I found these on Ebay. 'OBX' stainless headers, Item #170336056842. Claimed to be direct bolt on w gaskets. This seems like a reasonable price.
Does anyone have experience w installing headers on an ES, and with this brand in particular? I'm sure there's a bit of adjusting to be done. And is there enough of a performance and sound improvement to make it worth doing?

 

some have claimed that the headers will do little and that a good flowing downpipe is the best exhaust modification for these engines

 

Not really worth it.

 

The worst part of the OEM exhaust is the y-pipe. The headers are so/so.

Not sure how much power it will add on a stock 1MZ (although, I;m sure a tad), but if your putting out more then stock power, it is a deffinate power gain.

 

Boy I wish they made headers for the 3VZ-FE engines n to make 'em for us would be expensive. I had a OBX header for my old corolla and the power is very noticable.

 

i dont know to whom those pictures belong, but that was a fiest for my eyes... the repair job on the apparently damaged exhaust stud [i got same repair], the front motor mount [strut thingy] replace with a solid bolt, the super charger, the slave cylinder [geesh that's rare on a 1mzfe... i wonder what the story is ], the optima red stop implying he has a big stereo [ which doesn't equate in my mind to the present engine mods does not compute does not compute]

 

^^^^ -_-


huh?

 

It;s my friends '94 Camry from Canada. He went to NYU (JUST graduated), so he'd park his car at my place instead of in the city.

'94 1MZ Camry with an E153 5-speed swap with a TRD SC @ 7PSI.

The best thing you can do to the exhaust is get a custom y-pipe, and unfortunatley, the OBX one will not work without using thier headers (Both a JP Performance Copy, and pretty well made too actually)

As for the Torque Rod (Tranny), I make them. I also make a Dogbone Rod (that I will ONLY sell to people who legitimately need it, due to the extra stress it causes on other items) Which is why I've only made them for 3 people.

 

E 153, or E 53?
my car's tranny is E 53, but i guess the e 153 might fit just the same?

do you think the torque rod ,located in place of the motor mount that looks like a strut, will eliminate the bad wheel hop on our cars on launch? or...? what are your thoughts

 

Thats EXACTLY what it is for actually. It reduces, if not fully eliminates, the wheel hop. There has got to be 100 Camry's and Solara's with them now. I think I've sold over 40 of them, between the US, Canada, and Australia. The person who used ot make them before me (Jim, which is why they are named Jim's Torque Rod), I know sold over 40 of them.

As for the tranny, the E53 was mated to the 3VZ. The E153 was mated ot the 1MZ. the tranny's are interchangeable, with the only other thing needing to be changed beign the axle's (Different length's). My friend in Australia is swapping an E153 tranny in his '99 Camry right now, and just needs different axle's, which I;m likely getting this weekend and shipping him.

Wow, this thread got off topic fast......

As for the original poster, if you go to www.SolaraGuy.com , your best bet is to wait till another "Dat's Y-Pipe" comes up for sale. they tend to every couple of months, and should cost $150-$200. That will help the biggest restriction on the exhaust. You can also read about it. It will be a lot cheaper then doing the OBX headers and y-pipe, as a mechanic's labor will likely be 6 hours due to the rear header being hard to install.

 

hmm since you guys have mods that would boost the low end torque, it would seem that the e53 is the best to use, unless the axles from the automatic 1mzfe already fit the e153-- that case would be cheaper - though the manual's axles are probably a lot more durable and stronger...

 

The 1MZ/3VZ Auto/Manual axels are all the same thickness. Only difference being the length.

The E153 is a better tranny from everything I hear. I'm not too to oknowledgeable on Manual tranny's, but I have a couple friends (And one in the middle of) an Auto to Manual swap. The E153 has better synro's.

 

Thanks to all for your input.
That's some impressive handywork, ASG. And thanks for the Solaraguy tip. My ES is my daily driver, so I'm opting for a downpipe only, and to keep the few brain cells I have left alive, I'm going to have to go stock and change it this weekend. Just lucky my commute is only a couple of miles and it's been warm.
LL-Where in Jersey? I'm in beautiful Jersey City.

 

Enjoy the potholes! :-P

I-95 in NJ sucks. I now have 25 cat eye looking cracks in my windshield from Feb when a truck hit a bump unloading gravel in front of me. Then tire tread came off a truck a few weeks ago and smashed into my bumper leaving marks on it and the headlight.....

 

Hey, I 95 sucks from the Canadian border to Miami. What were you doing BEHIND the truck? You've got a turbo!!