AcuraTLSFan

I had my OBX headers on for 5 months, and last week may car started to make loud clicking noise. PPL from this forum told me that it is most likely a exhaust leak. Took to dealer, they won't touch it, took to muffler/exhaust shop, they had problem finding it. So i let the engine cool down and i found it. It's a small crack at the weld on the rear upper center header.

What should i do? It's probabaly difficult to fix it without taking the entire header off; but i do'nt want to remove the entire thing, it's gonna cost another $150. Is it a "doable" job without taking it off? Will OBX give me a new one under warranty? What do you guys think i should do...any suggestion.

kevin79925

shoulda went with the comptechs! take it to a weilding shop and see if they can do it without taking out the headers... if not you prolly gonna have to get them taken out.. so your prolly gonna spend 150 to get them off then 150 to get them back on plus about 25-50 depending on weilder to fix em...

allmotor_2000

It's tough to fix that without taking it off....

allmotor_2000

What I'd do is take it off... take it to off and fix it the same day and put it back on

power3dfx

obx has a warranty, so you might want to contact them just in case you decide the welding job will be too expensive. maybe they can send you a front header and you send them back yours?

dajuice27

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check mine out as well just to be safe.

Kevin 79925, do you have CT headers?

kevin79925

used to have ct headers and exhaust... but i got 750 dolla ticket for racing... so i sold both to friend for 1000 for his accord.

J.T.'s 3.2CL

Should have bought the Comptech and you would not have to go through installing/uninstalling/fixing/installing again.

Chopsie

Were these OBX's the ceramic or the stainless steel ?

I ask because I am thinking of getting the stainless steel .

civic4982

Chopper, you've got headers?

Sorry about that OBX header, but with lower quality control you should expect that every once in a while there'll be a problem with this...

Still, even if you buy a new OBX header for just that manifold you'll still be paying TONS less than someone with a Comptech that they paid anywhere from 950 to I think they're going for 1125 from Dean now.

shit, you could be 3 sets almost for the price Dean is listing now.

YuppieCL

damn.... how does one crack their header? pure workmanship flaw?

i was looking to get the obx. i cant justify spending that kind of coin for the comptechs especially when the obx are prolly just as good. i'm hoping this was a fluke.

anyways, good luck in getting them fixed. i'm sure obx would send u a new header if u sent them back your defective one....

civic4982

a crack right there was just pure workmanship flaw. It couldn't handle the heat and pressure coming out of there and eventually wore away and cracked.

I hope that OBX covers that header. Still, it'll mean that you'll be without a car for a few days to say the least. Hopefully they'll send you a rear or front bank header without having to ship it to them.

Chopsie

Nope but looking to get some. I can't justify dishing out the cash for the CT's, If I had a 6 speed I would go CT all the way.
Did yours arrive yet ?
After seeing your car saturday, I am having my CT springs installed this week .

civic4982

chopper: mine still haven't arrived yet but hopefully they'll arrive sometime this week. As for the headers go ahead and get some OBXes. No reason to spend that much money on CT. Lotsa ppl have OBX with no problems. If I had a 5AT I'd get OBX.

AK_MOBBER

take it to a muffler shop. Ask for their best welder and they should be able to fix that without taking it off.

I would reccomend an electric welder as opposed to an oxy-acetylene welder. You will be able to get a tighter weld in a smaller area. Even if you have to take the header off that will only take 15 seconds to weld.

AcuraTLSFan

Yeah, it's unlucky that it happened to me. The quality of OBX might be inferior to CT but it's surely cheaper than CT. If i do have to fix it for another $150 which i don't want to do, it'll still be cheaper then CT.

This problem is probably 1 in a few cases, but if i had to do it again, i'll probably go with obx again.

BRCLS

What do you meen a clicking noise? was it only when your engine was off and cooling?

my stones do that it sounds more like a dong or if I lightly thumped my mufler
does that mean I have an exahust leak?
would that decrease power substantially?

sonor kid

All I can say is examine a set of Comptech headers next to the OBX's and you'll understand why the Comptech's are so much more money. There is really no comparison between the two, the Comptech's are superior in every way.
They sound better, made better and carb legal to boot.
Anyway, I had the OBX's and they leaked, as the flanges were all warped. I sent the headers back to OBX and they replaced them, so they do honor their product, I'll give them that.
I'm sure they'll take care of you but you may want to say fuck it and buy the Comptech's, worth every penny!

civic4982

whatever, I would never say "fuck it" and spend $800 more... if they honor their product then to them.

AcuraTLSFan

The clicking noise is a progressive clicking noise directly proportional to accleration. It's only when ur car is on, most noticeable above 2k RPM. One of the members on this board told me the "clicking" noise is due to the values opening and closing.

u probably won't have a substantially decrease in power.


sonor kid
I'm sure that CT is worth every penny. And if i had $1000 for headers alone i would've gotten them. But for $1000, i got headers, intake, exhaust and sways.

And to people who says you spent $32K on a car, why not spend $1k on headers. Well, i have to work my ass off and make sacrifics just to get $32K, so i went with OBX because it was cheaper for the same product, but as seen, the quailtiy might not be as good.

darrinb

obx should replace it, thats y i say if you got the $$$ go w/ comptech

sonor kid

I'm not trying to be a snob here guys, if you can't afford anything more than the OBX's and you can't wait, take your chances with them.
I did and got burned, so I'm a little different case. I didn't really have the money either but I found some room on the charge card and now I'm glad I did it.
Call OBX, if you bought them through a dealer, go through them.
Or call Tommy at OBX direct, a nice guy who replaced mine and mine were new off Ebay, not through a dealer either.

NOVAwhiteTypeS

sooner or later quality will catch up.

cost of OBX
150 for install
150 for uninstall
100 for weld (estimate
150 for install
time + headache to worry install/uninstall/install = can't put a price

Plus if it happens again w/ the replacement unit...

bottom line if you have extra money go w/ comptech if u don't want headaches after install.

Nashua_Night_Hawk

And one word. There are dozens of other Stones/OBX just working fine.

It might need a bit more attention to follow the instructions for the installation.
You may have a crack or a bad weld points one or 2 in a 100 sets (It could even happen for a Comptech headers too!).
But it is a GREAT Value once installed.

This is my honest opinion.

Chopsie

Directed to AcuraTLSfan

allmotor_2000

You forget the $$ value of the CARB certification when it comes time for the SMOG test (add $150 for uninstall and $150 for re-install every two years) - at least in CA!

AcuraTLSFan

Stainless steal. The reason it look tarnished is because all SS will turn a orangish color. And the other brown stuff is beucae there were still oil and wd-40 on it when the car was turned on. It won't come off. make sure the headers are cleaned off before turning on ur car.

AcuraTLSFan

hey allmotor...do they really check for carb cert. parts? I got my INJEN intake while they were carb pending, now they are carbed approved, i e-mailed them for a sticker, but i get no reply. I bought it off e-bay, they want a invoice and they will send the sticker to the store...what can i do?

civic4982

AcuraTLSFan: unless they can really tell the parts have been replaced, they won't check for it. If you'r that scared just put a heat shield over the top of your headers and they won't ever know. :It's not like it has OBX written all over it.

As for the Injen that's easily noticeable so yo ushould probably get papers for it or just bolt on the stock airbox for inspection. It only takes about 30 minutes to take one off and put the other on.

Exhausts and Intakes are usaully the only things they notice.

AcuraTLSFan

The OEM heat shield doens't fit on the OBX....since teh OBX tags is on the rear header, it doesn't really look like aftermarket part...but OEM aren't made out of stainles steel.

Shawn S

You get what you pay for.
I stick to my original opinion that OBX is CRAP !!!

CRAP material
CRAP welds
CRAP tolerance levels
CRAP flange machining

I know most people are running just fine with them, but with the number of install nightmares and noise issues I can’t believe people are still buying these.

Shawn S

sonor kid

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nashua_Night_Hawk
[B]And one word. There are dozens of other Stones/OBX just working fine.

I'm sure many sets are working fine at this point in time but come talk to me in another year and it may be a different picture.
They are not basically the same product either, IMHO the quality is night and day.

CLS2001_97124

Money OWNZZZ...

AcuraTLSFan,

When you contact OBX, make sure you ask them if they are willing to pick up the tab for the unistall/install cost in order to put the new header on. Or at least get them to spilt it.

Good luck!

bigman

A friend of mine had his ceramic headers replaced by obx free of charge with ss headers. The customer service is great. I have had mine for almost a year with no prblems, so if this happens to one guy, dont consider the product cheap. Back in the day comptech had its fair share if fitment and resonance issues, but no one remembers that right. Also look at stone and its problems. You dont always get what you pay for, because i know many people with expensive things that break and they have to pay an arm and a leg to fix or replace them.

sonor kid

Bigman, the product is cheap, which is why they only cost $350.00.
Hold the two products in your hands and examine, you'll agree that there is a big difference in quality.
The OBX's work, don't get me wrong, they are not built to last and that's the bottom line here.
Down the road the OBX's are going to have some issues.
I also believe that many of the sets out there are leaking slightly, which is where the resonance is coming from.
Almost all of my flanges were warped slightly and leaked, which caused me to blow a few gaskets.
OBX sent the new parts and they were warped as well.
There are no inside welds on these headers whatsoever, so there isn't much holding them together.
They will eventually crack in my opinion and if not, you got lucky.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

I don't see why this turned into a Comptech vs Stone vs OBX debate... I don't think his question was which header is better, his question was that he wanted to know the best way to fix the header problem he's having.

Bottom line is that there are many people running Stone, OBX, and Comptech headers with no problems.... and there are more with no problems then there are with. If you guys want to start the 82nd debate about headers, do a search and read the old topics about it.....

CrockPot

sonor kid...no offense, but just about every post i've seen from you is comptech headers = better quality than OBX. we all know your story by now, please give it a rest.:P

civic4982

so yeah, send it back to them. don't repair it. don't cost yourself more money. as a matter of fact don't even send it back to them yet. just show them a picture and have them send you a new rear or front bank header (whichever is damaged) and ask for a new one.

Shawn S

I understand what you’re saying, but it’s hard to NOT turn this into a “quality” discussion when we’re staring into that big HONKIN HOLE where the weld is supposed to be.

As for my “repair” opinion, I believe that the header WILL have to be removed to be fixed.
If it was welded in place you’re going to get all kinds of weld “splatter” into the exhaust manifold and down the pipe towards the Catalytic Converter.
That wouldn’t be a good thing.

Even once it’s fixed this still might not be the end of the problem.
Heating that area up by welding might cause the surrounding area to fail at a later date.
Especially if there’s excessive stress from forcing the alignment during install.

Shawn S

sonor kid

Sorry to beat an old horse here but I keep seeing posts that state the OBX's are the same as the Comptech's and they're not.
I once thought the same thing myself and learned the hard way. If these people really knew what the differences were, they wouldn't make those statements.
Mostly these are people who have not seen both and take the word of others.
I just hate to see people go through what I did.
I'll drop it now.