my choices, obx or XS headers

[FOSTAWS6]

pro's con's fitment issues> lets hear it

I want stainless w/ y-pipe these are the current front runners

anyone care to chime in?

[SSwt00SS]

i have the XS stainless steel LT's. i have had them on my car of 10 months and no issue and for me NO CONS, other might be different. install was easy and the stainless steel looks great. i gained 26rwhp/22rwtq after getting them installed and my car re-tuned...

here are a few pics...

[FOSTAWS6]

thanks for the feedback

[Ripper415]

i too have a set of xs's with their stainless y that i plan on installing at the end of this month. i hope everything goes well and that i can pick up similar gains. how much rwhp/rwtq would you say you got from JUST the headers/ory alone (without the tune)?

[INMY01TA]

I continuously read the XS y pipe is a pos. Poor fitment and the inside of the merge looks terrible.

[nytmare]

I have the XS headers and y-pipe and like them a lot. The y-pipe's not as bad as they're making it sound. Most of the y-pipe's on the market look very similar. Unless you're plan on making in excess of 500hp, their y-pipe isn't going to hurt performance.

The only issue with the XS headers is the driver side collector is VERY close (touching in my case) the underside of the car. It makes getting the y-pipe mounted a little bit of a pain, but not impossible (liberal use of a pry bar helps). Stuck some heater hose between it and the floorboard 'til I could get my exhaust shop to fab up "turn down" pipe. Don't have any rubbing issues anymore.

I don't see how you can go wrong with this setup.

Marc

[WEZONIT]

I would go with Kook LT's, probably the best headers ever made for our cars IMO. XS does make a very high quality product though. I wish I was able to afford Stainless LT's. I just bought the coated Pacesetters.

[mbrownin]

I was about to post the same question. Doesn't anyone here have, or know someone who has the OBX headers? I'm in northern Virginia, so I have to be able to pass a visual inspection for cats. The OBX system has those resonators that look like cats, should be good enough to pass the visual. If I go with XS, I need to somehow get cats installed, either some sort of custom job, or maybe a TSP catted y-pipe, which makes total cost jump up some. Would the OBX system have a power advantage with no cats over the XS system with a catted Y?

[Ripper415]

yea the xs y pipe merge kinda sucks (but lotsa other brands look similar). when i install mine i'm gonna grind the inner lip down a bit. shouldn't take more than a few minutes and it will hopefully free up air flow a bit more. another thing to consider is the obx are made of 304 stainless steel and the xs are 321 (higher quality).

[edbird]

Just finished my OBX install, and am quite happy with them and the sound with a hooker catback is great!I chose this brand over XS simply because I was going to install myself and though these might be easier because of the swivel mounting of the resonater.

[Ripper415]

hey sswt00ss, when you installed your xs's did you use the 3 crappy exhaust clamps that came with them or did you get new ones. if so, which and how many.
thanks!

[BLK02TA]

I also have XS headers and love them!!!

Mine didn't come with any clamps I just bought some band clamps from summit.

[98ls1blackbird]

I have XS LT headers on my 98 T/A and the fit is good. I used a pacesetter ORY and the fit was pretty good. I just hooked up to the stock exhaust for now. Actually it sounds pretty good.

[kebie05]

how much do the xs headers cost? how are they compared to qtp lt's?

[FOSTAWS6]

$550 W/Y-PIPE THRU END OF AUGUST, I JUST ORDERED MINE

[kebie05]

i tried to do a search for them and couldnt find anything on xs headers or y pipe. where did you order yours from?

[FOSTAWS6]

check out 2002blkws6 on the forums over at LS1Tech, he is a sponsor and has the sale posted in the sponsor specials forum, his name is Carl, good to deal with so far

[98ls1blackbird]

XS headers are the infamous EBay headers. Just do a search for ls1 headers.