Just got my passenger replacement hear back from JBA. Now i'm gonna install them. The gaskets that come with headers I generally never use, but these gaskest seem durable. they are a steel core that's domed a little bit so they will seal good although they are thin. they have a felt like substance on both sides of the steel core. I used my Mapp gas to try and burn the felt stuff off and it was a No-Go, so that tells me they are good gaskets.

Now, do i use the supplied JBA gaskets or re-use the factory Mopar gaskets although the factory gaskets are already squished to the OEM header form. The OEM gaskets are like 5-6 layers thick, but I'm a little worried about creating a seal?

What should i do? Do you think high temp RTV sealant along with the JBA gaskets is the way to go or what? I've never used RTV sealant for headers before and JBA mentions nothing about the use of RTV.
I'm gonna start pulling off the old manifolds now and hopefully when I'm done with that I'll get some answers.
It WILL be one or the other as i dont waqnna spend another $30-40 on this project. Thanks fellas

 

Well if your only options are the new jba gaskets or the old mopar one's I would use the new jba gaskets. From everything I've read the best gaskets to use are the mopar one's, but you would need to go get a new set to do that.

 

i read that oems are the best...

 

Well...I already have the one side off and I called the dealership and they won't have then until 2morrow, so on they go with the factory gaskets. I'll do one side and see if it leaks first.

Not bad though. Got the pass side off in 35minutes including pulling the inner fender off!

 

There is a better sealent than the RTV stuff, I think its used on honda's of one of the other import cars to hold their engines together (guess they see a need to bolt the engine together) Anyway that stuff is awsome stuff and is meant for High Heat applications. I'll see If I can find the name of it. If not the JBA seals are suppose to be one of the better ones for headers, not as good as the OEM though

 

Although they say the Mopar ones are hard to beat, I don't think I'd ever reuse a gasket. Sounds to me like the JBA ones are pretty jam up!

 

Well I'm completely done. I re-used the factory gaskets because they were plenty thick enough to create another seal. I let the engine run for about 10 minutes and get up to temp. Now I'll wait for it to cool and re-torque all the bolts before I put the fender liners back in. 2.5hrs total time to install the headers and another 1/2hour dickin' around. So 3 altogether. I'm gonna snap pics and make another thread for you guys once I get the truck out and running on the street.

 

How does it sound?

 

I didn't get on it, it just let it idle, I'll know more when I take it out. Sounded same as stock manifolds at idle.

 

That was a pretty quick install, let us know what you feel in the butt dyno.