Out on the West coast, Mustang & Fords is working on a dark green '69 Mustang with a SportsRoof body. The car has its original 351 Windsor engine, which is connected to a T-5 five-speed manual transmission. Aside from an Edelbrock Performer 351 aluminum intake manifold and four-barrel carb, the engine is bone stock, right down to its cast iron exhaust manifolds.
To move forward with some performance enhancements on our engine, we decided an exhaust upgrade was a good choice, and would compliment the carb and intake already installed. For several reasons, we choose to go with a set of the famous JBA "shorty" headers. PN1653JT, they're made to fit our Windsor-powered vintage Mustang exactly. They'll give us a boost in power and improve our fuel economy, as well. We got the titanium ceramic coated version of the 1653 header. They're made of 14-gauge, mandrel-bent steel tubing, and extra-thick 31/48-inch, laser-cut flange stock. JBA headers are noted for excellent build quality, and are a good choice when underhood space is restricted or ground clearance is a concern. On our Mustang, the combination of a 351 Windsor engine, manual transmission, and power steering means we're going to have a challenging installation. For now, we've decided to connect the new headers to our existing 211/44-inch exhaust system. Follow us to Fantasy Muffler in Buena Park, California, and we'll see what it takes to get a set of JBA headers into our 351 Windsor-powered pony. From here, we plan to check the engine out, then boost the power via new heads, cam, and ignition. At each one of these upgrades, we'll dyno the car and see what the results are.
| WHAT'S IT COST? |
JBA titanium ceramic coated
shorty headers | $700.00 |
| Parts and labor | 372.01 |
| Total | $1072.01 |