Best fitting/best made shorty headers for Hemi?

[Matts175]

As soon as it gets consistently nice out. I want to change over to shorty headers. I am not looking to get any horsepower what so ever, I just want to eliminate the infamous Hemi exhaust bolt problem, before it happens. There are 20+ kinds of shorty headers for these.... for best fit and quality, what should I pick?

P.S. Also, best bolts for them? ARP?

 

[Buddy]

I would say most folks here will say JBA. BBK has is less favoring. I know AFE makes one too... they make good long tubes for the trucks, so I assume the short tubes are good?? But more $$ than JBA. I went JBA and used SRT 6.1 gaskets and the bolts that came with them.

 

[chris52010trx4]

As soon as it gets consistently nice out. I want to change over to shorty headers. I am not looking to get any horsepower what so ever, I just want to eliminate the infamous Hemi exhaust bolt problem, before it happens. There are 20+ kinds of shorty headers for these.... for best fit and quality, what should I pick?

P.S. Also, best bolts for them? ARP?

Jba have been hit or miss depending on year... in 16 they changed the collector slightly and dont seal as good...also there has been issues with cracking...if your just wanting to not have the broken bolts... I'd suggest just replacing the bolts 1 by 1 (1 old one out and 1 new one in) with lock washers and regular washers... m8 bolts 1.25 x 45 is perfect fit. That's what I did ...and I had jbas sitting here when I made that decision... sold them for abit.more than I payed so didnt lose out
So far so good ...I would do long tubes but just dont wanna be bothered ... will eventually just add the afe y pipe to replace the squished one we get from ram

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[Hemi395]

I've had JBA silver ceramic shorties on since Jan 2019 that I bought used locally. 0 leaks and they're holding up great. I used Mopar 6.1 gaskets and Stage 8 bolts without the locking tabs. I had to tighten the bolts once but since then they've been tight.

Putting them in sucks tho, especially the driver's side. I would highly recommend having a shop install them. I had mine put on for $350.

 

[texan279]

I've got JBA ceramic coated shortys. Used the bolts that came with them, but Remflex gaskets. Zero issues. Still look like they did the day I took them out of the box.

 

[texan279]

I've had JBA silver ceramic shorties on since Jan 2019 that I bought used locally. 0 leaks and they're holding up great. I used Mopar 6.1 gaskets and Stage 8 bolts without the locking tabs. I tilhad to tighten the bolts once but since then they've been right.

Putting them in sucks tho, especially the driver's side. I would highly recommend having a shop to install them. I had mine put on for $350.

Want your BW44-44 to fully lock? Contact @Brandon-w for a locking switch

This. I had my mechanic do it. I think he charged me around $300 or so if I remember correctly.

 

[MADDOG]

Another vote for JBA headers & Stage 8 bolts. Outstanding combination.

 

[Matts175]

Jba have been hit or miss depending on year... in 16 they changed the collector slightly and dont seal as good...also there has been issues with cracking...if your just wanting to not have the broken bolts... I'd suggest just replacing the bolts 1 by 1 (1 old one out and 1 new one in) with lock washers and regular washers... m8 bolts 1.25 x 45 is perfect fit. That's what I did ...and I had jbas sitting here when I made that decision... sold them for abit.more than I payed so didnt lose out
So far so good ...I would do long tubes but just dont wanna be bothered ... will eventually just add the afe y pipe to replace the squished one we get from ram

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Interesting... but what about the one's with the stud on them? Did you just leave those covers off?

 

[chris52010trx4]

Interesting... but what about the one's with the stud on them? Did you just leave those covers off?

Yea ...no issues with it melting anything... just have to bend the bracket on the dipstick to mount either to a coil pack or brake booster..4wd vs 2wd is another thing to consider as a 2wd install is going to be a hell of alot easier than 4wd, if your doing it yourself for jba. I'm not against them as I too was going to install but didnt want to have them not seal or crack and then have to take them off and either fight warranty or spend more on them

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[novelmike]

For all those that voted for the JBA’s and have them on their Rams:
Does it make your exhaust louder? A little or a lot?
Any noticeable MPG gains?
Any honest performance gains, torque, H.P., acceleration?

Not interested in hearing about how much better long tube headers are. We all know they are. I’m in California and need a smog legal truck.

 

[MidwestExpress]

For all those that voted for the JBA’s and have them on their Rams:
Does it make your exhaust louder? A little or a lot?
Any noticeable MPG gains?
Any honest performance gains, torque, H.P., acceleration?

Not interested in hearing about how much better long tube headers are. We all know they are. I’m in California and need a smog legal truck.

I do believe they made my exhaust slightly louder, like almost not noticeably different though. I have the Mopar catback. I don't have a tune, and I really didn't notice much for performance gains - maybe a little bit better pull in the upper RPMs, but nothing to really write about. I have no track times or dyno runs to give any measurements. Not much for MPG gains either. But, hopefully they last a long time without issue.

 

[texan279]

For all those that voted for the JBA’s and have them on their Rams:
Does it make your exhaust louder? A little or a lot?
Any noticeable MPG gains?
Any honest performance gains, torque, H.P., acceleration?

Not interested in hearing about how much better long tube headers are. We all know they are. I’m in California and need a smog legal truck.

Only thing different I seemed to notice was a little better performance on the low end, accelerating and getting up to speed.

 

[Tim Garceau]

Not going to notice anything for gains until you increase air and fuel into the combustion chamber with some more timing.

Before tuning, I port matched my absolute trash shorty headers which are 1-3/4” primaries to the heads. The truck actually needed more part throttle input to achieve the same feedback.

 

[Buddy]

I noticed bolts are not breaking anymore.... that was the goal so achieved and I'm happy

 

[Hemi395]

For all those that voted for the JBA’s and have them on their Rams:
Does it make your exhaust louder? A little or a lot?
Any noticeable MPG gains?
Any honest performance gains, torque, H.P., acceleration?

Not interested in hearing about how much better long tube headers are. We all know they are. I’m in California and need a smog legal truck.

They didn’t make the truck louder but the tone is much better. It the sound of each cylinder firing is much more defined. Hard to explain other than that but personally I like it.

As far as performance, maybe a little better throttle response and slightly better low end but that’s about it. 0 change in MPG. I mainly did shorties to prevent broken bolts anyway.

I’m In MA so I hear you about emissions and long tubes. So tired of hearing people asking why I didn’t go with long tubes. I would have loved to get long tubes but none are CARB certified so LTs are out.

 

[Rumpity]

I have the same question. I want to make some modifications to my truck including one of the Moe's HPT cams and headers. Since I need to have the cam install done by a local shop, I don't have enough money for long tube headers. With the shorties, what kind of an increase in sound is there over the stock manifolds. I have Flowmaster American Thunder 44s right now.

 

[Hemi395]

I have the same question. I want to make some modifications to my truck including one of the Moe's HPT cams and headers. Since I need to have the cam install done by a local shop, I don't have enough money for long tube headers. With the shorties, what kind of an increase in sound is there over the stock manifolds. I have Flowmaster American Thunder 44s right now.

The sound changes with shorties but the volume is about the same...

 

[CMV157]

Has anyone had luck with stage 8 bolts on the stock manifolds?

 

[Pull Ya]

If you're changing to shorties because of the bolt problem, there is an excellent "sticky" at the top of this section that deals with manifolds and broken exhaust manifold bolts. You might take a few minutes to read through it and see if that helps you with your decision. It could save you some money.
Jay

 

[Ram04]

If you want better mpg (not sure if possible with shorties) and best driveability throttle response ect, try to stick to no larger than 1 5/8" pipes.

Remember, the larger the diam of pipe the more low end you will lose hence the poor throttle response, lost mpg ect.

1 5/8" LT's are the best bolt-on headers for the 5.7's and give gains and improvements right across the board. So to go to a shorty, anything larger is def going to suffer without further mods to rest of engine.