W211 AMG Discuss the W211 AMG's such as the E55 and the E63

Becker/obx/ebay long tube headers

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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 07:28 AM
  #51  
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Originally Posted by JoeNobody

Small race cats, and exhaust still stinks a little
Does the exhaust stink after the cats have warmed up, or only on start-up?
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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 09:53 AM
  #52  
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good luck with your purchase.

I ran obx headers on another car for 5 years, no issues.
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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 11:19 AM
  #53  
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Obviously I have a bias. However being someone who has made header and exhaust components a profession let me pass on a bit of knowledge. It's no secret that OBX copies other companies stuff. However this isnt a case where Advil vs the Store brand generic work just as good. With OBX, what appears to look the same as the original simply is not. Infact it always is inferior when it comes to OBX.

OBX is generally considered "low end" from people across the internet and on other car forums. A quick search will find you poor reviews from people posting on forums ranging from Corvettes, 4x4's, Nissans, the list goes on.

Obviously this is going to sound bias, but it is true. The build quality and materials in an MBH header system is vastly superior than that of OBX. I would even state the same for companies like American Racing headers, and Kooks, when it comes to comparing them to OBX.

Here is the meat an potatoes and the reason I decided to post in this thread. You buy a set of OBX headers for $1300 then pay $600 to have them installed. Then you realizes your o2 sensors don't to reach the o2 bungs. So you have to track down o2 extensions or have the shop fab in some o2 bungs in a more reasonable location and cap the rear ones (at and added cost). If a problem comes up (and they do at a much higher rate with OBX) you are looking at another $600 or so to have the problem fixed by a shop. Who's to say another problem does not show up down the read. The point is, the total cost of ownership of an OBX copied system can turn out to be more of an investment then just going with tried and true systems from others.

I take about 30 to 40 phone calls a day and I can assure you I hear horror stories every day about stuff people bought to save some money that ended up costing them much much more. At the end of the day though it is your money and spend it how you will. But please just do some research on the company you are thinking about doing business with before you buy.
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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 11:28 AM
  #54  
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mbh headers are so nice you don't even want to put them on just look at them. curious of the gains with obx. I know a lot of lightning guys fun the obx but I wouldn't. Mbh quality and it was fun buying from a guy that said he would give my money back 40hp guarantee knowing I had a dyno. And it was over 40hp.
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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 12:22 PM
  #55  
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Originally Posted by JoeNobody
Does MBH hang down? They have the collector just before the bend, which should not hang below the car.
MBH tucks nicely. I have a pic somewhere here...
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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 12:23 PM
  #56  
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The exhaust still stinks a little after the cats warmed up. Keeping your secondaries in place would be good, although I'm unsure how easily these would line up to the stock midpipe.

The slip fit connections are already leaking, and I'm soon having them welded up more properly. I'll also try silencing these down by adding resonators.
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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 02:18 PM
  #57  
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W211 E55 AMG
I would love to have MBH headers, cats and xpipe but that would cost $3900 and since I'm in Sweden shipping would be let's say $200 and then Swedens' tax would add 25% on that price and customs another 4% on top of that wich would bring the total bill to $5330. That is insane for some stainless steel pipes.
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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 09:43 PM
  #58  
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Originally Posted by MBH motorsports
Obviously I have a bias. However being someone who has made header and exhaust components a profession let me pass on a bit of knowledge. It's no secret that OBX copies other companies stuff. However this isnt a case where Advil vs the Store brand generic work just as good. With OBX, what appears to look the same as the original simply is not. Infact it always is inferior when it comes to OBX.

OBX is generally considered "low end" from people across the internet and on other car forums. A quick search will find you poor reviews from people posting on forums ranging from Corvettes, 4x4's, Nissans, the list goes on.

Obviously this is going to sound bias, but it is true. The build quality and materials in an MBH header system is vastly superior than that of OBX. I would even state the same for companies like American Racing headers, and Kooks, when it comes to comparing them to OBX.

Here is the meat an potatoes and the reason I decided to post in this thread. You buy a set of OBX headers for $1300 then pay $600 to have them installed. Then you realizes your o2 sensors don't to reach the o2 bungs. So you have to track down o2 extensions or have the shop fab in some o2 bungs in a more reasonable location and cap the rear ones (at and added cost). If a problem comes up (and they do at a much higher rate with OBX) you are looking at another $600 or so to have the problem fixed by a shop. Who's to say another problem does not show up down the read. The point is, the total cost of ownership of an OBX copied system can turn out to be more of an investment then just going with tried and true systems from others.

I take about 30 to 40 phone calls a day and I can assure you I hear horror stories every day about stuff people bought to save some money that ended up costing them much much more. At the end of the day though it is your money and spend it how you will. But please just do some research on the company you are thinking about doing business with before you buy.
Great post. Very professional. Bottom line is everyone knows your the best. And that happens less than an eclipse. If your headers and mids pipe W/o cat can be had for 2500 then your sales would be 4x what they are. IMO only the elite maxing out buy your headers. Don't get me wrong we all want them but just can't do it. You have a great product and I'm glad it is offered the quality can't be questioned its the tag. Guys go to mids for 700 and save big time. Are they on the cutting edge ,no but u could do a massive Black Friday sale
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Old Nov 21, 2015 | 10:38 PM
  #59  
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Old Nov 23, 2015 | 09:49 AM
  #60  
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Originally Posted by Ls1toAMG
u could do a massive Black Friday sale
+1
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Old Nov 25, 2015 | 02:53 PM
  #61  
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I would be onboard for a black friday sale. I don't even need the midpipes since they'd be going on an SL55
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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 01:15 PM
  #62  
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w 211 e55amg
Originally Posted by JoeNobody
The highly accurate butt dyno says they're a big upgrade from the shorty header I previously had.

Just gotta tame the sound and it'll be perfect.
Have you stock rear mufflers in your car?
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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 02:04 PM
  #63  
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Yes stock mufflers and stock resonator.
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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 04:09 PM
  #64  
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Looks like the retailers are starting to crack as ours were originally around $1600 and now you can find fully catted versions for $1100. If they can sell C6 Corvette Longtubes with cats for high $500s, I'm sure they can drop ours down quite a bit as well.


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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 04:43 PM
  #65  
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$1200 shipped for long tubes with cats is a steal. Just two weeks ago I got the very same for $1360, so prices have dropped a bit.
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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 05:07 PM
  #66  
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Joe did you need extenders for the 02 sensors?
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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 05:40 PM
  #67  
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Yes needed to extend sensors.

You can re-route the factory harness in a particular way and it'll work without extenders, but the harness could get scraped up by the car.
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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 08:46 PM
  #68  
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Great price great bang for the buck... This is the reality of the market. There will always be a need for quality hand crafted show quality headers and there will always be an even higher demand for economical headers. Work great also but at a very reasonable price.
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Old Dec 2, 2015 | 02:06 PM
  #69  
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Looks like the price is back up it's previous price of $1550 shipped for the catted version
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Old Dec 2, 2015 | 03:04 PM
  #70  
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Joe I know you're planning on posting a video after you have some work done on the exhaust but if you could post one of how they sound out of the box that would be great.
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Old Dec 2, 2015 | 06:25 PM
  #71  
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2004 E55
Originally Posted by JoeNobody
Looks like the price is back up it's previous price of $1550 shipped for the catted version
Dang, looks like they were having a holiday sale or just caught onto our thread

There's gotta be plenty of money left on the table with these as they have 2011-2014 GT500 (5000 total produced units) catted long tube headers for $700


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Old Dec 3, 2015 | 12:55 AM
  #72  
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Originally Posted by boostiality
Dang, looks like they were having a holiday sale or just caught onto our thread

There's gotta be plenty of money left on the table with these as they have 2011-2014 GT500 (5000 total produced units) catted long tube headers for $700
Lol yea I'm a buyer at $6-700 but nothing over that. I'm in the middle of building a set of shorties that id probably sell for half that and anything more for knock off long tubes is a joke.
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Old Dec 4, 2015 | 10:36 PM
  #73  
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Mercedes Tax. I doubt it will ever by less then a grand. @ about 1500 that's fair. You cant get shorties for too much less let alone long tubes and center section.
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Old Dec 5, 2015 | 03:00 AM
  #74  
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Originally Posted by Max.H
Mercedes Tax. I doubt it will ever by less then a grand. @ about 1500 that's fair. You cant get shorties for too much less let alone long tubes and center section.
Metal in the shape of Chevy headers is no different than metal in the shape of Mercedes headers.

I could accept a higher price if there was a real reason for it. "Mercedes tax" is not a legitimate reason for an increase in price of metal tubes. But I do think you're right that it's unlikely we'll see prices less than $1k.
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Old Dec 5, 2015 | 03:56 AM
  #75  
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Supply and demand. OBX is undercutting all the other full size headers, and they don't need to reduce their price one cent as long as people are buying. They could drop the price substantially and potentially sell more, but they risk cannibalizing future sales.

Basic free market dynamics, nothing more.
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