OBX Header
Just a note, DEFINITELY wrap this header. I just about melted through my fan on the right from the heat...looks like it's stopped short of melting through the wiring. Definitely wrap it. It's the cheaper stainless, so it surface rusts anyway.
Hope this helps someone out before they install it
Hope this helps someone out before they install it
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD!!!!! I had 1/8th in. header wrap on my OBX. While i love this header to death, if you are creating that much heat, you'll destroy your gaskets and maybe even the header. My car has always run pretty hot in the engine bay. So I wrapped my header. Well it took all of a week to burn through the gasket they give you with the header where it connects to the downpipe. I thought oh well, must be cheap. So I got a really good gasket from my exhaust guy. That lasted two weeks. Well I hydrolocked my car about 4 days ago and took the header off and unwrapped it cause the wrap was all covered in oil from the softball sized hole in the front of my block. The header was literally held together by thin strips of what used to be the welds where the four goes to two runners. Well I do like my OBX header and have noticed a performance increase, this dissappointed me. I tried contacting OBX for warranty support. Good luck if something goes wrong with your OBX item. My supplier is trying to gyp me saying its been too long even though OBX puts lifetime warranties on almost everything they make. So I got sick of the politics and its at my exhaust guys shop getting welded back together. I still will order from OBX cause I have a couple of their items on my car but this experience has upset me for sure. Anyways, I loved my header wrap but if your cars running too hot like mine, beware. BTW, my car was in perfect working order and ran hot from the first day I picked it up from the stealership.
Last edited by imalancerman; Jun 6, 2009 at 11:43 PM. Reason: Forgot details
No no no. The hole in my block was from sucking water through my intake, bending a rod, and then it snapped and actually left three holes in my block. The header wrap I used which I have verified with my exhaust guy DID IN FACT DESTROY MY HEADER!!! He said header wrap is often used on older vehicles that have MANIFOLDS NOT HEADERS. He said the welds dont hold up on the aftermarket stainless steel headers. And if you use graphite exhaust gaskets which most of them are, the heat will just burn them right up too. The header wrap was made from 1/8in fiberglass. It did work great when it was on, just cant use it cause the exhaust header gets too hot and then bad things happen. OBX has a horrible warranty program too by the way. Im so done dealing with their warranty department.
Actually OBX tries to say they are made in America but their quality says otherwise. I do like my header. And I have a cam gear and radiator hoses from them that are good quality. But like I said, their warranty program is the worst Ive ever encountered. The header is fully repaired now. Header wrap will destroy most headers my exhaust guy said. The heat given off is too intense. You would be better off heat proofing everything else in the engine bay.
what if you wraped the long sections of the header and stopped wrapping like a inch or so before the weld sections. i bet it would lower more heat then not having any on but would it still crack the welds do u think?
Just wrapped mine...150 degree temp difference from the bare parts of the header (infrared temp measurement). I cleaned the exhaust fully, and put on a few coats of header paint to keep out moisture. I'm wondering if the guy above double-wrapped it, or didn't paint it first and was having issues with moisture? Something other than the exhaust wrap blew a hole in the block:-p
I said I hydrolocked my motor. It had nothing to do with the exhaust and I never said it did. I said I only discovered this when I had blown my motor and I had to take the wrap off because it was oil soaked from a hole in the front of my block DUE TO HYDROLOCK AND A SNAPPED ROD. THAT MEANS I BLEW MY ENGINE FROM SUCKING WATER THROUGH MY INTAKE BOYS AND GIRLS. No I did not double wrap the header. Why in the hell would you paint it then wrap it? You must be thinking paint reduces heat. The only things I know of that reduce the heat are wrap and ceramic coating. Yes its a huge difference in temps. Im sorry I cant run it anymore. But when your header cracks from it, dont go crying to OBX cause they will not warranty the part because you are not supposed to wrap stainless steel headers. It should be called manifold wrap not header wrap. Also, start checking your header to downpipe gasket on a weekly basis. Youll learn really fast how long those will last before you have to start replacing them all the time. And when you take the wrap off cause your header is cracked or your tired of replacing dp gaskets, welcome to an ugly rusted header due to the wrap. I guess thats when the paint will come in handy. Lol header paint is a joke. I dont care how hot the stuff says its rated for it still burns off unless used on a manifold. Anyone in the future who reads this, learn from my mistake and dont wrap your header. However, if you have a manifold, your more than welcome to wrap it with no problems. If your worried about it burning accessories, heat wrap your accessories.
Why would motor mounts have anything to do with your header? If your going off of my motor bucking and breaking my header, keep in mind that ALL of my motor mounts were stiffened and that header still cracked although I still dont know what that has to do with anything as it was the heat that ate the welds. And as far as headers for our cars go, its a matter of personal opinion. Your not going to really gain performance from any brand over another IMO. I chose OBX cause it was cheaper, came with a downpipe, looked better IMO, and the quality really was good for what it was. It is cheap stainless so itll discolor fast. However, just dont be an idiot and wrap your header and everything will be good.