JBA long tubes installed w/factory y-pipe & factory muffler

I was curious to see and hear what would happen if I did just the long tubes and left the rest of the exhaust system completely stock, here's how it went.

I ordered a set of JBA long tubes, O2 sims plus the O2 extender harnesses from URD. The parts arrived very quickly and in excellent condition. The headers have 2 bungs on each side so make sure you have the correct plugs for the bungs that will not be used, mine were not in the box so I contacted Gadget at URD and he had JBA send me a couple plugs within a few days.

The install is basically just nuts and bolts, no special tricks required. The hardest part for me was finding and disconnecting the electrical plugs for the O2 sims located on the driver side, back of the engine, on top of the trans. You cannot see it so everything is done by feel and it was a PITA!

The old stuff came out without a fight and the new headers dropped right in place perfectly. No issues with the headers.

I bolted everything up tight and held my breath as I started her up. I was surprised by the new tone of my truck. It had a very deep mellow tone that sounded pretty darn good to me, now on to the test drive. I pulled out of my neighborhood with my tires spinning, that was something new! The low end torque was very good and it felt very strong above 3k rpm all the way to redline. The sound was not a whole lot louder from the tailpipe but it was much louder coming from under the hood. I was happy with the test so I decided to continue driving it for a few weeks to see how it would work out. After a few days I had problems with exhaust leaking from the headers to y-pipe connection. I ended up purchasing a set of crush gaskets from the dealer and that took care of the problem. A few days later I developed an exhaust leak at the rear of the y-pipe to factory cat-back, this connection had not been disturbed during the header install so I was concerned that a new leak had developed at this location. The connection bolts where fully tight but the doughnut gasket was blown out and leaking, it started to sound like someone farting thru a kazoo, very embrassing to drive around town, needless to say I babied it everywhere so people did not laugh at my truck.

Instead of messing around any further I went ahead and installed the TRD cat-back along with a new doughnut to the y-pipe. Once again I held my breath as I started her up. Man what a different sound this time. Significantly louder with a nice mellow tone even at idle it was louder but in a good way. Another test drive confirmed that my exhaust leaks were cured but I was very bummed that I had lost a lot of that low end torque that I had gained from the headers. I was surprised that it was actually the cat-back that robbed the low end and not the long tubes themselves. My tears dried up quickly once she got above 3k rpm, it really gets going on the top end and sounds great!

So I guess the moral of my story is that if you do the headers only you will achive some nice gains, I could roast my tires at will, big fun! But in the long run I believe that the headers overwhelm the factory muffler and cause exhaust leaks upstream. No good.
If you decide to do the long tubes you should understand that this is a major change to the personality of your truck. You will lose some low end but you will gain it all back and more above 3k rpm. Headers make a very distictive sound that is different from the factory manifolds and it is louder in the engine compartment than stock. I have been driving it now for about 3 months and I am very happy with the change.

This experience makes me wonder what would happen if someone installed a butterfly valve at the front of the cat-back that could be controlled by the rpm to be partially closed at idle and below 3k rpm and progressively open at 3k rpm and continue to open as the rpm increases to redline. This could help give the low end torque we need and give the top end power we want. Any engineers out there??

 

Nice report man!

If you ever end up changing your Y-Pipe (or if your OEM crush gaskets start leaking) let me know. I am trying to get a set of custom Remflex gaskets made for me, and will have (2) extra sets available.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/pe...5-feeler-gaskets-doug-thorley-urd-y-pipe.html

 

Thanks for taking the time to give such a complete well written report on your header experiences.

I had a similar experience with my 2.7. I put a header on it, and when I opened up the exhaust by installing an aftermarket muffler, the engine lost low end torque. If you know the 2.7, all it has is low end torque, so that was taking too big of a hit. So I kept the header while reinstalling the stock muffler and now the low end torque is even better than before the header. I chose with LCE over DT because it has zero leakage issues. Just put it on and drive.

 

good write up, I've been wanting to do this for awhile. I wonder how the JBA go up against Dough Thorley long tube headers.

 

Just want to say, excellent review.

 

This is a very rough idea of what I am thinking. Summit Racing has 2.5 in electric exhaust cutout valve that could be installed inline in front of the cat-back (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/qtp-qtec25/overview/). You would need to drill the appropriate size holes in the flapper to allow sufficient airflow when the valve is closed. The valve could be wired to a stand alone adjustable shift light (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g2945/overview/). Next you would need to set the shift light to the desired RPM (3k) and figure out how to use the signal that lights the shift light to instead be used to open the valve.

If it works as imagined then you could have the best of both worlds. From idle to 3k RPM the valve would be closed and you could have the back pressure needed for the torque but once you get above 3k RPM the valve would open all the way to allow maximum exhaust flow. When the RPM falls below 3k the shift light goes out and the valve would return to the closed position. The "light" portion of the shift light would not need to be seen by the driver for any reason so you could mount the shift light assembly under the hood or wherever you want so it can be adjusted to find the perfect RPM to activate the valve.

As you can see this idea is not ready for primetime nor are these the exact parts that would be best for the application but hopefully it will get the wheels turning for someone out there with the proper engineering skills to make it for real.

 

Nice thought process, but two things come to mind:

1) Exhaust cutouts do not move very fast, chances are you'll be redlined before the 3k timer goes off and it actually opens.
2) They have these type of setups on some of the "supercars", and even the new 'vettes, but the numbers that I have seen are that the bypasses only give 5-10 hp on a 450+hp engine. Not sure if it's worth the cost.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NPC1IQ?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

Kelvin shared that link with me.

 

Wow, quite the deal, if only I wanted LTs then there'd be one less available...

 

Same here. Lol. To bad I have a turbo though.....

 

LTs are cheaper!

 

Take a look at this remote controlled muffler. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7jGYnhbQQU&feature=player_embedded

 

That is a great deal. I am pleased with the build quality of the JBA headers. Fit was perfect.

 

Okay so let's forget about putting butterfly valves in the exhaust for now because I went ahead and installed the intake manifold spacer and my first impressions are very positive. No more waiting until 3k rpm for my power to come on, now it is there right off idle like it should be. I will report back after a few weeks of driving with my final opinion of this "fix".

 

Waiting for my warranty to be off before I go installing headers and intake spacers especially being blown and the amount of stingy dealerships in my area. Good write-up!

 

Bump

One more for you guys since that one sold out quick, one in stock. Use coupon code RMENOT10 to get to $305.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007NJXXM8/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1380734755&sr=8-1

Shorties for $267 after code

Doug Thorley Headers thy-515-1-c Smog Legal Header for Toyota Tacoma/4Runner/Tundra/FJ Cruiser 4.0L V6

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007NJXXOG/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1380734755&sr=8-3


http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/103453/amazon-warehouse-deals---amazon-warehouse-deals-coupon-for-additional-savings

 

Your gif is awesome.

 

I have no experience with this product. Could be a simple solution...
http://www.dynomax.com/mufflers.php?muffler=vt

 

Lol yeah, I crack a smile every time I see it.

 

Looking for any updates!