Belgian1979vette

Well so much for the quality of the OBX headers.

Hooker were not much better after they shipped their production to Mexico to make big bucks.

What's left?

Anyway, I praise myself lucky I welded up my own exhaust system with some old headers I had lying around. No fitment issues and no burn marks on my legs.

dntoearthman

Thats what I had to do, dang it, box full of Chinese News paper for packing.

redman76

I've got Hookers and had similar issue. I bolted headers to head and installed side tubes . . . had enough leverage to pull the passenger side out. I used bushings from swaybar link kit as spacers between pipe and frame; once everything was bolted up and held in place, it worked great and looks perfect. I had header on steering box too -- barely rubbed. Used ball peen hammer and heat to dimple a little.

MotorHead

Those SS pipes are very strong and hard to dent with a small sledge hammer. You may have problems trying to bend them. Took me 1/2 hour to put a 1/2 in. dent in a pair of headers made of the same material. Good luck. The headers don't fit properly or you frame is slight misaligned have I am assuming you checked dimensions on the frame to see if it is square ?

gbarmore

Hi Belgian, I guess I'm not ready to throw OBX under the bus just yet. Some members here have had a great experience with these and had very little hassle getting them installed. Maybe I got a set from a bad batch, I don't know, maybe just lucky....

Hey MotorHead, I have not verified the squareness of the frame but it is an un-hit, undamaged original car. That being said, I know that doesn't mean it's square, it just means it has a better chance of being close. Since I have about the same issue on each side of the car I think it would be odd to find the frame out of square. I would think that out of square would lead to one side having 'toe-in' and the other side having the opposite 'toe-out' effect. I do not see that on my car, both sides have 'toe-in'. Any threads out there or recommendations on how check to see if the frame is square?

Thanks,
Greg

GT's 78

There's nothing wrong with your frame dude. It sounds like all these pipe manufacturer's have very poor quality control. Just get it out the door, who cares if it fits, it's not going on their car. I'm probably going to try a blow torch to manipulate the pos. I'm so pissed that I wasted $900.00 of my hard earned money for crap.

Belgian1979vette

Don't know Greg, but I'm a whole lot more weary about Chinese parts these days.

SPDKNGG

Bolt the whole exhaust section up complete with tail pipes.
Use a comealong and nylon strap..anchor one side to something solid and slow pull the whole exhaust outward...

resdoggie

Should have went with the Hooker's. I did but did have a bowed flange on one side. Contacted the vendor and Hooker sent me a replacement. No dicking around with straps and hammers.

MotorHead

Jack one side of the engine up ( if the body is still off ) and measure from one motor mount to the back of the frame on the opposite side, then do the same with other motor mount. The measurements should be the same.

wabco40

I have the same problem with SS Hookers.

The left side is acceptable however the right side is angled down and towards the frame.
The end of the side tube is about 3" low and 1.5" in towards the frame.

The frame is straight (seems to be an easy excuse to blame it on the frame) and it appears the collector has not been welded onto the pipes straight.

I've had these headers for several years now and where one of the first batch out of Mexico.

I made up a frame to try bend the collector out and up and managed to get it a bit better but it's still along way from being parallel with the side of the frame.

I think the only option I have with these headers is to remove and weld the collector on straight.

In the first picture it can be seen how the collector is not straight with the pipes.

Not bad for a $1000 set of headers

JimT

I had to beat the crap out of several of the exhaust pipes (at the header flange) just to get the bolts in, then had the same fitment issues down the side of the car. Also, the left side was a good two inches lower (below the frame) than the right side.
To help align the sidepipes with the frame, I slid the pipes up as far as they would go onto the collectors to provide as much support as possible for pulling the pipes away from the frame. This of course caused me to have to redrill the frame for the sidepipe flanges (about two inches off). This modification did align the pipes with the car, and, I am hoping that through constant heating while in use the metal will relax a little.
To correct the drop difference on the left side, I welded a bracket on the front of the frame adjacent to the exhaust sensor on the collector and used a large bolt with heat resistant rubber bushings to hold up the collector. I had the car on a two post lift and used a 4x4 with a jack to lift the collector to the proper height. Now, the left side drop is within 1/2 inch of the right side and it now looks symmetrical to the car. Again I am hoping constant heating will result in the exhaust pipes relaxing to this new position.
The statement earlier about getting what you pay for is "right on". I was assuming that a product advertised on the forum would at least fit in some fashion, but I assumed wrong. Good luck with your install.

gbarmore

We'll I spent some time in the garage tonight working on getting a real feel for the kind of work I'm in for if I decide to try to make these headers work. Suffice it to say I am not pleased... In the process of trying to bolt up both headers to the heads it became apparent that the bolt holes in the flange were not going to line up with the holes in the head. The drivers side is really bad as is evident by the pics, but both sides will require some significant reaming of the holes to get the bolts to thread in and seat properly. In addition I have multiple hits to the frame and steering box that will only get worse when I add my gaskets. Lastly, the left and right side collectors vary in height by over 1 1/2" (yes, the motor is perfectly level).

Here's an example.....




Here's the Steering box conflict......



And finally the frame conflict on the Passenger Side.....




At this point I am thinking this is just way too much dinking around for something that should literally bolt up. Lars said it in one of his posts from a while back while he was trying to get a set of Hookers bolted up and he was absolutely right.... Header building and fitment is not rocket science, and there is plenty of room on these cars to adjust a jig to build headers that will fit 99% of the C3's out there with no problem. This is just inexcuesable. Bolt holes off by 1/8" or more, really??

As much as I want to make these work it's just not right and I would just be reinforcing the "build it and they will buy it" mentality. Although I don't have high hopes, I will go back to the distributor and see what they will do for me..... Stay tuned.

Les

I'd just return them and be done with it. You obviously shouldn't have to do major surgery to make them fit and, once you begin, you can kiss your chances to return them goodbye.

Learning_Curve

Only real problem I had was having to enlarge a few of the flange holes to get all the bolts lined up, and my tubes are pointed in a bit towards the rear. A little adjustment of the mounting tabs on the side tubes should fix the last bit. One of the collectors was pointing down and inch or more farther than the other, but that resolved itself when the side tubes were installed. Note: I'm fabbing up a rack and pinion so steering box clearance is not an issue.

Bob Heine

If you decide to salvage those headers, reaming those mounting holes may create a new problem. The header bolt head barely clears the pipe as it is so the interference will be even worse. In addition, you still have an alignment issue with the pipe -- it isn't properly aligned with the port on the head.

I bought long tube OBX headers for my '87 convertible and had the same problem on the passenger side.


I cut away the webbing between the pipes and persuaded the pipe into alignment. Not the best solution but I already had the driver side installed and didn't want the hassle of removing the system, shipping it back and hoping the new set fit better. Of course my $400 system was less than half what you spent on yours. I don't expect to ever need to replace the headers but I wouldn't recommend OBX products based on my experience.

Good luck with the exchange.

wcsinx

The goal isn't to bend the collector itself, but rather to adjust the existing bends in the primaries to make the collector line up with the frame. I have had to do this in the past with other cars using 2x4s, jacks, ratchet straps, etc. It's not as hard as you'd think with proper leverage.

MotorHead

Instead of measuring the frame you could always put the flange on a flat table and see if one side is pointing in, in relationship to the other side

gbarmore

[QUOTE=Bob Heine;1582330501]If you decide to salvage those headers, reaming those mounting holes may create a new problem. The header bolt head barely clears the pipe as it is so the interference will be even worse. In addition, you still have an alignment issue with the pipe -- it isn't properly aligned with the port on the head.[QUOTE]

Hey Bob, I did think about that and you are absolutely correct. Reaming out the holes will definitely create another issue with the bolt not being able to be turned because it will basically be butted directly up against the primary tube. Unfortunately I think this is simply a case of chasing a problem with no solution. Appreicate the input.

noonie

Did that a lot with cheap headers to make them seal properly. Shame to have to do that with the thicker flat flanges.

Not a problem with mild steel headers, but this ss is quite a bit tougher. Hasn't worked well for me, but if welding isn't an option.....

[QUOTE=gbarmore;1582330966]Tough choice.

Back in the early 70s, I was buying black painted sidepipes from JC Whitney of all places for less than 200 bucks and out of a dozen or more setups, never had to do any mods, all simple bolt ons. Brand new Holley carbs were 35 bucks then too.

Quality is shamefull these days.