TC3G89

I was just about to order a set of Stainless Works 1 3/4 to 3" today actually. i can get a good price on these ($600) but did a last minute search and just saw an old thread on OBX ($400 eBay brand) headers and they were saying the fitment was great, they've lasted from what some posters said and they are T304 stainless. I am definitely not one for eBay brand crap, but is it possible that these headers aren't garbage? they LOOK very similar to the SW but they only offer a 2.5" collector which is not a deal breaker for me. they do come with a y pipe that i will be throwing away but regardless the price is very attractive. between these two brands and the prices considered, which would you choose? i'm heavily leaning towards SW but am curious about the OBX. i've already ruled out Hooker, Hedman Husler, Doug's, etc...

Thanks guys!

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

For 200 more Id get the SW. where do you get them that cheap?

TC3G89

I'm a sales rep for a Stainless Works dealer. We get good discounts on certain things

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

My latest order is still verifying lol. Get back to work ; )

Good deal indeed....if only

TC3G89

Hahaha I will be back to work shortly. Working here and seeing the variations in "similar appearing" parts I already know better. I'm just trying to be cheap and save $200 in hopes someone would make me feel better about it! Seeing how many people on here would rather run shorties than a T304 long tube that tucks up as nice as the SW/OBX design does made me weary in the first place....can they really be that bad?

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

No they are not bad. Recently did 2 sets. Collectors can be cut and then they are anythung up to 3 inches. Prinaries are 1-3/4

See gerrutcamaro thread or anasthes ebay header tgread. They are lesser quality than 304 but not real bad. Commonly need bolt holes dressed a bit...that's it.

TC3G89

Awesome! I appreciate your input. If it was just some finish work on some bolt holes and cutting the collector I could see it worth saving $200 but if they aren't a true 304, I'll be going with the SW for sure. That's worth it to me.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

Well, they are stainless sorta, just a little lower alloying that std for 304

w41duvernay

How much power are you planning to get out of the engine. w/1.75" primaries and 3" collectors you would have to be making around 500 to 600 hps. I would recommend you get a headers by Ed catalogue FIRST. If your building a street car with a standard hop up mods, Really, I would look at getting the Flowtech stuff, and getting some 1.5" primary tubes, and 2 2.5" collectors, and find a fabricator and turn it into a long tube header.

shugart111

i would strongly recommend against anything with less then a 1 5/8 primary for performance. Even my previous car with a stock LO3 loved hedmans long tubes with 1 5/8 and gained power everywhere compared to the flowtechs that were on it before.

but for your original question ive ordered some exhaust from obx for my civic and was very impressed with the quality for the price.

w41duvernay

A 1.5" primary header can easily handle up to 300 hp with a decent collector + design, I've run the same size in a 250 hp Quad 4, with no restriction. Like I said, we need to find out what power level the gentleman wants, and go from there. 1.625" headers are plentiful, but the most I've seen want Big Bucks w/ a 3" collector, which is horrible for that size of primary tube. Most of the header design out there for a street 305 in a f-body are horrible!

TC3G89

Engine specs:

383 Eagle/Manley/Icon assembly 10.5:1, gapless rings, TEA 220 heads angle milled, Wilson ported Mowtown, AED Pro 750, cam is solid roller 254/260 @ .050" .672" lift on a 114* it has Crower shafts, PSI springs, etc etc (parts were originally for a 12:1 360 project i was doing but decided to change the bottom end)

i'm expecting around 600hp NA at sea level but i live at 4500 ft so anywhere over 500hp i'll be happy. i will also be spraying on top of it all (250+) once i get the rest of the car done hopefully the end of this year. i am spraying 150 on the TPI set up right now. that's why i want the 1-3/4" headers. this is primarily a street car but i do spray. if it were a designated race car or nitrous engine i would be looking at some 1-7/8"

thanks for looking out though! that's why i love this place =]

TC3G89

also fit and finish are VERY important to me. to be honest i was originally looking at the Huslers but i am trying to keep my AC box in tact. If you guys are saying i'll be happy with the OBX i may just have to give them a try...

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

Sounds like you need something like this:



396SBC
reworked Dart Pro1s
255/263 @.050 .668lift 112LCA

Those are 2" primary hustlers.

TC3G89

yes, that was the original plan. should have been almost 700hp @ 7,500-8,000 rpm on race gas....but at the time i had two third gens...one was going to be my DD and the other my race/street car.....i had to sell one of the projects so i decided to merge them together. like i said 1-7/8 was the original intentions, but trying to retain the DD characteristics as much as possible just means i will have to spray more =) as a matter of fact i have some parts i can't use anymore i should post on here haha including a Hedman 1-7/8 weld up kit!

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

The hedman weld up kit, for what type header is it? same as above? if so I'm interested

TC3G89

it's their part number 12022 basically a bend kit with (4) 90* (4) 120* and (10) 180* 16-gauge. none of their kits come with flanges and this one doesn't have collectors either because i was going to mess around with standard in lengths as well as merge. i had access to free chassis dyno time at one point during the build.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

They are closer to 409.

-- Joe

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

What??


-- Joe

TC3G89

I did look into Headers by Ed but apparently they aren't making headers right now. And lead time. I need them sooner than later. The rest of the project is waiting...

TC3G89

So I ordered the SW headers. I received them today and I must say NICE! I'm very happy with my decision. They are beautiful. The only complaint I have (and maybe it's because I'm not and engineer) is the collector. They are perfect in every way except they use the 1.75"-2.5" collector and just expand the 2.5" to 3" I don't know maybe it makes a "high velocity merge" type of effect but it seems kinda cheap/lazy to me, the consumer, not to use a true 1.75"-3" collector. They did it right. They did a good job doing what they did, I'm just not sure if I agree with that method. On the plus side they expand them to 3" OD so it's easy to adapt any type of slip on muffler/extension/insert/etc.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

Do they expand that nexcked down section at the end? I would cut it off and weld an expansion to where they started that necked down section. Like this:

TC3G89

These are the pictures of them. That's what I was thinking about doing. But that's more $$$....maybe worth it. I think I'll run them how they are first.

TC3G89

Ok not sure why the other pictures didn't work...i'll try again in the morning.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

has a nice merge bullet for sure, you don't see that on most headers

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

How much were they ?

A lot of us have been going with the OBX stainless. Cost is low, and they are 1 3/4".

-- Joe

TC3G89

trying to post the pics again. I got a really good price because i'm a dealer but they retail at summit for $927 to your door. again, they are so nice. i did notice they have changed their flanges as well as the location for the O2 bung. i guess they got enough feed back about the sensor hitting the floor with some guys.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

that's a beautiful merge collector. Leave as is. You can really see the price difference with the chinese copies here

TC3G89

cool, thanks for confirming that. i didn't think they would have such an amazing header and do something "hokey" like that to finish it off...i just wasn't expecting it. i suppose with this being such a short collector the merge type may be of benefit in our particular application??? like i said, i'm not an engineer and still learning about this stuff. but seeing the other brand merge collectors (dynatech, kooks, schoenfeld, etc.) they seem to have more of a neck-down area making it look like a more drastic "merge" either way, i am very happy with the quality of the headers. i will post how well they fit and maybe take some pictures of the install i will be doing this weekend with my t5 swap Thanks for the feedback!

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

I dunno. I think for 1/4 the price the chinese perform just as well. Even with a crappy collector, I don't see a noticeable difference in power.

-- Joe

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

I meant in workmanship. I decrapified the collector.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

I agree. Just saying, for most of us rednecks that just want to go fast, the cheaper chinese ones are the better deal.

-- Joe

TC3G89

"Better deal" is relative. I honestly probably wouldn't have spent $1,000 on headers even if they were these coated....but I got a good deal I couldn't pass up =)

SuperRamFormula

iTrader: (1)

Headers look very well made. I highly recommend having them coated. I installed my first set of SLP SS shortys and the heat that came off these headers was incredible. Melted the steering shaft boot. I removed them and had them coated, then by Jet Hot. What a differance! Underhood temps dropped dramatically. Saved my plug wires and some electrical wires and connectors. That was 15 years ago headers still look great. Although I've got a set of the OBX SS headers and y-pipe that I hope to get installed when the weather warms up. I have to say they look pretty well made. I got the headers, y-pipe and had them both coated total cost around $600-$700. Although sounds like you got a great deal on a extremely well made American product I probably would've gone with the SSW headers also.

TC3G89

My friend can actually Cerakote them for me for $175 so I'd be in them under $800 total. Only problem is I am trying to get my car running for next week. I don't like sharing a car with the Mrs. They are going to be coming out shortly anyway (6 months or so) when I install my 383 so I might just do it then. Have you guys had any experience with using header wrap on the stainless? I've had mild steel wrapped plenty of times before with great luck in terms of keeping heat down and the headers lasting OK. I know it stresses the metal a lot keeping all that heat in there and I didn't care with the less expensive sets haha but these ones matter to me. I guess it voids the lifetime warranty which is one of the reasons I got these headers but if I wrap them now then coat them later I don't think they would be able to tell if anything were to happen later on down the road. Either way, how detrimental would it be to wrap these headers? Will they hold up better or worse than mild steel? Should I risk it? It is a daily driver at this time if that makes a difference. Thanks

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

So, this is good advice depending on the application. For the slower street cars that don't produce high EGTs, the coating will survive many years and look nice.

For guys with blowers, huge cams + heads, etc typically our EGTs are very high and even the best thermal coatings fail.

I realize you had some good luck with coating the headers and reducing heat in the engine bay, but the problem more than likely was actually your exhaust. On cars with a free flowing, high cfm exhaust, I've never seen a noticeable difference on coated vs uncoated headers using a laser thermometer.


-- Joe

TC3G89

well right now, like i mentioned before, it is a bone stock L98 with a 150 shot. however, soon i will putting in the 383 i mentioned earlier in the post. i think that would be a good time to have them coated. my exhaust i basically a short 30* elbow, bullet muffler and a turn down. any experience with header wrap on t304 stainless headers?

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Header wrap destroys headers.

-- Joe

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

Not stainless, had wrapped 304 downpipes on my turbos for a loooong time, apart from very dark discoloration no issues. Have wrapped quite a few stainless headers, never an issue

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

I suspect climate might have a lot to do with it. In this part of the US, temperature swings 50+ degrees day to day. Lots of condensation.

A lot of guys with Harley's run stainless pipes and wrap them to keep their legs from burning. I've seen quite a few failures like the picture attached.

-- Joe

TC3G89

joe, was that a 304 grade stainless? we get pretty bad high/low temperature swings over here as well. i didn't think about downpipes....i know some guys that have wrapped downpipes and haven't had issues. but that's them and this is me haha i don't want to take that chance on my beautiful headers! i would hate myself if my headers fell apart from wrapping them.

IROCZ1989

iTrader: (1)

Can you get board members a good deal on a set?

TC3G89

It never hurts to ask, but no sorry. That's a big no no over here. I'll be glad to let everyone know about sales though!

TC3G89

Twin_Turbo was that your injected 396 btw?

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

You work for summit right?

Why don't they carry procomp/speedmaster ? I've been having to buy from Jegs lately.

-- Joe

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

The wrapped one? No the 396 has steel hedman hustlers brand new never run.

mrestrictrplate

iTrader: (2)

Those SW headers are nice. I need to save up for them. I saw the OBX on ebay a while ago and didn't pull the trigger.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

That was a mistake.

-- Joe

mrestrictrplate

iTrader: (2)

You used OBX? They looked like a great deal being 1 3/4 but I didn't know about fitment at the y pipe etc.

mrestrictrplate

iTrader: (2)

Where would you mount cats w those headers?