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JBA Headers in California - Complete System Requirements?

52K views 203 replies 42 participants last post by  Bfmaheu 
#1 ·
So, like many Titan owners, I have the lovely cracked manifolds that need replacing, and since the catalytic converter is built into these manifolds, my mechanic wants $2900 to replace them with OEM parts and OEM Air/Fuel Sensors.

Figured this would be a perfect time to jump on a set of JBA headers, which my mechanic validated as something he would/could install.

What I am looking to find out is in addition to the JBA Cat Forward Shorty Headers, what else do I need to replace? New B-Pipes and cats?

Educate me please!
 
#2 ·
Gotta cut off your factory cats and weld them to the jba. Then you need a tune.
 
#3 · (Edited)
answered my own question

Looks like I am researching new catalytic converters too, because both of mine are shot
 
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#4 ·
and the cats look to cost upwards of $760 each - [ame]http://www.amazon.com/MagnaFlow-445500-Stainless-Catalytic-Converter/dp/B00AURR5EC[/ame]

Ugh. yay california
 
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#5 ·
Justin, Im in Vacaville, I want to follow your disaster. My first choice would be to find low mileage cats out at sunrise/rancho wrecking yards. My second choice would possibly use the JBA shorties ( which have a cal certified sticker) and weld some of nightowls 200 cell cats on in the exact stock postion. My hope would be that the smog guy would see the JBA cert and NOT look any closer at the cats....I know it's a gamble, but that's what you do in the golden state. Looking forward to hearing how this goes....

remember........Come to California on vacation///leave on probation !!
 
#6 ·
Yeah, you're telling me about those cats. $760+ for new ones that are CARB legal, but ones that are 49-state legal are $80. nice little California tax of $680 :eek_surprise:

At the same time, I would rather be better safe than sorry, i trust Magnaflow cats, ran them on my old S10 with no issues, same with JBA headers, so I know its a good combo.
 
#7 ·
And they will fail just like the oem Nissan manifolds will. All the aftermarket replacement manifolds are crap. I have had a few customers with those that have failed and wish they went with longtubes but I understand you guys in Ca are screwed with that fix. There is no universal carb cat that I'm aware of so find a smog guy and get longtubes with catted bpipes and Uprev.
 
#8 ·
I wonder if you welded the stock cats to the long tubes if that would pass? Different location I now but maybe the smog guy would not notice? What'd give it away? The stock location that is...
 
#11 ·
See if you can find someone or somewhere online that sells jist the carb stickers.
 
#13 ·
True, No fooling them. Guess you need to know a guy..

Salstats-
I see you run cat less Cajun B pipes. Any issues with the visual smog check? I'm looking at that almost exact set up. I guess since the bpipes are behind the cats it's ok? My smog guy said anything cat-back can be changed.
 
#15 ·
I have a smog guy so i dont have to worry. I run Nismo headers with catted Cajun Bpipes now. But that is still illigal.
 
#14 ·
Yeah, they're real sticklers in CA so there really is no easy way to put anything on that isn't CARB legal. Heck, my mechanic said he needed EOD numbers and such before he would smog it.

JBA headers and Magnaflow direct attached cats are on their way, should have them installed next week or week after.

These are the joys of living in CA


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#16 ·
Justin...did you order Jba Long........or short headers ? and are you going to weld the magnaflow cats directly onto your jba's. or weld flanges so that they bolt on after the headers. Also where can you buy magnaflow cats in this state the website says " will not ship to Ca. " ?
 
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#17 ·
Bought everything through Amazon, just so I only had to deal with one place, plus they were the cheapest out there.

JBA shorty headers are the only CARB legal ones, and as far as the magnaflow cats, they're CARB legal and can be purchased from a number of retailers online,
Besides, magnaflow is a SoCal company, down in OC, my old stomping grounds.

I am going to talk to my mechanic about welding a flange just in case one or the other fails in the future
 
#18 · (Edited)
Justin, good approach, Although I 'm not sure Magnaflow cats are legal in Ca. I did some research a month ago, I googled up " California Legal catalytic converters" and found that the state has a exclusive contract with only one maufacturer in the us that can be used in New York, and Cal.

I posted this with the name a few weeks ago. I believe the certification for magnaflow is good in all states, but NOT in New York, and Cal. I would call every muffler shop in the Sacramento area, and ask " can I replace my blown out cats with "Magnaflow" cats.......and I'll bet you a nickel that everyone will say no, you can only use the "yada yada approved bran" at $600 a pop" Just trying to save ya headache in the future, not argueing.

Justin.....Search the site for " California smog law.....interesting" and you can see a copy of the article saying that California and New York can use NO OTHER cats, but those made by "miller Manufacturing" to remain legal !!!! check it out
 
#19 ·
Justin ....just spent 2 hours in research......Magnaflow and other brands DO make CARB compliant converters that may be used in California. BUT, BUT, and here's the big BUTT.......those converters are certified for specific vehicle use....ONLY. They make one for chevy silverado 1500 5.3 engine......not allowed to be welded to a titan or armada. can only (legally) be used on a chevy silverado 1500 5.3, You cannot use the same cat on a GMC 1500 6.0 engine. It has a cert # specific for that vehicle.
Same with Dodge, Ford, Jeep and other vehicles, those certified cats can only be used on that specific vehicle

Now what if I buy a cat for a chevy silverado 1500 with 5.3 engine or a "universal" cat, and weld it onto the rear of a JBA shorty header. It should function just fine........and the smog mechanic will see an EO cert number on the can..........but if he reads the number, and compares it to the list, he will find two things...#1 that the cat is for a chevy silverado 1500 with a 5.3 engine, and blow your tests.......#2 he will see that there is NO EO cert number for Nissan except the factory exhaust manifold and factory welded cat.
He'll blow your test for sure.
 
#23 ·
#22 ·
Am I wrong, I was under the impression that you had to have your smog tested in the county you live in. That the inspector matched your registration zip code and could only test if you were in the same county. That is why we can't go to someones" brother in law" across the state in another county to get the inspection.........am I wrong ?

Da flash
 
#24 · (Edited)
Justin, I followed your instructions on the magnaflow website, and when you push that highlighted part number....you don't get the picture of a cat ! You get a picture of magnaflows complete replacement exhaust header with attached cat.
are you going to cut off the cat, weld it to your new JBA shorty, and throw the magnaflow header away ?

even amazon has that part number available (#445500), and it doesn't seem to be just the CAT alone......it is the entire manifold and cat complete. The same one that Nightowl (CAJUN) says will crack twice as fast as the stock manifold.

I'm not trying to poop in your kool aid, but I think you may have made a mistake. I'm really hoping to see a California guy make a decision I can copy and have the ultimate California possible setup!
 
#25 ·
There is no cat only. RobKar has a good setup. We copied it for Godzilla's Titan. Cajun\Seymore provided all new parts and UpRev tune.
 
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#27 ·
There is no universal cat from Magnaflow that is carb compliant just the complete POS replacement manifold that is $850-$900 each. Several have went that route and were back to square one with failed cats within a year. The Magnaflow universal cats are not sold in California. Please call Maganflow and ask them personally just like I did. If there was a universal carb cat I would be all over it for you Ca guys needing shorties.
 
#28 ·
As I suspected, Nightowl, when mine crack, I'll take my social security check and make the move.......I'm just waiting to hear the CRAAACK,,,,,, wait I did last week......but that was only Napa rolling over
 
#30 · (Edited)
Yeah, this is an absolute nightmare.

I think one of my best options right now is going to be to drive it down to my house in Arizona, visit my grandparents, register it out there, get a local shop to fix it and then just go from there.

It's either that or go back to stock parts.
 
#31 ·
So not that it helps, but I'm going through the same thing. I've got the JBA shorties and a few other goodies on order through TAP & Cajun. My plan is to go to Marco Muffler on Auburn and they should be able to cut the old cats from the leaky manifolds and weld them to the shorties. Could get some crap from them because I'm asking them to separate a 1-piece manifold/cat but if CA didn't intend for that to happen then WTH would they grant the JBA shorties a CARB number.

The fab work is probably not going to be cheap, but its either that or bite the bullet with (a) new crappy nissan manifolds @ $1800-2000 installed or (b) find a used set off a wreck and wait for them to go south also. I see you're in Folsom, so if this works then I'll post the results and you can give them a shout.

Ultimately, I'd recommend anyone hearing a noise before 8yr/80K take it in and have it checked & replaced under warranty...
 
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#32 ·
Yeah, my problem is my cats are shot too, and from all this research, you cannot buy a set of CARB legal cats that are not attached to OEM style manifolds and run about $1600 in parts alone.

Let me know how it goes with your guy in Auburn.


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#33 ·
Buy\sell section on this site. I've picked up some good used for less than 300 bucks. Gotta be quick.
 
#34 ·
I had my manifolds replaced at 80k mi. They cracked within 20k. Ordered shorties, chopped the stock cats off the new(er) manifolds and had me welded up to my shorties. Piece of cake.
All labor for $190 snicker snicker. That shop quoted me low, and ended up regretting it.
 
#35 ·
I have thought about doing that as well. Need to talk to my shop about taking the cats off the magnaflow setup, welding them onto the JBAs and going from there, out of pocket would be the same amount, the only thing that has me worried is the quality of the Magnaflow cats - I have run Magnaflow parts before without issue, however, the "reviews" on here from other members leave me a little apprehensive
 
#36 ·
Just to add to the mix, I just called two compliant converter manufacturers. Valin Inc., and Miller Cat, they are both approved products for California. They knew the nissan issue right away. Both guys said they well know a lot of stuff is going on in peoples back yards, but "there is NO universal Cat that is legal to go on our cars since the factory used an integral system" He would not comment on the use of stock converter being welded to a JBA or other manifold.
 
#39 ·
Yeah, we established that already (actually, received my JBA headers in the mail today) - the issue were all currently complaining about is finding CARB legal Cats for the Titans, as nobody makes ONLY the Cats, they all make the whole manifold+cat assembly, so you either need stock cats, or ones off a Magnaflow assembly and the ability to cut them off and attach them to the JBAs.
 
#40 ·
Thanks man, I appreciate it.

The real pain with registering it in AZ is all the stuff that comes with it, such as proving residency (not a problem), then proving taxes paid to AZ, jury duty summons, etc etc etc etc

like I said before, just a damn nightmare.
 
#41 ·
Justin, you got it that's the picture, options for Stock cats........#1 cut them off your manifold and weld to JBA...#2 buy low mileage cats (or whole enchilada) at a junk yard....#3 at times eastern guys here on the forum sell their cracked manifold to we Californians, and we weld their cats to the JBA.

#3 does two things, it helps the eastern guys reduce their overall cost by selling the cracked setup to us. and if they are high mileage I'd flange the cat so that if it only last 20-30,000 miles they are easily replaceable with another replacement.
A $1,600 it's not really reasonable to buy magnaflow setups and cut off the cats.
at $800 per cat just don't make sense.
 
#42 ·
Funny thing is, Magnaflow setup plus the JBAs - still cheaper than buying stock manifolds setup brand new.
 
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