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Bought some high quality GS4 exhaust parts - OBX/Megan!
Thank you ebay sellers for the cheap piping. I will likely order a set of PPE headers, but figured I would give the OBX a torture test first, given that they are so damn cheap they are practically disposable. These parts will all be installed next week if everything goes as planned, along with new megan engine mounts and FIGS sway bars.
The OBX headers: gaskets are cheapies, recommend ordering OEM. Runner inlets are 1.5", header flange outlets are 2 3/8."
They don't look half bad at a glance...
but are clearly made cheaply. Two of the runners are not welded circumferentially. Not sure about this one mount being notched. Are all manifolds like that?
Spotted a couple of pinholes.
Large lip on outlet flange- ported smooth on one side of flange but not the other...
Some pretty abrupt edges where the runners meet the flange at the heads.
Megan Y-pipe for SC430- a 4" extension apparently adapts this piping to the GS400. Inlet measures 2 3/8", outlet measures more like 2 1/4". These are inner diameter measurements obtained with a tape measure!
Inside of the flex-section- known for making exhaust whistling noise. I will remove this and replace with a different style flex section.
Stay tuned! The car already has an SRT intake, coil overs and every Figs bushing available. There are only a few rubber parts left on this car, and we are planning to identify them when everything is torn apart next week. Most of my original bushings were shot due to drying out- this is on a 2000 GS400 with 60k original miles!
All that extra work for a brand new set of headers? I can understand having to remove the steering heat shield, as I was told to do the same thing as well. But the rest just shows a lack of any form of quality control... and I'm not even going to get into my speculations on whether or not they dyno tested them. Should've just went with PPE.
The Megan pipe is cool though other than the fact it doesn't fit without an extension.
I can understand our experience levels differ, but having TIG a set of brand new headers? To me, that would be a deal breaker as it's difficult enough finding a custom shop of ANY kind in Germany much less one that can do welding and doesn't charge an absurd amount. On top of that, they need to additional grinding as well? No thanks...
Of course, this is all my opinion. If whomever purchases these believe that they're worth the price regardless of any potential "extra steps", then I'm happy for them and hope they perform flawlessly
...and yeah, Pacesetter headers are total garbage, I had a set on my old Pontiac Sunfire back in 2001
rw, those certainly look good from a glance but as they say you get what you pay for. For the price a few touchup ups ins't bad hopefully you have good welder. As far as bushings.. i'm in the process of replacing the rubber bushings as well... Just got in front end links for my TRD sway, tie rods, caster arms (from Sewell), ball joints are somewhat new. installed them in 2008 but car hasn't been driven much.. I plan on installing caster arms myself after seeing the DIY... my car has 73k miles and the caster arm bushings are cracked and worn.. also ordered motor and tranny mounts from sewell.. not sure when i'll get them installed but car idles fine. curious to get your opinion on the SC430 pipe. after seeing the stock Y-pipe its certainly restricted compared to the SC430. keep us posted
Thanks for the info guys. As I said, I knew in advance these were not high quality headers... bottom line, if they don't crack, they are good enough for me. It isn't as though they are likely to cause catastrophic failure of any kind, it would just be the trouble of installing another set (how bad can it be the second time around?). I have several buddies with TIG welders and I am planning to purchase one and have a friend teach me anyway, so I have the ability to do stuff like this in the future for my own projects.
Angus- I was counting on porting out the header-to-cat flanges. My buddy has a grinder with air tools and this will only take him a few minutes. We are planning to keep the steering shield and just trim it as needed. I bought new OEM gaskets for the heads. What do you mean when you say you cut between each runner? You cut right through the exhaust flange entirely??? Did it not line up properly without doing this?
NorthStyle- I would not have purchased these headers if I didn't have the ability to take care of the small issues, including fitment. There is no shortage of threads with people complaining about the PPE headers and fitment issues, having to send them back, etc. I DO realize you get what you pay for. If these crack mid-summer, I will toss them in the scrap bin and order some PPE. I would prefer to make a custom exhaust from the cats back, but I need to buy a welder and develop some skills first, since paying someone else to do that kind of work isn't cost effective.
Thanks for the info guys. As I said, I knew in advance these were not high quality headers... bottom line, if they don't crack, they are good enough for me. It isn't as though they are likely to cause catastrophic failure of any kind, it would just be the trouble of installing another set (how bad can it be the second time around?). I have several buddies with TIG welders and I am planning to purchase one and have a friend teach me anyway, so I have the ability to do stuff like this in the future for my own projects.
Angus- I was counting on porting out the header-to-cat flanges. My buddy has a grinder with air tools and this will only take him a few minutes. We are planning to keep the steering shield and just trim it as needed. I bought new OEM gaskets for the heads. What do you mean when you say you cut between each runner? You cut right through the exhaust flange entirely??? Did it not line up properly without doing this?
NorthStyle- I would not have purchased these headers if I didn't have the ability to take care of the small issues, including fitment. There is no shortage of threads with people complaining about the PPE headers and fitment issues, having to send them back, etc. I DO realize you get what you pay for. If these crack mid-summer, I will toss them in the scrap bin and order some PPE. I would prefer to make a custom exhaust from the cats back, but I need to buy a welder and develop some skills first, since paying someone else to do that kind of work isn't cost effective.
You can port the runners but I would weld them up first.
The heat shield is so small and you'll see that how it gets in the way - it's just better to take it off, it's only a couple tack welds, it just pays off.
Yes, I cut through the flange entirely, effectively making each runner separate - this is common practice for most headers. If you look at the stock manifolds, they are separated into 2+2 - the big difference is that the stock flanges are floating so they can still move around by themselves. No problem with them not lining up - it might spring a bit - but that can be "adjusted".
As far as these cracking - I doubt it, they seem pretty thick and I've had them on a few months of hard driving with no issue. I suspect that the stainless material these are made from is the same as their turbo manifolds and those have been pretty good in the past few years.
I think all the bad stories you hear about OBX are from many years ago when they first started out - think about it, if they just kept making garbage, they wouldn't be around this long - would they? They must have learned something over the years.
Also worth mentioning re: your bushings, the only rubber bushings in the suspension are the caster arms, and the lower, inner control arms in front, the uppers are spherical *****.
Also, the stock manifolds are such a garbage design, I cannot see how anyone would not want to upgrade to these - sure it would be nice to just drop $900 on a set of PPE - but they are not even stainless, and with the cost of these cars dropping to where it is, who wants to spend - say 1/2 of what the car costs, just to get headers?
I just received my obx headers from ebay here at my shop and they look pretty decent. the welds are consistent and where they couldn't reach on the outside pipes they welded internally and ground smooth. Im actually impressed with the size tubing and the overall appearance. worth every penny I think. HOWEVER!!!! I'm going to be modifying these babies. I've done extensive research into the field of exhaust theory and design along with header design and I've concluded that to gain more low end torque on my 430 with these headers I'm going to cut the large flanges off that bolt to the cats and weld on some stainless 45 degree 8 inch long collector extensions. The science says that will help with the velocity and smooth transition of the gases. So needless to say I will have to purchase some after market high flow low cell count cats. I've decided to go with magnaflow p/n 59956 times two. They are only 200 cell count which will almost be no restriction to flow but be just enough to cut back on the fuel smell compared to no cats. Than I will replace the rest of the exhaust system back with multiple pieces of mandrel bent 2 1/2 inch stainless piping from Columbia river. all the piping only ads up to 165 smackers so not bad for 2 1/2 all the way back. One question though, Does your drivers side header front cylinder pipe stick way out further than the pass. side front pipe? mine does.
I just received my obx headers from ebay here at my shop and they look pretty decent. the welds are consistent and where they couldn't reach on the outside pipes they welded internally and ground smooth. Im actually impressed with the size tubing and the overall appearance. worth every penny I think. HOWEVER!!!! I'm going to be modifying these babies. I've done extensive research into the field of exhaust theory and design along with header design and I've concluded that to gain more low end torque on my 430 with these headers I'm going to cut the large flanges off that bolt to the cats and weld on some stainless 45 degree 8 inch long collector extensions. The science says that will help with the velocity and smooth transition of the gases. So needless to say I will have to purchase some after market high flow low cell count cats. I've decided to go with magnaflow p/n 59956 times two. They are only 200 cell count which will almost be no restriction to flow but be just enough to cut back on the fuel smell compared to no cats. Than I will replace the rest of the exhaust system back with multiple pieces of mandrel bent 2 1/2 inch stainless piping from Columbia river. all the piping only ads up to 165 smackers so not bad for 2 1/2 all the way back. One question though, Does your drivers side header front cylinder pipe stick way out further than the pass. side front pipe? mine does.
You should read up on the testing JBrady did with these engines a while back when he was working on getting the S&S (and subsequently PPE) headers produced... A lot of good information concerning the 2GS V8's with regards to performance exhausts and such.
I'm over in the UK and have been contemplating getting headers. For me it's an import from America job. I have a welder who can do pretty much any type of welding and do it really well. I was thinking of going OBX knowing that I may have to do some work to them.
I'm over in the UK and have been contemplating getting headers. For me it's an import from America job. I have a welder who can do pretty much any type of welding and do it really well. I was thinking of going OBX knowing that I may have to do some work to them. Would you guys recommend I go down that route?
see if your welder can do custom headers? is that an option
02-26-15, 04:33 PM
Bought some high quality GS4 exhaust parts - OBX/Megan!
