2005 Mustang V6 JBA Shorties And FRPP X-Pipe Quality
I just received my JBA shorty headers for the 2005 V-6 and the Ford Racing Performance Products X-pipe for the GT (I am running the stock GT exhaust from the cats back on my V-6.)
I have to say that I was immediately disappointed in the quality. The FRPP X-pipe looks good on the outside, but when you look inside, it looks like they cut a fairly small oval hole with a blow torch. I guess I was expecting something a little more finished, not a hole with jagged edges.
The headers are the same way. I got the titanium coated ones thinking they would hold up better and give off less heat. I look up into the collector and there are sloppy welds, lots of unsmooth areas and even a small piece of welding wire still attached.
With the money this stuff costs, I think we deserve more. I can remember buying a set of Hooker headers for my old 1968 Firebird years ago. They were only $100 or so, so I didn't expect fine detailing. But the JBA titanium shorties list for $1000 (I paid about $500.) For that price some guy should come to my house, bend me custom pipes and give me a foot massage.
Anyone else notice quality issues? I'm a little afraid to put them on, as I am afraid they will hinder performance by making flow more turbulent.
Last edited by wnewport; 08-23-2007 at 10:00 PM.
Reason: spelling error
There's no such a thing as quality these days. Everybody wants to make things the cheapest way possible. Even if that means having little 3 year old Chinese kids welding you an X Pipe.
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4.5L Stroker Kit, SSM Custom cams, Wiseco forged pistons, ARP 2000 head studs, Port and Polished Intake Manifold, Mac Long Tube Headers, FRPP Oil Cooling System, 4.10 Gears, K&N Performance Filter, StangWires 8mm Plug Wires, Bosch Platinum 4+ Spark Plugs, 39lb Ford Racing Fuel Injectors, ASP Underdrive pulley kit, MAC Performance Pro Chamber, Flowmaster 40 Series Mufflers, 2.25" dual straight pipes w/o cats, 3" chrome tips, Custom SCT XCalibrator 2 Tune w/ Jet Chip Module, 4" Aluminum Driveshaft
I just received my JBA shorty headers for the 2005 V-6 and the Ford Racing Performance Products X-pipe for the GT (I am running the stock GT exhaust from the cats back on my V-6.)
I have to say that I was immediately disappointed in the quality. The FRPP X-pipe looks good on the outside, but when you look inside, it looks like they cut a fairly small oval hole with a blow torch. I guess I was expecting something a little more finished, not a hole with jagged edges.
The headers are the same way. I got the titanium coated ones thinking they would hold up better and give off less heat. I look up into the collector and there are sloppy welds, lots of unsmooth areas and even a small piece of welding wire still attached.
With the money this stuff costs, I think we deserve more. I can remember buying a set of Hooker headers for my old 1968 Firebird years ago. They were only $100 or so, so I didn't expect fine detailing. But the JBA titanium shorties list for $1000 (I paid about $500.) For that price some guy should come to my house, bend me custom pipes and give me a foot massage.
Anyone else notice quality issues? I'm a little afraid to put them on, as I am afraid they will hinder performance by making flow more turbulent.
You're going to be hard-pressed to find a product with quality internal welds. It is disappointing given what these things cost.
I ordered them via eBay, so I can't really slap them silly. It's not the sellers fault if that's the way they come.
I am now trying to get crap out of the primaries. It looks like there was sand blasting sand in them when they coated them!
My instinct said the stock manifolds weren't too bad. I guess I can always try the headers and if I'm unhappy, put the manifolds back on.
At least the way the x-pipe mounts you can always put back the piece of h-pipe you take out if you want to go back. You just need a couple of band clamps like the stock ones.
You might want to make sure that these are official parts. There have been many instances on Ebay of people making products to exact specifications, and then they sell them as official parts.
A friend of mine bought a bassani x pipe from ebay. It ended up being a homemade x pipe made to look like the bassani version. Lots of scammers on ebay. If someone has a little pipe bending and welding knowledge, they can rip people off easily.
__________________
4.5L Stroker Kit, SSM Custom cams, Wiseco forged pistons, ARP 2000 head studs, Port and Polished Intake Manifold, Mac Long Tube Headers, FRPP Oil Cooling System, 4.10 Gears, K&N Performance Filter, StangWires 8mm Plug Wires, Bosch Platinum 4+ Spark Plugs, 39lb Ford Racing Fuel Injectors, ASP Underdrive pulley kit, MAC Performance Pro Chamber, Flowmaster 40 Series Mufflers, 2.25" dual straight pipes w/o cats, 3" chrome tips, Custom SCT XCalibrator 2 Tune w/ Jet Chip Module, 4" Aluminum Driveshaft
You might want to make sure that these are official parts. There have been many instances on Ebay of people making products to exact specifications, and then they sell them as official parts.
A friend of mine bought a bassani x pipe from ebay. It ended up being a homemade x pipe made to look like the bassani version. Lots of scammers on ebay. If someone has a little pipe bending and welding knowledge, they can rip people off easily.
I thought of that, but I don't know how to really tell if they are legit.
Anyone else notice quality issues? I'm a little afraid to put them on, as I am afraid they will hinder performance by making flow more turbulent.
Turbulence in the exhaust is mostly irrelevant. Remember by the time the exhaust has reached the headers or the x-pipe, it is already out of the engine. While in theory, there might be a miniscule increase in backpressure over pure laminar flow, the difference is so slight as to be vastly overwhelmed by catalytic converters, mufflers, bends in the exhaust pipes, unequal lengths in the header runners, etc, etc.
2005 Mustang V6 JBA Shorties And FRPP X-Pipe Quality 
