DT Shorty, JBA Shorty or Dont Bother?

[hairzee]

Maryland Speed has DT ceramic header for $475. Does anyone have any experience with these headers or the JBA? I currently have JBA high flow cats and thought maybe the JBA shorty would bolt up to those better.... but they are running $625 for the ceramic. :(

I know LT's are better, but its easier to change two cats if I am going to the dealership for warranty work or have to get a smog inspection.

Someday, I would have liked to install a Jannetty cam and I know LT's would be better.... but I dont think his cams will pass CA smog inspection either??... so thats just another reason why I am thinking shorty would be fine for what I have. ?

[SilverSS3108]

if you have to run shorties.... then DT with highflow catted midpipes, but if anyone from cali chimes in and says you can pass emissions with longs and cats then go that route.

[The Stig]

If you want to get the shorties than the DTs should be fine, but that being said. Almost everyone I know who got shorties ended up switching to LTs after a while.

[electlatino]

LT headers are technically illegal here in cali. it's not the headers themselves, it's the cats. the california rule is that you cannot move or replace your cats (except under certain very strict conditions). LT headers require you to move the cats, therefore, illegal, so no one bothers to CARB certify them

this really comes down to a money versus preference decision. if your preference is just to improve sound, then go with the shorty headers. if your preference is horsepower (which is seems like it is because of the cam), then go LT because the shorty's won't do crap.

but if you have the money to put shorty's on now, and then swap to LT headers later with a cam, then do it. but it seems like a waste of money to get shorty's now just to replace them later on with LT headers.

as for smog, you don't have to do that until 2016 so why worry now? i don't know if cats will void warranty, but the LT headers will void the warranty if you get a tune, which you should get.

i don't think the cam would give you smog issues, but it's held back if you don't do LT headers too. you should talk to Chris at 2 Edge Performance about this: (949) 645-4533. they're here in orange county and they're having an open house august 27th. you should go and ask some questions, hear some exhausts.

i have the JBA LT headers, in case you want to hear them. another guy on here, TaylorRyanSS, has the JBA shorty's.

[Camarowguy]

I read a thread in here where the shorties were worth 1 hp. Not 10....1. If that's true...not worth it. Really not even worth it if they made 10 more hp.

[hairzee]

Electlatino,

Thank you very much for your reply.

I just got off the phone with Chris, very knowledgable, and he stated the same rationale as you. If you want the most from your mods ie. cam SC etc... then LT's are the only way.

To me, its a kind of shit or get off the pot situation. If you are going to go for more HP then you need LT's a tune and all those other things that void warranties and and dont pass smog.

Gonna have to think on this some more. I am going to stop by the open house on the 27th and see if I can find my balls and just go for it.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by electlatino

LT headers are technically illegal here in cali. it's not the headers themselves, it's the cats. the california rule is that you cannot move or replace your cats (except under certain very strict conditions). LT headers require you to move the cats, therefore, illegal, so no one bothers to CARB certify them

this really comes down to a money versus preference decision. if your preference is just to improve sound, then go with the shorty headers. if your preference is horsepower (which is seems like it is because of the cam), then go LT because the shorty's won't do crap.

but if you have the money to put shorty's on now, and then swap to LT headers later with a cam, then do it. but it seems like a waste of money to get shorty's now just to replace them later on with LT headers.

as for smog, you don't have to do that until 2016 so why worry now? i don't know if cats will void warranty, but the LT headers will void the warranty if you get a tune, which you should get.

i don't think the cam would give you smog issues, but it's held back if you don't do LT headers too. you should talk to Chris at 2 Edge Performance about this: (949) 645-4533. they're here in orange county and they're having an open house august 27th. you should go and ask some questions, hear some exhausts.

i have the JBA LT headers, in case you want to hear them. another guy on here, TaylorRyanSS, has the JBA shorty's.

[Camarowguy]

Originally Posted by hairzee

Electlatino,

Thank you very much for your reply.

I just got off the phone with Chris, very knowledgable, and he stated the same rationale as you. If you want the most from your mods ie. cam SC etc... then LT's are the only way.

To me, its a kind of shit or get off the pot situation. If you are going to go for more HP then you need LT's a tune and all those other things that void warranties and and dont pass smog.

Gonna have to think on this some more. I am going to stop by the open house on the 27th and see if I can find my balls and just go for it.

Thanks again.

You know what would be Awsome? To lay something to rest also...dyno you car as is....with the Jba mid pipes. Then put your long tubes on and dyno again....tune unchanged. I'd be interested to see. Or, go run it at the track, then put long tubes on and go run it again. I know I'd be pissed as hell if I only picked up a tenth. What do you figure long tubes are worth over the mid pipes? Anyone?

[HP Addicts]

In my personal experience shorties have never been worth the money, I would say get some long tubes or stick with the stock manifolds.

[urr2slo]

dont waste the money on shorties, not worth it.

[Juiced1]

If you can find a way to get long tubes in Cali I'd hold out for them!

[bi11ymc]

Ceramic coated short headers do give some benefits. They will lower the temperature under the hood and they weigh less. Both improve performance. People spend more on cat-back systems with no performance benefit other than weight savings.

[10SIL2SSLS3]

Originally Posted by hairzee

Maryland Speed has DT ceramic header for $475. Does anyone have any experience with these headers or the JBA? I currently have JBA high flow cats and thought maybe the JBA shorty would bolt up to those better.... but they are running $625 for the ceramic. :(

I know LT's are better, but its easier to change two cats if I am going to the dealership for warranty work or have to get a smog inspection.

Someday, I would have liked to install a Jannetty cam and I know LT's would be better.... but I dont think his cams will pass CA smog inspection either??... so thats just another reason why I am thinking shorty would be fine for what I have. ?

I got a set of JBA 1812SJS Silver Ceramic coated shorties for sale. 400 miles on them.New gaskets.Look like new.420 shipped.PM if interested.

[radz28]

Originally Posted by hairzee

Maryland Speed has DT ceramic header for $475. Does anyone have any experience with these headers or the JBA? I currently have JBA high flow cats and thought maybe the JBA shorty would bolt up to those better.... but they are running $625 for the ceramic. :(

I know LT's are better, but its easier to change two cats if I am going to the dealership for warranty work or have to get a smog inspection.

Someday, I would have liked to install a Jannetty cam and I know LT's would be better.... but I dont think his cams will pass CA smog inspection either??... so thats just another reason why I am thinking shorty would be fine for what I have. ?

If you're worried about smog, don't buy anything that doesn't have a CARB number attached to it, literally. Having been through the process many times, I can tell you from experience that if you don't have tags with matching CARB numbers (and that also means that CARB number matches the rest of your car) and you get pulled over and the officer asks to pop your hood, you could be in for a fine up to $250. I believe those DTs and Edelbrocks have tags afixed to the primaries that have the CARB number, and if the officer sees that, he can't say anything about it. The same goes with cats' or anything else. I recently had to replace a cat' on my truck the previous owner replaced many years ago. Because, at the time, that generic converter was acceptable, there was no problem smogging two years ago. Just last month, I went to the same guy, and he looked for the "D" code for the exemption number, and he had to fail me because the newer cat' laws say all replacement cats' have to have exemption numbers. I was pissed, but that's how crappy this state is.

My point is, is just about all these posts are correct. You'll be lucky to find much, if any, performance improvement with shorties. There are a few reports of relatively good power, but overall, the only benefits are sound. If you don't care about the money (up to $250 fines) save for the LTs and do the exhaust only once. If you don't want to worry about smog-stuff, just leave anything that doesn't have a number. It's your money