Last nite, when I left work, I heard noises from under the hood. I pulled over, checked and found out it was exhause leak coming from the back headers area. Woke up at 6AM. Checked the bolts, they were there. I was praying for heathy welding joints. Everything was fine until I stuck a mirror down to look at the back headers

 

Once again I say OBX=SHIT
They are ALL gonna fail eventually.

 

Damn sorry to hear that Silver. What are you going to do?

 

Shawn and other OBX bashers,

No flame please. I dont wanna turn this thread into another CT>OBX war. I just wanted to share the info so other members can make their decision wisely.

 

I sent an email to SSAutoChrome and asked to instruction.

Does anyone know the official homepage for OBX?

Is it www.obxperformance.com?

 

I know what you’re saying, but everyone was bashing ME when I pointed out the crappy welds when these things first went on the market.
Most said they were “just cosmetic” and it didn’t matter. Now the things are failing left & right.
And then the Comptech owners are berated with “you paid too much” comments.

Face it….It’s gonna happen whenever this subject comes up.

Shawn S

 

shawn, dont be so dramatic. they arent failing LEFT AND RIGHT, as you say. out of probably 30-50 OBX owners on this board, maybe, what? 2? 3??? have had a weld crack or had any type of problem like this?? thats not exactly LEFT AND RIGHT. not to mention, OBX has a lifetime warranty, so he will be getting a replacement for free. sure, if he doesnt do the install himself, that may cost a few bucks, but even with the cost of the extra installation, hes still HUNDREDS of dollars below what comptech costs.....

i went with OBX when i had my CL-S and i ran 1/4 mile times that we've never seen a CL-S with just headers and no other mods match to this day. proving to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that they PERFORM as they should. had they cracked or a weld broke before i got rid of the CL-S, yeah, that wouldve left a sour taste in my mouth,but in the end, id have gotten a new set of headers for free, AND i did the install myself, so it wouldnt cost me a penny more over the 335 i spent on the OBX. id still go with OBX today and id reccomend it HIGHLY to anyone with an automatic CL-S, regardless of this very small and unfrequent problem, its still only 1/3 the price for equal performance gains.

 

what type of noise were u hearing ive been having a nasty rattling noise lately and now that u said that i might think the same happend to my obx's! get back to me i prefer a pm!

 

You remember what you ran Jim? Just curious.

 

14.39@99.37

only mods on the car were the OBX headers, comptech springs. had stock tires at normal tire pressure, and the trunk was empty (i.e. no spare tire, jack, etc)


that was the best time of the day...followed by numerous 14.4x@99.xx times. it wasnt some one-time-fluke

 

First of all Silverknight, sorry to hear about your header woes. Sounds to me like you'll get them taken care of under warranty, but you'll have to eat the install cost.

Jimcol, those are some pretty impressive times. You got headers before getting an intake? Just wondering why you didn't do the cheap upgrade first..

 

Intakes don't do shit....just noise. Headers are a true performance enhancer.

 

Ah, okay, maybe it's different for the CLs then. They are dyno-proven to add from 8-12 hp on the Altima.

 

You are exactly right. Of course, I don't have a CL-S anymore.

 

I am interested in performance gains but do not want an increase in engine noise as I like the quiet ride of my CL-S. For this reason I do not want to do an intake, but can anyone tell me if just headers will result in an increase in engine or exhaust noise?

 

The roar of the engine at WOT is a bit more pronounced with headers...but day to day normal driving, there's little difference.

 

Get the Comptech Icebox man...quiet, and better gains than the AEM too!

 

Well, if one was on the left and one was on the right, then maybe...........

 

To run a 14.4 or better with just headers is very hard for me to believe.
I've run with 5 other auto CL's at various tracks outside Chicago all summer and we have all the Comptech bolt-ons. Needless to say 14.5 is about as good as I've seen. Now, in the cold weather I believe it's possible, as Johntypes showed with his recent times in 50 degree temps.
So, what temps did you run in and let's see some time slips.
Also, did you have a 6-speed?

To the intake basher, you're wrong!
Intakes do gain hp on the CL, especially the Icebox and AEM.

Silverknight, contact Tommy at OBX U.S.A. headquarters, look them up on the web to get the contact info.
He is a nice guy and will take care of you. He might ask you to go through you're OBX dealer to get replacement parts but just tell them they were not purchased through a dealer and they will deal directly through you, as they did with me.
My rear header flange was leaking badly and actually blew the gasket after a few weeks. After becoming disgusted and ordering the Comptech's, I inspected the OBX headers after they were taken off my car and saw that every flange had at least what looked to be a small leak, I was shocked.
I think the early resonance was from very minor leaks, which I'm willing to bet is the case with many of the sets out there.
OBX sent replacements and the flanges were warped just like the ones I sent back. So I sold them to a guy here, who had them re-milled and welded at his shop.
Anyway, to those out there wanting to buy headers, I suggest you wait and save for the Comptech's, just my opinion here guys as the Comptech's level of craftsmanship and materials is in a different class. I hate to say it but they are $1,100.00 dollars for good reason.
OK OBX guys, go ahead and bash me now, thanks.

 

OBX is the best , I want to buy all that OBX has to offer because they are a very reputable and a well respected company and they r & d everything for countless hours before they sell them to their brilliant customers.

OBX RULES !!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Buddy, after reading this post, I almost died laughing.
Don't do that anymore! He He!

 

What , Im being very sincere.

In fact I want to sell ALL my Comptech stuff and replace it with OBX!!

Is this so hard to believe?

 

ive got plenty of timeslips, the car was a 2002 Automatic CL-S. had about 10,000 miles on it at the time. it was a cool day, probably about 50 degrees. the car ran 14.8@96 when it was stock in 80 degree temps. i never took it to the track in warm temps with the headers to compare.

 

Im sick of ALL this OBX bashing on this forum.

 

In 50 degree temps that is very possible, thanks for the clarification jimcol.

 

Sonor kid,
Thanks for the tip, but I did contact Tommy and he sent me back to my retailer, SSAutochrome. I don't feel like lying out of nowhere. If SSAutochrome doesn't take care of me, I'll bring it up again with OBX.

 

fawk, i hope this dont happen to me

 

I bought mine new from a party on Ebay who wasn't an actual dealer, so I had to go direct but I'm sure SS will take care of you.

 

See the new thread for update. My point of view changed by OBX customer service.

http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...hreadid=116335

 

I disagree. I ran consistent 15.1's and one 15.0 bone stock. With AEM I ran steady 14.8's. I have no dyno numbers to prove anything but the timeslips show a difference. Oh and not much of a weather diff between the two runs ... somewhere between 60s and 70s

 

Yeah, thats why the altima makes 240 horsies and the maxima makes 265. Nissan dumped a maxima engine into the altima and choked it. Thats why guys with altimas are getting close to 20 horses to the wheels with just intake and a catback.