You mean that butchering style installation....with the OBX? Yeah my Cattman headers were relatively easy and fit without butchering up any other items other than my O2 sensor harness...Anyway I guess some ppl don't mind butchering up their car for some inexpensive performance....you know the saying ...Different strokes for Different folks or is it????? Different folks & different copes often strive for different lopes, but beware of that hand of soap, cause it'll make you really wanna stroke!!!!!

 

If I ever do this again, I'm going with Cattmans. They ease of installation is worth the extra money...

 

Even with cattman headers its still a pita... just not as much as the OBX... u repay the $400 in frustration lls

 

I know, but I like the idea of a three-piece setup better than a two piece. It'll be easier if I ever have to remove the headers in the future to do any kind of work...

 

Yeah, it is a PITA no matter how way you look at it. Thankfully the cattman PITA only lasts during the deinstallation of stock parts, and that's only if you have heat shield problems. Beyond that, it's just bolting them on. The Y-pipe lines up perfectly as well.

That little concession isn't worth 400 dollars though. You could buy a set of OBX and pay 350 to have them installed while still paying less than cattman's headers if you don't want to install them yourself. You are still getting OBX instead of Cattman, though, and I wouldn't waste all that money on having someone do it.

If OBX had been available when I bought my headers, I would probably have gotten those instead then had a new Y-pipe built at the local mandrel bender with 3" piping and a comfortably big flex section while still spending less than my headers cost new. Not that I regret what I have.

 

Hmm...


...I should have a custom Y with a bigger collector made for my headers.

 

I'm going to have mine modified sometime this spring. Starting with the 2-1 collector on the Y-pipe, it will be changed to 3" with a cutout mounted at the nearest possible point. I'm fairly certain I will see gains on nitrous, not 100% sure on N/A but since it's proven we gain on 3" cat-backs, there will probably be something from it (with cutout open).

 

im gonna go true duals off the headers and just have them shoot out the side of each rear door.

 

Many people have seen faster ETs with a cutout/open Y-pipe, N/A. I'm gonna finish my new intake setup first, and then dyno tune. That's after I put my coilovers on. Man, lotta stuff to do.

No video no care.

 

im seriously gonna do it, that will be my track/summer setup

 

haha, you completely misread my post maybe. Do you not realize that ALL of my PB and track vids are with open Y-pipe? I am talking about gains going from 2.5" to 3" on the Y-pipe, with open Y-pipe/Cutout being an obvious given in both cases.

 

Oh I just got done watching one of your vids too! Wow, reading > me this morning.

 

Hope you can muffle it, that ish is going to be loud.

RJ in raleigh quoted me about 1,000 to do a true dual setup starting with modifying the Y-pipe to become an X-pipe. Kinda pricey, but it would sound cool and make decent power.

If I was going all out like that, though, I would also have him hack up my headers and redesign the primaries to be about 30-32" long and true duals from there out. I could care less about ground clearance in exchange for REAL long tube headers.

 

im going to keep my normal setup for the winter months but during the summer when this **** is kinda exceptable, hell yea **** how loud it is.

but yea im looking into resonators and glasspacks, going to need a few of them

 

Well I got away with 2 14" resonators and dump under the car for about a year before I put a cat-back on. Zero rasp, just annoyingly loud.

 

Once the headers are on, it is like 10 times easier to take them off and put them back on because all of the bolts and such are so much more accessible because the stock manifolds and heat shield is off.

You can get a wrench around there easier by going in between the tubes and that sort of thing.

 

yea... burnt myself couple of times messing with em though lol

 

I usually let it cool down before sticking my hands near the hot metal

Although when I'm at the track and I must disconnect my Y-pipe, I don't have that luxury. The cattman part is just warm to the touch in 5-10 minutes sitting (go go stainless), but the mild steel section with the resonator I have that bolted up to holds heat for freakin' hours. I've burned my hand/elbow/arm quite a few times because of that.

 

The instal of obx2 really isn't that hard. It's not the right tools you need with those headers it's the right mind. Take a step back and take a look at it. I helped a bud with his and deinstallation was hell of course, but my buddy was stuck on getting the y pipe to fit the front header for 4 days fighting with it. I literally looked at it for 5 minutes, grabbed a jack, jacked it up(you put some pressure, don't be afraid nothing's going to break) and than line them up and tighten, no leaks at all after 2 tries. If you're reffering to anything else I don't remember running into any other problems. Drop the cross member also, makes the rear header instal tons easier.

 

13 hours under a car with rusted bolts, and once they FINALLY dropped I came back the next day. Put the rear headers on and actually didn;t mind laying there because I could see every single bolt. Wow how much easier that all was. Was such a releif getting the stockers off. Installation of the aftermarket headers was a piece of cake. Once I got them off the hard part is literally done.

 

Instead of dropping the crossmember, I'm just going to take an air chisel and beat the **** out of the engine mount cover so that I have enough room to move the headers up. If I have to grind on the crossmember to make it clear for the flex section, I'll do that later. I just want to get the car running for now.

 

Why would you not drop the crossmember? It takes 2 mins to take off, maybe 10 to put back on, and gives you tons more room...

 

im sure OBX will be blamed for him not dropping the crossmember too lls

 

you get your car diagnosed yet or what?

 

LOL, EXACTLY, someoens going to post a thread soon claiming how they didn't drop the cross members and how the fitment sucks because they can't drop it. lmao. Anyays as stated above, only break **** if you HAVE TOO and it won't hurt your car. Spend the 2 minutes removing the long bolts in the front and rear motor mount than the 4 bolts holding the crossmember up. Do it right dude, and get it done with the first time. It'll give tons more room.

 

I'm not even sure you can instal them with the cross member in the way... And if you can it'd definitely be hell.. Just enjoy the simple things that make this pita instal worth it and easier..
drop the cm

 

For some reason I had just assumed that he knew to drop the crossmember. No wonder he couldn't get the rear header up in there... lol

 

my hotshots went on with the crossmember on..

 

I mean... you're sitting there... and it's not going in.. and it keeps banging the cross member.... 1+1=2.....

 

maybe his math is 1+1=3

 

No sir, it sits up at nissan as we speak... probebly won't hear anything til Saturday, I do think of it daily though... hopefully its only the transmission gone bad

 

Or maybe he mistook the + for a - (pom pom pooom) lls

 

So uh...who wants to help me out?

Finally got them in. Put everything back together. Took it on a test drive, and had an exhaust leak. The thing is, as I drove further, it got louder.

Any help? Was it just getting louder because things were getting warm, or because the manifold might be working itself loose? Or cracked...?

I'm going to try and get under the car tomorrow and see if I can see anything...just my luck that it's the rear manifold, too.

 

just tighten the crap out the bolts... I had the same problem... just tighten with all your might

 

You can't "spot" an exhaust leak by just listening to it - you may not be used to the sound yet. Have someone rev it while you look around to see if dust is blown off the ground or use a piece of paper to locate any moving air. Like Hustle said, tighten the hell out of everything again (make sure nothing is cross threaded first). Also check your gaskets and make sure all the flanges are lined up properly.

 

Also I hope you got new better gaskets. I went to autozone and they didn't have any that fit my old stockers but I got lucky and he pulled one out and tested it and it fit. Was from a chrystler 300, and it was a serious heavy duty gasket haha, beat the stock one by 50*. I'd reccomend it to anyone getting headers.

 

I've heard the Nissan multi-layers are some of the best available for our car. I just re-used mine...they were in pretty good shape.

I'm taking my car down to my buddy's exhaust shop in about an hour to find out why my Max sounds like an airplane. I have a sneaking suspicion one of my O2 sensors wiggled loose...

As far as "spotting" an exhaust leak, I've heard of introducing a bit of ATF into the fuel somehow (my guess is through the TB), plugging up the muffler a bit, and watching for white smoke. Yes, no?

 

no... you can 1... have someone cover the muffler tip and you feel the flanges for air, 2 do like puppet said, or just re tighten your o2 sensors up, if those were losse youd probebly feel a decent performance bog

 

Yup. One of the secondaries worked its way loose. My buddy just capped it, and I'm going to run an O2 sim instead of re-wiring them.

Final question. Anyone with OBX notice a ticking noise? I can't decide if it's a small leak or the valve train I hear...

 

yes mines had that ticking noise for a good little bit... i was also tripped out, it will go away though....