looking at some stainless steel headers on fea bay. anyone use OBX? don't want side pipes just regular ones.

 

Ordered a set of obx side pipes.

Obx is the chinese version of hooker. I compared the set of hookers I took off with a set of obx my build partner has and they look identical.

There are 2 rumors about the obx/hooker similarities.

1. Hooker was in a tight spot a few years ago and sold copies of thier designs to obx. (sounds legit)

2. Obx copied/stole hookers design. (Hooker would kill them in court... No pending cases right now ...)

Im usually against chinese knock offs, but the build quality is the same. Seriously, how hard is it to bend and weld some pipes in a factory setting?

 

I put OBX headers on my '79. I'm more than pleased with the quality.

 

You forgot the rumor that their "stainless steel" rusts and customer service from their sellers and the company itself is non-existent. Granted that the OP is asking about undercar exhaust and not side pipes it may not matter much if they rust. Note this is not due to me running through oil or misc road grime or in rain. Stainless shouldn't rust.

My obx pipes did fit very well and I didn't have to cut into my brand new rocker panels. I did have to offset one of the header bolt holes.

 

mine fit perfectly, as a matter of fact they would have had to have installed themselves if they went on any easier.
mine still look perfect, but i maintain them regularly with a power ball.

 

Just because it is stainless does not mean it will not rust, it still has carbon in the steel just not as much. More often than not stainless will rust rather than corrode in applications like this.

 

Yikes!

 

does not look like rust to me. Discoloration of some sort for sure, pretty sure there was a thread a while back about something like that and the guy was able to polish it out pretty easy. Rust doesn't shine.

 

Mine are side pipes. I've had them on for 9 months now. I have the normal color change from the heat but absolutely no rusting.

 

Ditto.... stronger versions of stainless steel often contain more steel and can rust if not maintained... on many headers this is usually the case with the flange...

I have just installed obx side pipes and they are straight but suffer the touching issue in the three most common areas with the hookers (power steering and passenger side frame) they fit but just touch or barely don't... I think I will remove and dimple them.
$711 shipped from cali and made in china vs $1700 for stainless hookers made in Mexico was an easy decision for me...
I believe pertronix might own the hooker name now. I know they have been buying out most of the brand names like the Doug T's.... kind of like Holley and honeywell they own most of the older brand names that compete against each other to retain the customer loyalty but have the product made by third party companies overseas. Joke is on the consumer that buys based on brand name and marketing...


For what its worth I installed stainless shorties on my old dodge ram three years ago and am 95% sure they are OBX.... no rust just blueish brown color on the pipes...the flanges have surface rust though as they are a different grade of stainless...


I pretty sure the older obx side pipes were marketed as "XS-power" pipes for twice the cost and advertised as 314 stainless.

 

Could be the pics but those look like chrome plated steel and not the color of my box stainless pipes...
From my research both hookers and obx sometimes require cutting into the rockers depending on heads, and condition of both engine and body mounts....So I'm not sure where your going with that one... mine happen to clear fine in that regard.

 

I did a lot of research about mine when I bought them and there is a lot of misinformation out there .... some from very inexperienced people, some from very biased people and some from unfortunate people who really got a defective pair.
Both hooker and the others like obx have the exact same clearance issues on SOME cars. It seems the box vs hooker debate will go on forever with people defending their choices on both sides of the fence...