Right now I have OBX headers with the RRM MagnaFlow catback and for the past month I've noticed a nasty change in sound. It sounded amazing at first but as of late, it has the sound of air rattling around in the pipes. It sounds like there's too much air trying to pass through the pipes. I'd say it started doing that around winter when the air temperature dropped. I have an automatic transmission but I shift it like it's a manual () and in 2nd gear around 2500rpm is when it starts and stops around 3000 and this happens in 3rd and 4th gear as well. I got underneath to make sure all the exhaust claps were still tight and to make sure the pipes didn't drop or anything from going over speed bumps and all.

All-in-all, I'm wondering if a better exhaust manifold would help out this. The OBX headers have a resonator and so does the MagnaFlow exhaust. I was thinking of the RPW 4-1 headers, especially because then I can get a bolt-on cat and not have to get one welded.

Please, throw me some knowledge and suggestions.

 

check to make sure there isnt a hole/leak somewhere, maybe you may have hit it on something, also, you have an automatic, please drive it like so unless you want to break your tranny doing that weird fake shifting ive seen done before....isnt good on the tranny bro.
-Flip

 

i agree with flip, i'd check for a leak anywhere, somteimes there are small cracks that arent very noticable. Also i wouldn't switch between gears like that in an automatic lol i knew a guy that i was riding with one time onto the onramp on the freeway and he went to upshift and his tranny clunked/dropped and started dragging at about 70 trying to merge lol.

 

haha oh damn. That's sad to hear, driving an automatic sucks. Good thing about that though is my car generally switches gear at 2500rpm so it wouldn't even be able to make that noise. But yeah whenever the weather warms up a little bit more, I'll check for any leaks. I think what I'll do is replace the exhaust flange first and see if that helps any. Then maybe check around the welds and see what I can find. Do you guys think that a crack is the best explanation?

 

check the flex pipe to see if you have any abnormally large holes. thats where my leak was before and i had to get a new one welded in

 

Get some seafoam and run it through your system. It helped me find my leak in my exhaust! I haven't had any problems with my OBX headers, just where the welding of my exhaust wore out at the end.

 

i know that some OBX headers have a o2 sencer hole on the downpipe and ralliarts dont have a sencer there so did u put a bolt in it to plug the hole and it fell out?? just a thought

 

the O2 bung is right where it should be, I checked that first and tightened up the O2 to make sure there wasn't air leaking out of there. I ended up buying Flip's RRM headers and downpipe though. He had the downpipe cut for a high-flow cat so I'm taking it up to a exhaust shop to get a cat and flange welded on so I can get that installed. I think I'll be one of the few people to have had both so I'll be able to compare the two.

 

INterested in your results. Let us know!!!

 

You get the new header on yet?