JBAs INSTALLED.....

From: Donny M Hayes (hayesdm@scott.net)
Date: Sun Aug 30 1998 - 09:23:13 EDT


Installed my JBA's yesterday. Not as bad as I had expected.
Took about 4 hours, doing it by myself(mostly).

INFO for those doing this in the future----(most of this has been posted
already, but...)
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BUY AT LEAST 2 9/16 open ends. Cheap ones, your gonna have to grind on
them!
I took one and ground off the closed end so it was short enough to get in
the small spaces.

Make sure you have at least a 10" 1/2"drive extender so you can use a
ratchet to reach up to loosen/tighten the collectors.

The manifolds on my RT came off easily. Too easily. I was able to remove
all bolts with my fingers. The only tight bolts were the studs in the
center of each!

The JBA's went in from the top, on both sides. The drivers side was pretty
easy. I would suggest labeling and pulling the spark plug boots to get
better access. The rearmost bolts were tough, but with a little patience
you can get them. The passenger side--well it was pretty bad. You have to
work it down thru the AC lines and push it down into place. It's a tight
squeeze but it will fit. Then you have to get the bolts into the two rear
holes. I hope you have small hands! I got it with my big fat fingers, but
it took about 20 minutes to get both started.

The downpipes weren't too bad, just have to find a way to get a wrench in
there to hold the bolt while you use the 1/2" ratchet to tighten the nut.
Do a few turns between alternating sides to get the fit equal.

On the passenger side, as some have noted, the O2 sensor is in the way. JBA
needs to redesign that collector fitting to offset a few inches one way or
the other! Instead of removing the O2, I ground a offset box end 9/16 down
so it would fit up into the flange and hold the nut. I then got my wife
("just what the hell are you doing to this thing now") to use the ratchet
and 2 extenders to tighten the collector.

So I got it all together, fired it up to check for leaks and let it warm up
to op. temp (as per instructions). No detectable leaks, but it all went
together well, so I wasn't really expecting any. Let it warm up and cut it
off, then wait for it to completely cool down in order to check all the
bolts again. Also disconnected the battery through all this for safety and
to let the computer reset.

NOW THE BAD NEWS>>>still haven't driven it to see if there is any
improvement. I left it on the jacks to retighten everything, and had to go
see the inlaws yesterday afternoon, so in a little while, I'm gonna go take
it for a spin and see what happens.

According to my GTECH, my best 1/4 so far is a 14.94 at 89mph and best 0-60
was a 7.13, so I'll let you all know. TB mods are next, so everybody that
has done this themselves, email me any hindsight hints you may have.

Later,
Donny M Hayes
98 Amethyst 5.9 RT CC
KN 6x9 Fresh Air, JBA Headers, more to come



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