The whole reason I got rid of my Mustangs and bought this truck was to AVOID getting bit by this bug, but here I am....

Situation is:

The tick coming from the passenger-side exhaust manifold has become too much to bear so I had it looked at when I recharged my AC today. Was informed that studs need replacing along with the manifold. Unfortunately, all my brain heard was "Good time to buy headers..."

After a bit of looking on here it sounds like long tubes (vs shorties) are the only option worth the $$. Shorties don't appear to improve the performance or MPG enough (if at all) to justify the expense.

I found a shop willing to do the work, and they also have the ability to custom bend pipe for the intermediate tubing as well. If going that route (custom bent midpipe) I'd be buying hi-flow cats and keeping the 02s, and want to keep them in any aftermarket LT/mid-pipe setup I buy as well.

My questions are:

-Is there a large difference in different brands' qualities as long as it's a 'name brand' company? I've Looked at OBX, Pacesetter, and several others so far and prices haven't varied terribly. My largest concern is ease of fit, as I've noticed people experiencing variances in the fit across different brands.

-Ceramic coated SS is obviously preferred, however $ is always a concern. Are going SS and ceramic considered necessities here? I don't want to be doing this again anytime soon, but it's not a show truck either.

-What words of wisdom can those of you that have undergone this impart? There's questions I'm sure I don't even know to ask regarding this, please enlighten me o wise ones.



If I can pull this off without breaking the bank I'd also be giving Troyer a call pending completion of this to take advantage of the upgrades. Been holding off till I had upgrades worth tuning for, and I think these would qualify. (To answer your next question, I'm currently running a K&N CAI and MagnaFlow muffler now in the common SIDO setup, 133xxx on the clock, truck in sig)

I really hate spending this kind of $$ without upgrading, so any help in pulling off this LT upgrade instead of sticking with manifolds would be appreciated. TIA everyone!

 

The obx headers are pretty nice. I had some on my 02 and they fit well were stainless. They are good for the money in my opinion.

 

I'm running OBX and they are a good upgrade. Mine went on easy, but I think my body lift helped that a bit
They've been on a winter now and still look fine.They aren't gonna stay shiny and beautiful for too long, but they aren't gonna rust out in a year or two.
Having a good exhaust shop at your disposal will help with the cat installation, as well as fabbing up the rest of the system. Now you need to choose the method of exit, straight out the back with an x-pipe,etc.
Which is a whole other can of worms....

 

Sounds like 2 votes for OBX...

Thanks for the info, and yeah, not worry about the shiny, more worried about the fit and not rusting. No body lift here, but it'll be up ON a lift so hopefully it shouldn't be an issue for the shop doing the install.

About that 'can of worms' though, I'd been thinking about it and I was wondering if I'd actually be ok from a performance standpoint having them roll their own piping from the headers to the cats to the cat-back I already have.

*edit*

.....aaaaannnnnnd I'd typed up a long response where I worried about the design of a H- or X- pipe set up till I realized with my SIDO cat-back that a Y-pipe is my only option since I'm not going to redo that portion of things (cat-back is less than 6mo old). So no can of worms, simple y_pipe with hi-flows it is. Oops.

Sounds like a 'true dual' set-up isn't ideal on these trucks anyway due to the difference in the length of pipes for each side and in how hard each bank would have to work.

So HERE are the OBX headers I'm looking at, same ones you both ran? Should I spring for the ones with the cats included or can I do that portion of things cheaper piecemeal?

*edit #2*

Upon further browsing I found them HERE ALSO and it sounds like these will cause a CEL due to the comp thinking the cats have failed/non-existent. How do I avoid this/how did you deal with it? Am I looking at a different item/wrong pic? What am I missing here?


*edit #3*

Ok, clearly I'm mildly retarded and shouldn't be allowed to brain without adult supervision. Just realized that if I installed those as shown (they only have resonators, not cats) that of course it would throw a CEL...

SO....with the shop able to fab, using these headers can I fab it so all the factory sensors (all 4 exhaust sensors, right?) still operate correctly and don't throw codes? To do so I'd need 4 hi-flow cats, two to replace the 'resonators' and two to weld in-line on the Y-pipe, correct? Or should I just go with the 2-catted system and fab the Y-pipe with the other two cats and sensors....or would I even NEED the 2nd pair downstream to fool the sensors and also make inspection folk happy? I'm thinking that unless they were on their game they'd see the first pair and be happy, or am I deluding myself? No more edits, I'll just take my lumps this time if this turns out to be a dumb line of questioning...

 

I had Pacesetter LTs on my 05, and LOVED them! Fitment was great, and they made a VERY noticeable difference in the volume and tone of the exhaust, as well as a nice gain increase in effectiveness of the long, skinny pedal. Vidyas of my setup can be heard in the 2012 exhaust contest in this forum.

Ol' jbrew on here has them on his '98, and he enjoyed the same benefits I mentioned above.

I'd recommend the ceramic coated. They're just a little more than the painted ones, and should last as long as you'd need/want them to.

The reason I went with Pacesetter over OBX is because of what I experienced as a complete lack of customer support from any of the OBX 'Authorized Dealers' or, for that matter, OBX directly. They couldn't (or at least wouldn't) answer my very basic questions I had prior to purchasing, and good customer support is a major part of my buying decisions.

At any rate, if highly recommend going with LTs over merely replacing the manifolds with new manifolds.

Keep us posted!

 

Are THESE what you had? The price difference is pretty steep btwn coated and non-, at least for the 99-03 versions, and I'm not sure if I can swallow $700+ and NOT have the cats with them like the OBX do...

Does the ceramic coating do more than help keep temps down under the hood? Do they greatly increase longevity of the metal just due to having another layer of protection or is there more to it?

 

You can't go by the prices on Pacesetter's website. That's a 'List Price' and is extremely inflated over the realistic retail pricing for their products.

Seems like the Pacesetter list price for what I had was pretty close to the list pricing on the link you provided. However, I actually only paid $350 for my headers. Check Amazon.

Oh, and yes - The ceramic coating provides for lower temps and better longevity of the headers.

 

ive heard alot of guys running the OBX and have had good reviews of them.