OBX Solara/Camry 1MZ-FE Headers/Y-Pipe (Review)

[Eye8Pussies]

I just posted this up on SG, so here it is for the TN community as well since ppl are all wondering and nobody wanted to take the leap of faith :



So, finally, after many many weeks/months of waiting and planning, I got a chance to install the new set of headers/y-pipe that OBX released as a copy of the 2.5" JPP setup.

So here's my review...

Performance-wise- I can now seem to do things in 5th gear that I couldn't do before. Basically, from throttle feel and butt-dyno feel, it seems as though the powerband now starts lower in the rpms than before. A lot closer to 3K than 4K as it usually is. For top-end power, it's hard to say, and only a comparison dyno will probably be able to determine that. My car feels faster over all quite definitely, but I can't attribute that solely to the headers since I just put a newer and lower mileage (and better running) motor into my car. Also, I haven't been able to retune either since the display on my safcII died on me....

Fitment-wise - The fitment is pretty great on the headers, and the quality of the welds is superb. The headers fit great, but comes with fiber gaskets that I replaced with new OEM metal gaskets just in case. They also come with nuts and bolts to bolt the y-pipe to the headers. The only thing is that the y-pipe needed a lot of pushing and shoving to line up perfectly. If there were studs welded into the headers it would make it a lot easier to line up, but since I had to struggle with inserting the bolts as well as lining up the fiber gaskets at the same time, it was an absolute bitch and it probably took me around an hour just to install the y-pipe. The hanger was in the perfect spot as well, so that wasn't an issue. I can't speak as to how the egr pipe to the egr "cooler" on the block will fit, as I blocked off my egr at the header, but from a quick place on top fitment, it looks like it should be fine.

Installation - well...long story short, I can't really judge on this one, since I installed the headers with the motor out of the car. All I can say is that it will be an absolute headache and not any fun at all to try and install yourself at home. The OEM headers should come out fairly simply since you can easily access the nuts holding them and the shape would be possible to slip out the back of the engine bay with some patience, but the new headers take up a lot more room and I have no idea how somebody would be able to really slip them into place, much less bolt them up and torque them properly since a number of the nuts are hard to reach. I could only use a ratchet on about half of the nuts and had to use a combination wrench on the rest. If you have ratcheting wrenches, that'd make things easier as well. But if you decide to install them yourself, all I will say is good luck. Book time on replacing the oem headers is 6 hours....and I'm sure that it'll take you at least that long to remove the oem ones and install the obx ones....if you're lucky.

Customization - For the gen4 guys who want to run the resonator, I'm sure that it should just bolt up to the rest of your exhaust. For me and the gen3 it was a bit different, but I have it all clamped up right now.

Sound - The sound of my exhaust not has changed for sure. I can't decide for the better or for worse but it seems to be quieter. It's a bit raspier and burbbly than before, and not quite as deep either. I'm not sure if its because of my specific piping and clamping (I got the end of my y-pipe with resonator cut off clamped to the rest of my piping instead of welded since I plan on replacing my 2.5" with 3" piping soon).


Long story short though- well worth the money I'd say. Real performance gains are felt from my butt-dyno, but we'll see once I re-tune and re-dyno, etc etc. And in addition...they also look great in the engine bay lol.

[samarai912]

Lets see a picture KING!

[ASG14]

^ I;m not sure he took any, lol. His car is at my place so I may brush the snow off and snap some pics tomorrow.

[Venom_5]

still on an SAFC with that car, King? time for a standalone ... upgrading to a standalone by itself might net you some power just via tune-ability!

[Eye8Pussies]

ummm...no pictures...just cuz my gf had my camera the entire time I was doing the work...but maybe adam can take some. otherwise, I won't be seeing my car until feb at the earliest lol.


and lenny- yeah...I'd like to do that...especially then I wouldn't have to deal with the slight fuel lag that the auto ecu has...but that takes money...and I've been an unemployed student for a year and a half now maybe an emanage, but since ppl seem to have problems with the blue (especially on the picky picky 94 obdII ecu), I'll probably have to wait for money for an ultimate or an aem ems....so....that won't happen for awhile

[Venom_5]

AEM is the way to go, IMO ... just cuz ive seen so many be tuned by a shop a couple friends own in the past few months, and theyre top-notch ECUs -- but i feel ya on the money thing

i hope adam does get pics ... it seems like you had a better experience with these than when rob installed his, from what im reading - did they change the design or is it just a hit-or-miss

[ASG14]

[Eye8Pussies]

Originally Posted by Venom_5

AEM is the way to go, IMO ... just cuz ive seen so many be tuned by a shop a couple friends own in the past few months, and theyre top-notch ECUs -- but i feel ya on the money thing

i hope adam does get pics ... it seems like you had a better experience with these than when rob installed his, from what im reading - did they change the design or is it just a hit-or-miss

they changed the design

the one that rob had to get fixed was the design that obx came out with themselves years ago. These are the new ones that look to be identical jpp copies....that's why we all got hot and heavy with excitement for them



and yeah...probably aem I'm not looking forward to the initial setup though....but at least I have tony here in TO (presuming I'm back in TO at that point) to help me set it up initially and then I can street tune it myself there's a lot of power to be had in advancing the timing once I install meth injection

[a94autoCamry]

just curious eye8, what year of the 1mzfe is this new "used" motor from?

[ASG14]

^ '95

[jay04]

just installed these headers on the 97 es300 with the motor in the car and regular jack (done attempt if you dont have the patient). It was a biatch! It would, however, be easier to do the back headers if we wouldve pulled the passenger side axle out.

By the way would I use to tune my car? How much hp would I gain?

[Venom_5]

ah, jpp replicas make more sense ... hopefully you can put it on the dyno again in the near future

[disregard]

Thats a sweet setup guys, about how much horsepower and torque are you running ?

[camry man68]

If only there was a review like this except for a 5sfe engine. I was thinking of getting the obx headers for my gen 4 5sfe but I heard they give you more top end gains and take away power from the lower rpms, not something that I want for autocross.

[Fiox789]

I really really want one of these.