So I recently installed a set of the cheap stainless eBay headers and Texas Speed's ORY on my car. I already had a Magnaflow catback and DMH cutout on the car. I wish I had pictures for you guys but the only camera I have is my phone, and it sucks. But here's my experience...

The headers were $200 shipped, and look every bit as nice as a set of Kooks or ARH. They did come with AIR and EGR fittings, but instead of buying the blockoff plates, I had a buddy cut off the fittings and weld up the holes. I've read about the AIR tubes breaking off so I decided to nip that in the bud. The only thing that is annoying about the eBay headers is the bungs for the 02 sensors are on the wrong side. Instead of being on the inside of the headers, they're on the outside. No big deal on the passenger side, but on the driver side it required removing a heat shield and flipping either a brake or fuel line to get the 02 sensor to clear.

There are a couple spots where the headers contact the K-member, but considering even people with $900+ Kooks have had this problem, I'm not going to hold it against the eBay headers.

On to the TSP ORY. It was ~$150 including shipping. It is a fantastic looking piece, apart from the hopeless U-bolt clamps they supply you with. If you buy a TSP ORY, do yourself a favor and buy band clamps and don't bother with those POS clamps it comes with. The ground clearance was so awful with the U-bolt clamps they actually scraped on my gravel driveway... not kidding. With the band clamps installed the ground clearance isn't that bad. I'm lowered about an inch, and I've gone over some pretty steep driveways and have yet to scrape.

Now I'm going to give TSP a pass as far as Y-pipe fitment goes, because I am by no means a professional installer, and by the time we got around to getting the Y connected to the catback it was the wee hours of the morning and we were exhausted. It seemed like the Y-pipe pushed the I-pipe back too far by a few inches. So we gave up, I drove home with an open Y-pipe (waking up everyone within at least a mile radius), and took the car to a shop to have them weld the Y-pipe to the I-pipe. I'm sure if we had a couple more hours to wrestle with it up on the lift we could have gotten it to fit, so I'm not going to blame TSP.

So the cost of the headers was $200, the Y $150, and the shop charged $45 to do the one weld. I reused my stock gaskets, bolts, and spliced the wiring for the 02s instead of buying extentions, and I'm going to sell my stock cats to a recycler for $100. So basically the grand total for stainless steel 1 3/4" long tube headers and stainless steel 3" ORY was $295.

 

This is a good post. I did this on my car and I can tell you this is spot on.

I did motor mounts too - they were totally worn out. My TSP y-pipe fit better that the factory y-pipe. I think the new motor mounts had a lot to do with that.

 

Same here, I decided to get a set of those headers to run until I get around to putting the turbo on. I was surprised at how well made they were and how well they fit. They were easier to install than my old pacesetters and hooker shorty headers that I had before. I was going to go with the tsp Y pipe but decided to get some welding practice in and built my own.

I think a lot of people miss out on these since they think ebay automatically equals cheap crap, but in this case that couldn't be further from the truth.

 

Yeah, the headers fit great apart from hitting the K-member. Nothing that can't be fixed with a little notching. With the money I saved buying the eBay headers over Kooks or ARH I damn near could have bought a tubular K-member that would clear the headers by a mile.

 

I have the exact same set up as you. It's been on for over 10,000 miles and not one complaint at all. I actually didn't have any rubbing on the k-member (maybe it's because I did poly mounts too?) but I had to cut a tiny bit of my heat shield off to clear the o2 but for $200 I could care less.

 

Nice. I paid 650 for tsp headers and y, had the same issue with the y and I pipe, so I cut the I pipe slid it over the y, and band clamped the cut. Then my buddies shop welded everything all together, except the y to headers (left that band clamped) they only asked for breakfast, so 20$ in bagels and coffee. Add in my new magnaflow muffler, and I'm like 3, 4 times over your cost. I'm jealous. Lol.

 

Dang that's not bad. I paid more for my catback than that lol.

 

I bought a used set of stainless ebay headers with the matching ORY for $150 and it included extentions for the O2 sensors too. Am I the king of cheap or what. Ended up adding a Powerstick right after the "Y" to get rid of the rasp. So $230 total in the exhaust.

 

Yeah, I paid more than that for my Magnaflow.

Just goes to show you don't have to spend $1,000+ to put exhaust under our cars!

 

One-upper time

Traded my cracked, torn leather seats for a mint cloth (which I prefer) seats plus a used 3rd gen rear. Sold the rear for $150 and used that money to buy a set of as&m headers and y-pipe. cleaned them up and sold for $250 which was almost enough to buy my current Mac mids and offroad y-pipe ($270). My car came with a 3" I-pipe and flowmaster 80-series muffler that I sold to a v6 camaro owner for $50. I purchased a custom y-pipe and Borla exhaust for $125. Sold the y-pipe for $50 and the Borla for $250. Used that cash to buy my current 30-series flowmaster system ($250) and 4" corsa clones ($125). Sold my stock cat for $110 so all in all my entire exhaust, from headers to tips, cost me $60.

 

i got a used set of pacesetter LTs and ORY for 150, and already have a magnaflow. i love how it sounds, just need a cut out now

 

i already had Kooks on the car when i bought it so i didnt pay for them, but i believe you get what you pay for..
otherwise its a killer buy!! just hope they last, ive seen some rusty LT's in my day..

 

Exact same setup I'm running except I have cats and have a rumbler catback. Got me a 7.8 in the 1/8th mile.

 

Once these Ebay companies come out with 1 7/8s for 4th gens they are going to have a hard time keeping them in stock!

 

Oh they have the 1 7/8

 

Damn that's cheap, i paid $700 for my tsp 1 7/8 and tsp ory. And now i prob need to spend alittle more for a better band clamp for my ory ? where can i get a good one ? Ok i did some research and i found the accuseal band clamps, now i need the lap joint ones not the butt joint ones correct ? Also what size so i need for the tsp ory a 4" or 5" or smaller like a 3" ?

Is this what i need ?

or this

http://www.ws6project.com/user_stor/...er-band-clamp/