Long tube headers are headers; they have nothing to do with having or not having a cat. Long tubes are long primaries and the JBP has long primay tubes. Shorty's have short tubes straight from the head to a flange with only a short distance in between. Yes, a conventional long tube desingn has longer, straighter tubes, but the JBP is much more than a shorty, so call it a HYBRID that's a great new description for just about anything in between. BTW, the point is not to have to buy a whole system. You can use OE exhaust components or upgrade piece by piece, this is why.