Has anyone tried the JBA headers for the 3.7L V6?

wendell · **Posted:** Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:46 pm

Thanks for the advice, I never do mods for mpg, you could buy a heck of a lot of gas for the price of mods, it's just a side benifit. I want the AEM intake, but at present they only go up tp 04, I really like the dryflow filter. I have the AEM cai on my focus and the AEM filter on my k&n intake on my ranger. If you over oil on a ford, the oil can get on the maf and cause problems. I'm hearing alot of good things a bout the borla catback on the kj. I tried the flowmaster 40 seres on my truck before, it was loud enough, but it resenated in the cab, so I did a lighting style system out of a gibson dual sport muffler, a lot better. I keep reading this forum to get idea's from you guy's on what works best. Thanks again for the advice.

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

I really like my Borla dual. I actually got it delivered for $400 from a dealership in Florida off Ebay years ago. They go for around $600 now. I would still go with it even with the 50% higher price now. I love the performance, look, and sound of it. They don't make it for the '06 yet. I would start calling them now and asking for it and you might be able to get one by summer. To get upgrades made for the early KJ's I made hundreds of phone calls to manufacturers. When I bought it back in July 2001, I planned to lift it, regear it, and supercharge it immediately. Wow, what a rude awakening. Never thought that for the first couple years there would be virtually nothing for it, and most of the manufacturers said they weren't even interested in ever making anything for it. That's when I hooked up with Terry from Profinish-Proglass. I'd seen his work such as the convertible 2 door Liberty at the 2003 SEMA show, and the supercharged hemi ram that Mario Andretti drove and signed the dash of on Trucks!. We decided to build the most powerful Jeep Liberty in the world. It put 252 hp and 301 ftlbs torque to the ground on a Superflow dyno. That's converts to about 270 hp and 325 ftlbs torque on a Dynojet dyno, which is what all the manufacturers use since they read higher. That's over 335 hp and 400 ftlbs torque at the crank. That's also without the ram-air. The ram-air gives it around 15% better economy at highway speeds, and a very noticeable power increase on the butt dyno. That motor actually lasted an entire year. Still playing with the idea of pulling it out of the garage and getting it built for a 20 hp per cylinder direct shot.

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

Update on headers:

The headers are available, and bolt on, for the 2005-2006 3.7. My headers are going back to JBA and they're going to redesign the collectors for the 2001-2004, so it shouldn't be too long for the rest of us. Much happier now.

wendell · **Posted:** Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:04 am

Glad to hear that, Bitters boys are a pretty good bunch, I figured they would do something for you as it needed to be done anyway for all the older kj's out there. Good luck on your project.

Neatus · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:47 pm

Hey KY, any word on the headers. I noticed that they are on sale at
http://www.TruckPerformance.com
Do you think if I ordered them they would come with the right flanges for the 03?

laters dudes

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

They will not fit. JBA had to use a newer model for CARB certifications. They have some extremely high demand for headers for some new vehicles which need to be done first. They're also in the process of hiring more people so they can work on more projects simultaneously. They are trying to get hold of an '01-'04 Liberty for measurements for the headers. I would let them have mine for a while, but I live in KY. They plan to get them made for me before this summer for the next round of upgrades. Then they will do a manufacturing run of both types of headers.

djformi · **Posted:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:22 pm

where they located, cali

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

Yes, California. It's way too far for me to take my Jeep. If anyone out there near them wants to help speed up the process, I'll get you in touch with the right person at JBA.

djformi · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:03 pm

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KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

That looks like the ones that wouldn't fit my 2001. They bolt to the collectors with 2 bolts instead of using a clamp and a single bolt?

wendell · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:54 pm

To tell you the truth, by looking at the piture, I can't see them doing very much. Puy jba's on the ranger, made 0 hp improvement and lost torque under 3000 rpm's. For the price, I sure got handled. Like on a ranger, I believe long tube headers would be the way to go for any real benifit other than lighting one's wallet. The kj's exhaust manifolds would have to be very restrictive for those to help. For us offroad guy's it may hurt more than help if they cost us lowend torque. I got burnt on the jba's for my ranger, so now I'm a little skeptical about shortie headers on an offroad vehicle. They did help alittle on the topend, but I'm not in that range enough to justify 500.00 bucks and it cost me on the lowend where I do operate the most offroad. I'ld like to see some real numbers on these.

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

You need to remember that I'm running a converter with over a 2500 rpm stall with 4.10 gears and the torque management deleted. This allows me to leave the line at 2500 rpm. I'm instantly in the power band and the computer isn't limiting it. The headers will help to scavenge the exhaust gasses out of the cylinders. I currently have a bottleneck trying to get the exhaust out of the motor. If I'm going to go to ported heads and bigger injectors when we do the 206 cams, the exhaust manifolds just aren't going to cut it. I don't want to spend the money for custom headers designed until we rebuild the race motor.

ND4SPD · **Posted:** Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:46 am

guys,

any updates on the headers yet for the 02-04 models??

n isnt there anyone else out there who makes headers for the KJs ????

n lets say we wanna improve the torque on the KJ what mods would u suggest and from where can we get them?? :?:

wendell · **Posted:** Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:58 pm

Shortie headers will cause you to lose lowend torque in exchange for highend hp. Long tube headers would be a better choice for low to mid range torque, but no one makes them for the 3.7, shorties are the only deal in town for us right now.

unixxx · **Posted:** Fri Feb 16, 2007 12:58 am

I'm not sure if you'll lose any more low-end torque with the JBA shorties than you do with the stock exhaust manifold. Long-tube headers increase low-end torque more than the shorties because they improve the scavenging effect by pulsing at low RPMs. This doesn't mean that shorties decrease low-end torque. An increase in pipe size and thus a decrease in velocity would be more likely to decrease low-end torque than the header design itself. Also, the JBA headers include the "Firecone," which apparently increases scavenging and thus low-end torque.

At least that is what I've read....

wendell · **Posted:** Fri Feb 16, 2007 12:05 pm

I have jba shortie headers on my 4.0 ranger, I lost torque below 3000 rpms and gained no hp across the rpm range, I would of been better off keeping the stock manifolds as they must fkow pretty well. I complained to jba about it and they said to bring my truck to thier shop and they would get me at least 8 hp or I get my money back and get to keep the headers. I live in Ohio and thier in Cally, so thats not really an option. The truck does seem to pull harder in the higher rpm's, I don't really think much of mustang dyno's anyway. I did lose some lowend, I can feel it, even if the mustang dyno is lame. However, the 3.7 is a different motor and may get better results, I hope so. There making long tube headers for the 4.0 mustangs, if I could get those to fit on my truck, I may have something.

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

ND4SPD wrote:

guys,

any updates on the headers yet for the 02-04 models??

n isnt there anyone else out there who makes headers for the KJs ????

n lets say we wanna improve the torque on the KJ what mods would u suggest and from where can we get them?? :?:

JBA is still trying to find someone in their area that wants the headers for their Liberty. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll get you in contact with the right person at JBA. They are trying to get headers done for all the 3.7 vehicles right now. I would take my Jeep to them, but from KY, it would cost me more than having custom headers built locally.

jcphoto20 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:36 am **Posts:** 507

i would be interested if they increased torque from 1500-2500, but from what ive seen in articles about jba headers, specifically ones they made for a toyota tundra in a magazine i have in my hand, 75ft/lb LOSS at 3200 and below for a minisule amount of horsepower up top. of course the idiots in the magazine highly recommended them...

not what im looking for.

anyone have a before and after dyno sheet for a model of liberty that they do make some that fit?

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

That's really different from JBA's claims. What magazine was it? JBA shows around a 40 ftlb torque increase at 3200.

jcphoto20 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:36 am **Posts:** 507

oct 2005 suv and sport utility. 2005 Toyota Tundra 4.7L, with JBA Cat4ward Headers 2011SJT and JBA Performance Exhaust 30-9014

has a similar graph and legend, VERY different data.

huge power loss below 3400, 3200 shows about 85ft/lbs down, over 3700, steady 20lbs gain

Has anyone tried the JBA headers for the 3.7L V6?

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