Wondering if anybody has tried or seen the OBX headers for a V10. Was cruising ebay and noticed these and that they seemed really reasonable. At first I figured they were the ebay headers that many on hear had problems with but after clicking on one of the ads they made it clear that they are not the same as the other cheap ones on ebay. I was contemplateing doing some work to the ol superduty and was thinking one of the next projects is changing the exhaust manifold studs. I cann't hear a leak however I can see that I have one or two broken studs. I was kind of thinking of changing to headers if I'm going through all the work anyway however I don't want this to be a 1,000 dollar project either. The other project is shocks but I think after some research due to a recent thread that I'll be installing a set of Rancho RS9000XL's. Should be pretty easy, just need to break down and buy the parts.

For those with headers, now that you have them would you reccomend them or are the power gains simply not worth the cost? FYI, the truck is a 2003 F250 Crew Cab Short Box V10 W/ modified Y-pipe, 4.56 Gears, 285/75/16 tires, Rebuilt trans W/ heavy duty torque convter, and a 5-start tuner with an 87 economy tune, an 89 towing tune, and a 91 towing tune. Kind of wondering if it'll be worth the money going to headers for increased towing performance or if I've about exhausted all of the best avenues to increase power & torque to the ground!

 

70 views and nothin, maybe I should be a test subject!

 

gotta link to a set ???

 

Love my Thorleys and have had them several years now. Noticable improvement throughout the rpm range. Much better off with a "long tube" design IMO. Shorties are an improvement but not up to par with long tubes. I heard of the OBX headers already but don't have experience with them.

 

Ebay Linky below;

OBX SS Exhaust Headers 99-04 Ford F250 HD F350 6.8L V10 | eBay

 

These look good, but i would want to see them to see the quality. And hear from someone who I trust what they think. I want to put headers on my truck but I'm saving up for some Thorley's, or banks, or ?. If I do this I only want to do it once.

 

Hmm.... I have not heard of them. Based on the price, not American made. Looking at their website, I get the sense they are a "storefront" selling products designed and made by someone else. Tooling up for all the various headers they sell would require a HUGE investment and years of activity. If they did it all themselves, more of us would have heard of them by now. Much more likely they are buying from an offshore sweatshop that bought obsolete tooling from someone else.
The welds and routing look very similar to the better known E-Bay headers....
If I can speculate, I'd say it is possible they are made by the same place that makes the cheapos. But maybe using thicker and better steel? If so, could be a more viable source for cheap headers.

Personally, I am still holding out saving pennies for the known good Hedman, Thorley, or Banks. When I use my truck, I ask a lot of it (towing) and am getting too old and crotchety to put up with problematic parts....

 

I know all about asking alot out of my truck, when hooked up to the camper and boat during the summer months my GCWR is more than 22k lbs. The last thing I need is problems with cracked welds or pipes, hence why I'm hear asking.

 

I'm going for the Banks longtubes when funds allow. Not a huge fan of the guy himself, but the quality and fit of his products are superb.

 

I first did the Y pipe, then a tune, then the headers. They made the biggest difference in my opinion. I only drive the truck ~3K a year and generally with a trailer so I can't speak of longevity issues. The mid and upper rpm power was very noticeable, it now wants to really hold 3rd on hills and doesn't have a problem doing so.

 

With that weight you will see high exhaust gas temperatures for long periods of time. Those tig welded OBX headers may just crack at the welds like the ebays sometimes do.

 

My eBay headers are fine so far. Truck and camper with stuff is about 14k. I didn't notice any improvement in power or mpgs. But my truck seems to be one of the nutless turd v10s around here.

 

Nope, I still like my V10 turd when hooked up to the camper, pulls like a freight train with the 4.56s and 91 octane towning tune! I was just thinking I should replace the exhaust manifold studs since I can see I have one or two broken ones. Figured if I was in that far I might as well put headers on so long as they don't cost me an arm and a leg and as long as there truely is a performance gain.

 

Boy, I see I need to spend an evening updating my gallery! Most of the stuff pictured has been sold and replaced years ago already! I suppose a few photos of the new ecoboost sure couldn't hurt.

 

I replaced mine with a set of gibson shorties a while back and love them, I mainly did it because of the broken exhaust studs but it did make a noticeable difference in power. I considered the cheaper headers but figured it was worth the wait to save up the cash for the Gibson's.