JBA header ?'s

[Mr Bravada]

with my vacation quickly approaching i have some questions on what my options are with the headers i have in my garage waiting to be put in.

1. First off they are not ceramic coated, so with what i have been reading the benefits of the coating are in fact worth it...along with the risk of burning through my wires.....so keep my headers and up-grade my wires

2. Go with the ceramic coating? now my question lies within the pre-ceramic coated JBA headers. For the cost of shipping my headers down to Jet-Hot and the cost of them doing it, its pretty steep....Alaska is just far when it comes to shipping stuff like that....so that leads me to ask how are the JBA headers that are already coated, i was looking at out store and it would be more cost feasible to sell my new headers ship them off and buy new ones from the site.....are the coatings comprable? And i have noticed that people are always looking for these headers.....

So what should i do? Keep the headers that i have now, or sell off the JBA's that i have now and buy a new set?

Everyone's .02 will be greatly appreciated

[Mr Bravada]

oh man i just realized that i put these in the V-6 section...can someone help me move it to exhaust? sorry about that

[OBI WAN]

Coated headers will add a few ponies.
They will protect the wires better than non coateds.

JBA headers in the nickel plate will have to be striped of the plate before coating.

Now I ran the Nickel plated, chromish looking ones for 3 years with NO problems. Allthough I recommend coated headers if you can AFFORD the cost of them ,but with the JBA standard coating they'll last 5 years + from what I saw with mine. I was careful to run my wires and use a short 90 degree turned boot and had just under 1/2 inch clearnance on the worst plug and never ate a hole into the wire. If they were Edel headers or anything that used the black oxide treatment, YES, you will have to coated them, but the JBA's did me alot better, in fact 2-3 times better than those!

[Mr Bravada]

thats good to know, because i was thinking of tackling this project this week before i leave, i have 3 days off from work in a row....so thats good because i would have to wait for a few weeks if i decided to go either of the other routes, what do you think i should do about wires though? i was looking at buying some of the Accel wires from our site store mostly because i was looking at ignition up-grades coming up soon anyway....any brand preference? thanks for moving it though.....

[OBI WAN]

NO preference towards wire type. I used factory wires for awhile and just bought the other seperate 90 degree wire for the #1 cylinder!!

[extreme gmc]

i bought the jba wires to go with my headers and i like them. like jedi said, the worst clearance i got is half an inch. i would recommend stage 8 bolts cause i have a constant problem of mine backing out. i got stage 8's on the right side of the engine right now and no more leaks from that side!

[firehawkclone]

like jedi said a few 90 deg boots or 45 boots ands and you'll be fine.I've had my JBA's for a few years and other than the clearance issues there great,i have fried a few wire's but i live were it's really hot and i drive like im going for the pole!LOL

[Mr Bravada]

lol, thanks guys after i melt my truck out from the popcicle that it is i am going to do this over the course of tonight and tomorrow...i've got the swear-jar lined up, any tips or tricks before i start? i've been searching around our posts for a while and the ones at blazinlow....and i think i have a good idea of whats ahead of me

[firehawkclone]

good luck,it's going to be pure hell!just don't get mad and take your time.

[Mr Bravada]

yea thats the vibe that i get, just stay calm and take your time

[Mr Bravada]

alrighty i'm ready but my truck still looks like a block of ice........

[Mr Bravada]

guess i have to turn the heat up higher

[firehawkclone]

If you have a good set of tools(extensions,different drive's)you'll be fine.

BUT COLD!

[extreme gmc]

first off, you say you live in alaska? do it inside where it is warm. you will need among other things a p/s pulley remover/installer. pulll the tires and go in thru the inner fenders. you can reach all but the outermost bolts without pulling the inner fenders. then remove the innner fender (13 mm) and you can get the one furthest back. you can get the one farthest foward fron under the hood. i highly recomend stage 8's. they are only $40 bux and i think well worth it.

[LEADFOOT]

I plan on getting the JBA ceramic coated headers in FEB. Why do you have to remove the p/s pulley? I was told it takes about all day and the right tools, but never told I had to remove the p/s pulley.

[extreme gmc]

on my o2 if you dont you cant get the drivers side out. i also recomend that yo have a friend help you. there will be times when you need a third hand

[Mr Bravada]

yea i got the p/s pulley puller i read through the instal sheet and i attempted this on my old blazer but didn't have the right pulley puller....so we gave up, now they are going on this one, and oh yea...i am inside...its like 20 out there, you'd have to be nuts to work outside unless you had to

[extreme gmc]

i was gonna say if you are working outside in winter in alaska i would hope that you room has padded walls

[firehawkclone]

are 2000 different than 98,becuase i didn't have to remove mine the three times i've removed/installed.

[OBI WAN]

Shouldnt be and thats what my instructions said until I dropped the thing right in there without removing half the crap they said to!!

[LilYellowZQ8]

Shouldnt be and thats what my instructions said until I dropped the thing right in there without removing half the crap they said to!!

Me too. I attempted to install my JBA's, but they are for 4wd S10's and I have a 2wd. Well, you know what they say, 3rd times a charm. The only thing that made it easier to remove the manifold, was to remove the sensor on the side of the head. Maybe I will try to install the right ones sometime next week.

[firehawkclone]

INSTRUCTIONS,I don't need any INSTRUCTIONS!

[Hammer]

would it be easier to remove the ps pump instead of just the pulley?

[20Xtreme02]

Jet Hot is not the only place that will coat headers. I'm sure you can get it done in Seattle which might save some shipping charges. There are also places in Portland, Oregon that may be more economical than Jet Hot. There might even be a place in Ancorage.

[OBI WAN]

www.swaintech.com also coats headers and were the very first to do so along with cams, pistons, crank journals and so one. NASA certified!!

[bgs]

I don't know about the newer rides, but on the 1st Gens there was a support bracket
that is bolted to the back of the pwr str pump and from there up to the first two
exhaust studs. Deal is in order to get the l/s manifold off you have to remove the studs
holding it on at the first port. The bracket is positioned in such a way as not being able
to get to the stud/nut assy at the num 1 exhaust port. The bracket has to come off.

In order to get to the bracket on the back of the pump, the front pulley has to come
off to get to the bolts that hold on the pump. Once loosen, and with the bracket
nuts removed from the num 1 port exhaust studs, one can pull the pwr/str pump
out of the way, and THEN get to num 1 exhaust studs/nuts. A real PITA !

By the way I never did reinstall this back support bracket. I'm not going thru that
crap again unless the pump goes bad. Sometimes the "General" likes to pull
bonehead designs on it's loyal customers. Beats me why, but it still goes on
to this day..

[extreme gmc]

would it be easier to remove the ps pump instead of just the pulley?
you gotta remove the pulley to get to all the bolts that hold the pump on...