a heat-cycle, then re-tighten). I started with the easiest to get to, set the torque wrench on 27 ft/lbs and started spinning....and spinning, and spinning...

The threads in the head stripped out. This was one of only about 6 bolts that I had enough room to get the torque wrench on, so I know it wasn't too tight. I was able to replace the bolt with on of my old studs and it held with no problem at 27 ft/lbs. The stock-studs were about 1/4" or so longer than the supplied boltls (3-4 threads I'd guess)


Sooo, for anybody thinking of installing headers, take the advice of everyone I ignored, order a set of locking header bolts...you won't have to worry about re-torquing them & you can order some a little longer than the headers come with.

 

HI!... Sorry to hear about ALL the problems you had installing your JBA headers. When I installed my JBA shorty's over 3.5 years ago, everything went really smooth. It only took me 3.5 hours to install them from start to finish. That's including wasting a 1/2 hour trying to bend the S/S EGR tube so it would fit again. I scrapped the factory studs and went with S/S bolts with lock washers. The bolts I bought were a tad bit longer than the factory studs. I also refused to use the crappy JBA header gaskets. So I opted for the FORD MOTORSPORT graphite header gaskets. Never had a gasket leak yet. I have since switched over to the JDM/KOOKS LT S/S headers and custom fabricated S/S exhaust system I designed. JMC now has my ported JBA headers on his truck.

 

Thanks for the reply. I've called JBA support and they think I've got the wrong pair of headers...they're going to send me another pair.

Where did you get your gaskets? Remember the part number, or what to ask for?

Thanks!!
Robert

 

HI!... Here ya go :

M-9448-A462

 

Ordered the header gaskets friday. Looked at the ford motorsports catalog while I was there (it's really cool ) and saw that ford also sells the stage 8 locking header bolts, so I got those too...65 bux for all, should be redoing my install this weekend.

Thanks for the part number

Robert

 

HI!... No problem, glad I could help.