[turborenegade]

hello c5 members. installed long tube headers this weekend. i have read some of the other threads here on the obx. first i want to say i am a 46 yr old mechanical engineer/ electrician. i have worked in the automotive oem factory's for over 28 yrs. usually i build my own headers. and that was the plan for my 2011 2SS/RS/m6. i ran across the obx on ebay and seen they where close to the same price as buying u bends, collectors, autocadding flanges and having them cut. not to mention my time.fill rod and gas for the tig. first on the quality of the material on the obx. i checked the thickness of the pipes. .063'' 16 gauge. checked the material with magnet as 304 is totally non magnetic. the magnet would not stick any to none of the header material. flanges.pipe.collector.etc. however it would stick to the connector pipe's. it must be 409 or 316 or some other grade stainless. the port dia on the flanges was 1.800'' tube i.d. 1-7/8''. install was probably one of the easiest i have ever done as i did it by myself and took me about 5 hrs and that was not getting in any kind of hurry. the welds where very good quality. the only thing i would i have done differently if i have built my own would have been nitrogen purge on the welding. that eliminates any burn through inside the pipe while welding as i took a mirror and checked the welds inside the pipe on the obx and seen some but minor inside the welded tubes on the obx. i am a very picky person when it comes to quality and the obx satisfied my level of craftmanship and quality, flange flatness was very good. the only thing i had to modify was mid pipe on drivers side i had to cut off 1/4''. start up with no leaks they dont hang down any lower than stock pipes. if you are going to install these by yourself get you a couple of 8mm set screws. after removing stock manifolds. put set screws one in the front and one in the back flange bolt locations you can put the stock gasket on them and pull the header up and hang them on them till you get a bolt in them and remove the set screws. to minimize hangdown lift headers up before tightning bolts. i installed mid pipes first then put header up in place and set them on the set screws. never had to touch the rear exhaust. these may be a copy and are definately made overseas. too cheap (price that is) to be made in the states. but an exceptionally good set of headers.