OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Army Fork
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OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Sun May 05, 2013 11:05 am

So I bought the OBX Tri-Y header with the assumption that it would fit. It didn't, The downpipe hits the floor and is about three inches too short to meet the header.

Has anyone experience with fitting this header? I could also use links to people who have had similar problems. I've read threads before about problems with this header but i can't find them, and the seller is requesting links so he can take a look as well. I'm googling my ass off but I'm not turning up much.
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

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carbd7age
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby carbd7age » Sun May 05, 2013 11:41 am

I had trouble fitting my 4-1 OBX, too. They fit real snug against the floor. This is how you fix the floor problem:
Image

As for it not being long enough, what cat do you have? SR5 cats are a couple inches shorter than GTS cats. I'm using an Illegal Garage flex pipe cat-delete and it is the perfect length.
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Army Fork
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Sun May 05, 2013 12:14 pm

Long as in where the Y-section meets the header. And this car is in excellent condition, I'd rather not have to hammer the floor at all, especially considering OBX promises a modification free fit.
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

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carbd7age
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby carbd7age » Sun May 05, 2013 1:04 pm

Not long enough where the Y's meet the bottom section? Dang, gotta have that lol. Put it all together, then send the seller some pics of the gaps and issues.
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Army Fork
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Sun May 05, 2013 1:11 pm

Yeah I'm doing that now. Hopefully I can have a fix up within the next couple weeks
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

Duy-
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Duy- » Sun May 05, 2013 11:08 pm

Army Fork wrote:especially considering OBX promises a modification free fit.


lol ive never seen a obx headers fit.... ever. if it did im sure the sky would fall and time itself will cease to exist. also if you have a power steering rack... it hits the column where the u-joint is

Army Fork
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Sun May 05, 2013 11:40 pm

Nah, manual conversion. Think I found a way to make it fit so I can run the O2 sensor for testing then get it down to the exhaust shop
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

Garage7RP
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Garage7RP » Sat May 11, 2013 9:42 pm

Do you have the OBX slip joint type headers with spring fasteners?

Army Fork
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Sat May 11, 2013 9:45 pm

Yeah it is, but having it pulled under tension would cause it to press against the body and you really don't want that
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

Garage7RP
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Garage7RP » Sun May 12, 2013 12:13 pm

Thanks for the info. I have the same header but have not had a chance to install it because of these fitment issues. How is the clearance to the distributor? Please post some pictures of the fitment problem areas.

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gotzoom?
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby gotzoom? » Mon May 13, 2013 8:36 am

I have Cusco engine mounts, which lower the engine 1cm. No issues with their tri-y header touching anything on my car with a 20v engine.

Army Fork
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Mon May 13, 2013 9:06 am

I've heard conflicting reports about the Cucso mounts, although the Cusco mounts are also somewhat difficult to find in comparison to the much easier stock height Megan mounts I have.

The problem is that OBX makes no suggestion new mounts are needed, or that the header may strike a LHD power rack (running manual conversion) and asserts on their website that you can install this header without any modification, which is demonstrably false.

Image
Image
Image

Apologies for the poor quality, I only have a phone for pictures. The last picture (If I embedded these right) appears to show the header being able to fit, but this isn't the case. The flange end that is not shown strikes the base of the car, in order to even get the damn thing to HANG on the header I had to remove a heat shield, even then I'll have to use wire to hold it together while we test the engine.

The fact is that I will be getting an extension welded to the Y-end and a custom exhaust built for this at my local shop. I'll check back in here once I've had that done in a few weeks
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Deuce Cam » Mon May 13, 2013 11:44 am

It sucks that the outlet flange hits the floor.

Regarding the heatshield in the pic above....it's only equipped on the sr5 from the factory. That heat shield doesn't even fit with the stock 16v manifold/dp. I was able to get it to work with my trd 4-1 manifold/dp after bending it some, but I also have cusco mounts. Even then it barely clears.

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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Mon May 13, 2013 12:01 pm

Didn't know that, guess I can get away without it.

The car is a near-mint SR5 shell with about a 98% GTS swap (missing the handbrake lever and gas line), didn't think this was going to be the problem. Are you sure the GTS didn't have this heat shield? Can you confirm with pictures of some sort? Because if it's true and you can run the pipe closer to the floor without excess heat in the footwell I'll grind off the heatshield mount. That might let it suck up closer
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

Duy-
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Duy- » Mon May 13, 2013 12:57 pm

if I recall correctly, the Megan's actually lift the engine up a bit higher than oem

Army Fork
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Mon May 13, 2013 1:00 pm

I've held both in my hands and I can categorically say they are the same height uncompressed. Once installed the mounts may lift the engine into a higher relaxed position due to the harder material used in the Megan's, but the difference is microscopic and would be dynamically unnoticeable. The difference may at the most be a mm or two, but not nearly enough to account for the issue at hand
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

Garage7RP
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Garage7RP » Mon May 13, 2013 2:01 pm

Thank you for the picture! Please check back and show pictures of the modifications done for the header to fit properly. Did you get your headers through ebay seller racingsportsdepot? I got mines from them. They ship fast but not very technical about their products.

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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Mon May 13, 2013 2:24 pm

No my seller was dailod, he's actually been very helpful and has offered to refund the cost of the modifications. OBX however has answered none of my emails or complaints.

If the modification is required as we are expecting it to be (I'll let my exhaust guy make the decision on that) I will do my best to take detailed pictures of the fix.

It should be noted that when we brought the part to him the first time he specifically said he would not bend the downpipe in order to make it fit, in his experience he said this would damage the metal and this would not be the fix to apply. Instead we will likely weld on an extension to the Y collector as I said, expect pictures in about 2 weeks.
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

LongGrain
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby LongGrain » Mon May 13, 2013 3:03 pm

the floor thing is normal apparently, though I have installed several OBX headers on my cars and friends cars and never had one come even close to the floor, mine had about 2" of clearance.

the header being 2-3 inches short sounds like something wrong with the exhaust/cat combination. considering plenty of people have these headers installed and have had no fitment issues other than floor clearance.

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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Mon May 13, 2013 3:07 pm

There is no exhaust or cat installed on the car at the moment
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

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gotzoom?
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby gotzoom? » Wed May 15, 2013 8:32 am

I remember reading that this header is only claimed to work with a manual rack. Not sure where I saw this, though.

Army Fork
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Wed May 15, 2013 9:13 am

Officially I think this was designed for RHD application, so the rack wasn't an issue. I have heard reports of the header striking power racks, as I'm running a manual conversion I can't confirm this to be the case, as mine clears it just fine. That said judging by the position of the manual rack and the size of the power, I think it's plausible that there would be interference.
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics

NostalgicHiro20v
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby NostalgicHiro20v » Sat May 25, 2013 12:04 am

Wouldn't have this issue w/ the "REAL JSP VERSION". Anyway, these headers are awesome great for the price. To install vehicle must be manual steering, use Cusco engine mount p/n 116 910 A, use test pipe or GT-S cat.

Army Fork
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Re: OBX header fitment - Solution needed

Postby Army Fork » Sat May 25, 2013 12:32 am

Think we covered that. The problem, again, is that this is supposedly OEM fit when it clearly isn't. Also, you either buy the OBX's foe $450 (or whatever) or you spend three times that on a legit Tri-Y. 86 headers are a **** market
1984 SR5-GTS 20V ST/BT coupe.
- Stance GR+ Coilovers
- Mishimoto Cooling
- T3 adjustable 4-bar, Panhard, traction brackets, tension rods
- T3 Short shift
- Manual rack conversion
- Blacktop electronics