MMMM. Yummy! What kind are those? Please keep us posted on you honest feeling of these. Im going to be doing about the same thing this spring, but minus the headers. Will be neat to compare.

They are stainless JBAs. I got 'em from Summit Racing via ebay. I used the bing 10% cashback discount so that helped a little.

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. Some folks say they noticed improvement with headers and some say they didn't. Most recommend the y-pipe and I'm doing that too so something should change one way or the other!

We have about 20" of snow on the ground now and they say another 6-12" by Thurs so its gonna be a while before I can get on this project.

I bet this thread will be 400 pgs in a year . There are so many running around with the light ticking . I hear them constantly in parking lots and so on .

Penetrating oil will be your friend , keep spraying the studs for about a week daily before the R&R weekend .:-drink

Our trucks are awesome, but you are correct. I hear many in my area too. Ford really messed this design up, and I think it really should be a recall.

headers
 

So whats the end result?
What brand is most recommended?
What kind and size of bolts are recommended?
Money is not an object for me on this in particular.
I will be getting stainless with ceramic coating for heat reduction.
Been trying to find people who have had good experiences with the
better brands like Gibson, JBA, etc., to no avail.

I am really dissappointed (highly pissed) that there are no companies,
that will produce a long tube or long tube tri-Y header for the 5.4s.
You can get any parts for any diesel or V10, but the 5.4s are so darn
limited for AM parts.
This is frustrating...no its down right ridiculous.
With the V10 you can get long tube headers...................
5 tubes per bank take up more room than the 4 tubes on the 5.4.
There is a huge demand, why the reluctance to produce parts for 5.4?

Anybody???
Anyone???

SPD Y-pipe got here today.

Snow's been melting alot the past three days.

If the weather holds up... I'll probably dive into this in a few weeks.

http://www.frontiernet.net/~jray77/0...D_Ypipe-01.JPG

Knock, knock...anyone home?
:-X25 LOL.
Anybody read my last reply?
Has anybody out there ever fouind a set of long tubes of any kind for the 5.4 liter?
Has anybody had any good experiences with any of the better name brands of tuned shorty or mid-pipes for the 5.4 liter?

Well, I saw your reply but didn't have anything to offer.

I don't know of anyone who makes long tube headers for our 5.4L SD's.

Furian started a good thread about this a while back and did quite a bit of legwork talking with different vendors, but unfortunately nothing ever materialized.

If memory serves, there are some long tubes for the F150s that could maybe be adapted to our trucks...?

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...4l-engine.html

I was referring to that too yes,
but was just seeing if anyone else had any luck with this also.

I was wishing to find some ceramic coated, SS, long tube,
tri-Y headers, with no luck. No one makes them for the 5.4
......they put out great low-mid range power over shorties.

As far as fitting parts between F series trucks goes. If you get
them already coated, it will be destroyed, if you have to modify
the part to fit. Thats a big thing. Coating a plain set of
headers after fitment can cost an arm and a leg to get done.
Thats why I was hesitant on going that route.

I have searched and searched for long tubes, not happening. If I knew another set of long tubes for a different chassis was close, I could modify them. I just can't justify dumping big bucks into a set of headers that I don't know if they will work.

I ordered the SPD Y pipe for my truck last week. Im just waiting until I know the snow is done for the year, then Im going to tear into this.

Yeah really interested in this one since I got the tick tick crap going on and def wont pass inspection.....


Oh and another question for ya, do those jba headers bolt right to the stock y pipe?

Yes, I believe they are supposed to be direct bolt-ons. I'll be replacing the y-pipe so I won't be able to confirm that 100%.

The weather's finally good enough for this but I have a few trips I need my truck for over the next few weeks so I'm going to wait til mid-April to get going.

Ok... I did the passenger side today. Went fairly smooth. I had one broken stud already (which is what started all this) and I broke one more, but the other six came right out. I welded a nut to the one I broke and it backed out easily.

I had some interference between the header and the motor mount which required some trimming of the motor mount. I wasn't crazy about it but I did it.

Weather permitting, I'll do the driver's side tomorrow and then the y-pipe.

Teaser pic...
http://www.frontiernet.net/~jray77/0...SHeader-01.JPG

Looks real nice so far. Just got a set of Gibson headers but they look exactly the same. I did talk to Gibson and they said that they guarenteed not alterations would be need so I hope. I am dropping it off Sunday night at a friends shop but I really want to try it myself but affraid if something happens I have no advanced tools to get the stud out if it breaks flush.

How long did this one side take???

Good luck on the other side.

I spent about 6 hours on this today. Some of that was waiting to hear back from JBA and driving to NAPA to get some anti-sieze. Probably 5hrs total working on it.

Thanks! Hopefully it will be easier than the pass side, but if its the same amount of diffuculty... I'll take it!

Good luck with the Gibsons. Please post back on how they went on and how you like them.