OBX Headers Cracked apart...

[euro911sc]

So I went out and had tons of fun this weekend! Look MA! No tread left!!



I even got promoted But...

My wife mentioned to me the car sounded funny... I had not noticed... M&K Shortie 'mufflers' kinda mask any other sounds out there I notice a funny metallic sound pulling in to the garage, but I thought it was just a loose hose clamp or something in the support bracket of the exhaust I made... NOPE!

Passenger side:




Drivers side:


I'm sure a competent TIG guy could make these whole again... I'm still looking for my receipt and 'warranty', but I do not have my hopes up!

Comments? Recommendations?

-Michael

[James Brown]

the cost of capitalism! Congrats on running the snot out of you car and the promotion! Should be able to weld that up, might want to do all the other welds while your in there.

[DailyDriven'88]

At least you didnt pay a butt load for them right?

Originally Posted by James Brown

might want to do all the other welds while your in there.

As for the other joints, simply adding more 'weld' to whats already there isnt how to 'fix' it. It appears poor weld technique was used (see pic)

Question: First 2 pics show a large gap between the crack, and the third shows a very tiny gap. Did you take the last one when the headers were hot or are the pics playing tricks?

edit: Take a look at the circled areas:



Big red circle: Is that another crack I see starting?

Little red circles: Shows technique used. Looks like a series of tacks. Notice the 'nipple' and or crater in each ripple of the bead. Not good as there is a minute pin hole in each one. Once a crack starts, its like connecting the dots. Not to mention the headers were not backpurged when welded, and that combined that with exhaust gases and moisture leads to a somewhat rapid failure.

[DanielDudley]

Now you have me seeing a crack on the left side of the center pipe. I fixed a number of failures like that when I worked on Italian cars in the eighties. I am not a ''good'' welder, but we would often run a light bead with a MIG and then run a heavier bead when there was more material there to take the heat. It did prevent burn through, and give a heavier weld with good penetration.

We just used regular steel wire in the MIG, and never had a problem, but like I said, I am not a pro, I just fixed cars. I would be inclined to weld that on the engine or make a jig to hold it. if you take it off to weld it you are going to have issues getting it aligned properly. You would need to dicsconnect the battery, and the electronic brain, if the car has one. Ground to the header. Tack it well, then take it off to finish.

Probably lots of good welders near by. If you lived in Cali, I'd tell you to take it to DD88's house. Then again, you could always send it back to the factory.

[euro911sc]

Originally Posted by DailyDriven'88

At least you didn't pay a butt load for them right?

...

Question: First 2 pics show a large gap between the crack, and the third shows a very tiny gap. Did you take the last one when the headers were hot or are the pics playing tricks?

Nope I did not pay much for them, but I figured they would last a bit longer then 5k miles and 4 track days! Other solutions were more than 2x the cost... now the question is will the fix be as costly? If so I'll have to bite the bullet and get some quality parts. They worked great until they broke!

As for Q2, the small gap crack is the other side! I have more cracks then the pics show on both sides of the headers so its not just 1 bad weld. The mufflers are supported by a bracket tied to the engine. When I made this bracket I tried to make it such that it did not put force on the pipes.

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

I would be inclined to weld that on the engine or make a jig to hold it. if you take it off to weld it you are going to have issues getting it aligned properly. You would need to dicsconnect the battery, and the electronic brain, if the car has one. Ground to the header. Tack it well, then take it off to finish.

Probably lots of good welders near by. If you lived in Cali, I'd tell you to take it to DD88's house. Then again, you could always send it back to the factory.

Yes, keeping alignment is my concern also. If I were to unbolt the header the broken pipe would be free. So I need to take it to a Porsche specialist or find a competent welder that can weld upside down. The other fun part is that they are supposed to be Stainless Steel. I am wondering if that will cause it to be more brittle? when compared to a mild steel header.

Also, to get it welded right it will have to be nice and clean. Tough to do when they are on the car and well used

There are good welders around here... I think

Other comments and recommendations? Any other OBX failures like this?

Thanks!

-Michael

[NY65912]

When I was searching for headers I did a google search on OBX.

Guys on the Japanese forums said they were "junk".

I have no first hand experience with them....but like the old adage says "you get what you pay for".

[rick-l]

When it is misaligned can you see what kind of penetration the weld made into the tube?

I've never tig'd before but I didn't think it was possible to lay the weld just on top.

[175K911]

This is probably why George Narbel uses a slip fitting for this connection rather than a butt fit. Can't flex and cause the welds to fail.

[MichiganMat]

Apparently there is no such thing as a free lunch...

[juan ruiz]

they are very poor quality, repair them and expect them to crack again.

[jjrowe]

The chinese are second to none when creating nice shiny looking garbage .

[Steve@Rennsport]

Originally Posted by MichiganMat

Apparently there is no such thing as a free lunch...

Those are VERY wise words,......

[JeremyD]

I must have missed the "pile on" signal.

Actually in all fairness - when it comes to exhaust systems - I'm not familiar with any aftermarket company that hasn't had some sort of issue. B & B have had problems with their mufflers splitting, Fabspeed had some fitment issues, Dansk had problems with their dual outs, GHLs split, I even had a problem with an MK (that Ben fixed immediately).

It happens

[3rd_gear_Ted]

To throw fuel on the fire, I would say your one header pipe out of six has found a new "happy place" after some track time. Weld the butt or fab a collar for right where it is.

[upbporsche]

Originally Posted by NY65912

When I was searching for headers I did a google search on OBX.

Guys on the Japanese forums said they were "junk".

I have no first hand experience with them....but like the old adage says "you get what you pay for".

Exactly. Im totally new to the porsche scene but I can tell you from experience with imports that OBX headers are chinese junk, to put it nicely. When I autox'ed my DSM (Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX) they were a running joke on the scene. The sad thing is that the factory turbo manifold on my DSM out-flowed the OBX by a surprising amount...flow bench tested. While im sure there are some people that have had success with them, my advice would be to stay away from them, even people i raced with that had all the seams re-welded professionally before use eventually had cracking problems. Not to mention warped headflanges. With the imports, by the time you bought the OBX, had it re-welded, milled, and sometimes rework the stud holes, you had racked up a bill similar to what a decent piece costs. Take this post with a grain of salt though, as my experience lies with the imports pieces, not porsche ones.

[Steve W]

PatrickB had/has a set on his 3.2 and it broke just like that a few months ago after about year and a half and lots of track use. The seller said to send them back for replacement.

[450knotOffice]

Yup. I was following him home in my car when the whole tube just fell off the car.

[ALXinNZ]

Originally Posted by 450knotOffice

Yup. I was following him home in my car when the whole tube just fell off the car.

That would be a "wake up call" lol ( Hope it didn't hit your car!!)

[DailyDriven'88]

Originally Posted by euro911sc

Nope I did not pay much for them, but I figured they would last a bit longer then 5k miles and 4 track days! Other solutions were more than 2x the cost... now the question is will the fix be as costly? If so I'll have to bite the bullet and get some quality parts. They worked great until they broke!

As for Q2, the small gap crack is the other side! I have more cracks then the pics show on both sides of the headers so its not just 1 bad weld.

Yea that was quick and I bet they did perform nicely. I doubt there is any real consistency with the OBX headers, unless one wants to assume that they will all have a short life. Im more referring to the build quality. Maybe if you return them and get another set, they may last longer, or even shorter. Who knows. As long as the warranty issue pans out and you dont mind swapping them, keep trying till you get a set that holds up, hah..but dont count on it though.

Ahh understood. More cracks on the other side too? Only real solution here is to replace them. The cracking issue will never end, at least with this particular set.

However, if you decide to get that one crack repaired, it wouldn't be that costly at all. The header would have to be removed though.

[rick-l]

1. I notice on the OBX web site they no longer sell them for Porsche.
2. I don't think the weld should have broken, it is supposed to be stronger than the surrounding metal (thicker).
3. I am waiting for an ME/welder to check in and give an assessment of why they failed.