I`m looking into getting a set of headers. They have to be emissions legal. What is a better choice, JBA or Hooker shorties? Does the JBA come with a Y pipe? I havn`t heard of many people running the JBA.

 

I have the JBA Shorties for emission purposes. They are located here in San Diego. Although their shop is expensive, the headers are competively priced. They do have the Y-Pipe available.

The design can be difficult when changing the wires/plugs, so I went OVC. My crew chief surely does not like JBA, they are always in his way... .

I have no input about the Hooker Headers... Good Luck .

 

I have the JBA shorty headers. Plug access is horrible, and fitment is horrible. Rear bolts are near impossible to reach, I had to use 3 extensions and 2 swivel extensions to reach the back two. But then again, this is the first set of headers I have ever had, so it may be normal. I know SLP's have a lot better access to your plugs.

Travis

 

Wow, My JBA's fit just fine.. if you get the coated ones be sure to reem out the bolt holes with a die grinder or something like that.. Other than that they fit fine. It does come with a y pipe that you will need to get welded onto your old cat, or get a new cat and weld it to that.
Plug access was easier for me, There are of course a couple exceptions, Like number 5 and number 2. For me those were the hardest. I'd go ahead and change the plugs while you are at it, and maybe a set of plug wires.. I ran the msd 8.5's in the stock positions (not in the stock holders of course)
I've heard slp's fit was horrible, I was thinking of going with them myself until I heard and read a couple stories about them.

 

The JBAs are different between 95 and 96. My 95 single cat design fits well. Plug access for #6 isn't much fun; I usually loosen the dipstick and rotate it out of the way. I'm running Acell 9000 wires with no problems. Mine came with the Y-Pipe.

 

If you want to see what they look like out the car i have a pic in my web page... Now for me since i'm single cat, it was a breeze to install. The driver side less then a hour, but passenger side is a different story about 4-6 hour cause it was a liitle hard but it went in. As for plugs it was easy due that i dont have A/C unit in the way.

Vinny

 

I had the single-cat JBA's. Build quality was excellent. Fitment was perfect, all flanges were straight and properly located from the factory. Plug access was not good, but bearable.

What I didn't like was the performance. The JBA is a "step" header. Although they are 1-5/8" primaries, the first couple inches of each primary is only 1-1/2". Couple that with the weld bead that they throw into the ports for "anti-reversion" and you end up with a header that seemed to produce excellent low-end torque, but also seemed to choke the engine over 5,000rpm.