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65 With JBA Shorties. Too close to towers? *PICS*

RyanG85

RyanG85

Well-Known Member
Just got my JBA Shorties for the 65 with 289. Fitted things up tonight and surprised how close the clearance is between the header and shock tower is. Anyone running same set up? I have Ron Morris adjustable motor mounts and have things adjusted about as good as its going to get. I'm thinking the motor mounts are going to limit the movement quite a bit but it still a little close for comfort. Opinions or suggestions?

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You sure thats not a 460 in there? Maybe its all that red paint in the engine bay.....

Not the best pics, but I found these shots of mine, '68/302 with JBA shorties. I went through my gallery and these were all the shots I could find.

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They seem a lot tighter to the block on mine
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These are the "old" JBA's that I had on the first motor, only difference is these were nickel plated

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"RyanG85" said:
Thanks for the pics. Dont the 68 have wider towers than the 65's?
Click to expand...

If they are its not by much, I have the same mounts as you and essentially the same block. The mounting position would have to be similar if not the same, no?
 
As far as engine/header position, they are the same, just the 65-66 towers are closer to the engine. Cant fit a big block in a 65-66, you can in a 68, cant you?
 
These are JBAs on my 66--would have had to beat them up pretty good to get sufficient clearance. I finally gave up and went with repo HiPos.



 
So its not just me..... Just got off phone with tech support and of course they've never heard of any fitment issues... After looking some more, planning on making a slight mod to trans x-member and moving engine further back with the ron morris mounts. Going back another half inch will still keep shifter in good position and should help the headers a bit. Might still need a slight flattening on one tube. Will have to space the parking brake ear back a little on x-member to get the room.
 
If it were me.... I'd send the JBA's back and find a better fitting pair of headers. You shouldn't have to make the modifications you are considering just to make an ill-fitting pair of headers work. Can you make them fit? Sure, but you shouldn't have to.
 
I agree with you Dave and would do that if I didn't buy them off a person, not a business. I decided to try moving the engine back a little and gained some more clearance. I'm gonna move it back just a touch more and all should be good.
 
Yep, same fitment issues I had with my JBA's 20 years ago on the D-coder. A little push here, a little push there and the header tubes don't really care that they've been slightly modified for a comfortable and noise-free fit. Very satisfied with the performance and longevity. Being a racer, I'm used to 'tweeking' things, so didn't really mind. As the car is a driver, there's no images to maintain for show points. YMMV. I modified the tubes for 1/4" clearance and that appears to have been sufficient.
 
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