it is even worse

 

I have had headers on different cars throughout the years, and leaks are not just the byproduct of the cheap.

The pricey ones can at times have them as well. The biggest difference is the amount of engineering and design that goes into the final product. CFM exhaust values, radius of bends, length of tubes, and the material used.

There is a reason exhaust gaskets can range from 9.00 for a solid set, and 50.00 for a set of Cometic compression flanged gaskets.

Coming from motorcycle dragracing, I have learned to never skimp on the the parts one believes are the "not so important pieces. Just my .02

 

Typed up all that and it was a hole! Sorry for the rant. My apologies.

 

These use t304 steel, I've been under the impression that's the best material one can use for headers. The only weak spot is the welds.

 

You would be correct.

But now the weapon of choice in material is gm drce2 and 3 stainless steel with Tig welding along with internal purging during the process.

 

Here's an example of what I just said. It's still 304 just in 20ga. instead of 16 or 18 ga.

 

i dont understand anything about headers

 

Cars are like people, they need to breath(air) eat(fuel) and poo(exhaust).
The more you breathe and eat the faster your run, the more you run the more food you need so you poo more. By adding headers(improving flow and getting rid of restrictions i.e 90 degree bends) you can poo faster(get rid of exhaust gasses), so you can get back to eating faster.

I know this a terrible analogy but, i think you get jist of it.

 

I like how u explained things lolz.

 

ohhhhhhhhhh.. now I get it
thx bro

 

Lol

 

I'm jumping in here very late (sorry, been off the board for a while) but take a look at my thread;

https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...ew-thread.html

I've got pictures of the AMS headers, the OBX ones in the eBay add don't look like they would fit in our engine bay - no doubt though that they would fit the 500 block as the 430/500/55 are all M113's.

OBX has been around for a long time, I used to sell them at a speedshop I managed years ago to customers looking for a 'low cost' mod solution. As it goes for 'low cost' brands, OBX is okay but nothing compared to other higher end products. I sold a million sets for Civic's, they enhanced the exhaust note but didn't really do anything performance wise.

Truth be told as backed up by dyno numbers, log headers/tubular exhaust manifolds don't add a heck of a lot of power to our engines - the power is found on freeing up the flow by removing the secondary cats and chambered OEM muffler. Long tube Kleemann is the way to go if funds/local regulations permit.