Any experience with the 1.6 Miata eBay headers?

I feel terrible even asking this as I usually stay away from that cheap junk, BUT I do wish to install the Flyin' Miata frame rail reinforcement/butterfly brace which doesn't fit with the stock header/cat combo.

Keith has said he had made it work, but wouldn't recommend it due to the large amount of work.

As you can imagine, I'm not really looking to spend an additional $600ish on a new JR or Racing beat header/cat setup just so I can install some chassis stiffening. I lost out on one on eBay last night.

Thoughts?

I made my stock down pipe work, but it did take effort. I had to cut and weld an s-bend into it. Then I wrapped it with header wrap since the stock heat shield had to go.

Precisely what I'm trying to avoid.

I had the eBay stainless turbo manifold on my Miata. After 1 challenge and under 3000 miles of driving almost all the welds cracked and the turbo flange was only connected on one side. Maybe a header will hold up better since it won’t have the weight and heat from a turbo but it’s your call.

I picked up a cheapie e-bay header about 1.5 years ago. CSx or OBd or some name like that. $100 stainless. They're working ok. Would I do it again to be cheap? Yes.

Not perfect though. Flange holes didn't line up right with the studs in the head. Little drilling and grinder work was required. Splice in 2' of wire because the O2 sensor is now down by the transmission. Cheap stainless, so it lightly rusts. Goo lots of coppercoat on the joints because nothing is perfectly flat.

I have a cheap 1.6 header on mine. obx I think. It fits fine on the head, it is a bit short so the rest of the exhaust is more stressed on the rubber haners but it's fine. If you don't need it right away it will be available after I do the msm swap in a bit.

^Oh really? Do you happen to have a butterfly brace, if so, does it fit?

I'm in no hurry, just plan to have the car ready for hte first HPDE in March of next year. Shoot me a message with what you want for it.

Other than needing to extend the O2 sensor wire, mine fit and worked just fine. It was on its second miata when I sold out the miata stuff.

Had a raceland header in my friend's miata...not totally cheapest cheap. But fitment was decent, seems to be holding up alright. Much better fitment-wise than my 1.8L miata one (had to massage the trans tunnel to make it fit)

Keep your eyes open for used stuff, too. I've picked up a couple of RB or JR headers for $100 over the years. The JR ones tend to crack, although JR changed manufacturers and designs so many times in the mid-90's that some of them may be stronger than others.

I installed the FM chassis rail + butterfly braces along with their high flow cat, mid-pipe and rear section exhaust.

My problem arose when it was revealed that a generic replacement cat had been welded between the stock down and mid pipes. To make the FM stuff work the answer was header. On the recommendation of a couple people I know and trust, and reviews at meeotter dot net, I ordered the "Raceland-shamelessly-reverse-engineered-from-a-$469-Racing-Beat-header" direct from Racelend, which even with fast freight from NV was under $150.

I recall I may have needed to massage one or more of the mounting holes in the flange w/ a die grinder, but it fit very well, and the quality of manufacture was fine, particularly for the price.

It does not have flawless showpiece welds like a $1500 Akrapovic titanium motorcycle system. It does get the hot exhaust gasses downstream to my beautiful and great sounding FM system.

I wouldn't buy the cheapest one, but can recommend the Raceland part if you need to save $.

From spending hours over on Miata.net reading every post in the NA Power section I'd say there are two camps on e-bay headers. Those that have a brand name who swear on their 1st born that the e-bay parts are crap, don't fit, don't work and will fall to pieces in 6 months. The second camp is those who have an e-bay header. 95% of those think they are the greatest thing since sliced truffles, 4% say they work great but were fiddly to fit and 1% had a problem, but that was a part bought used and was replaced FOC. I've seen no convincing evidence that they make more or less power than a brand name part either.

I've had calls from people who have bought eBay headers, looking for me to magically fix their problems over the phone. One memorable instance had the O2 sensor aimed directly at the transmission, which would have required a sensor about 1" long in order to work. Of course, I don't hear from people who don't have a problem.

Miatas don't make a lot of power from headers. A really good one can make a difference, like that pile of spaghetti I made for the Targa car a few years back. But most are very close to each other.

Keith, yeah, I'm in no hurry so that's what I'm doing for the time being. Really upset I missed the JR one last night on eBay.

motomoron, thanks, that's what I was hoping to hear.

I had an OBX on my '96 M that I got on ebay, had to massage tranny tunnel to get it in and then the sumbitch broke in two on me at TGPR Replaced it with a used JR header that just slipped right in, was a thing of beauty. On my '92 FrankenMiata, I've got a Raceland, love it. Cheap, great fit. Would definitely get another one if I had to buy another header. Can't see the difference between it & my old JR, but I'm not a weld inspector either

I bought an OBX ceramic coated stainless header to put on my 1.6 auto. I 'cheaped' out because I knew we'd have to massage it to get it around the larger auto bellhousing, and I didn't want to take the chance of ruining a JR or RB unit. My plan was to replace it with a JR or RB after the theory was proven but it's been flawless for over 2 years and 30+ autocrosses on 2 different motors.

mark

I also have a Raceland on my 1.6, it fits really well.

This guy I know (me) long-term tested the Raceland unit. It's a 4-2-1 design. It didn't hold up to Chicago road salt very well, but otherwise was a well-made, good-looking header. Their customer service was good, too. I have an RMA issued because my second one started rusting as well, but haven't cashed it in. It's still on my car. Partly because it works, partly because I don't want to buy a replacement.

http://www.sentimentalmechanic.com/2011/01/replacement-header-goes-in-painlessly.html

(Before you tell me "It rusted because you wrapped it," be aware that the second one rusted too, and was not wrapped. There's a couple pictures a little ways down this post: http://www.sentimentalmechanic.com/2011/07/engine-rebuild-and-swap.html )

The 4-1 unit I've seen on eBay before, that one shows its cheapness. Crappy welds, crappy material, didn't fit. I saw an STS Miata at Solo Nationals this year with one of these on it (apparently theirs did fit) and it was starting to rust. I don't imagine that one saw the high-mileage winter commuting that mine did, either.

http://www.sentimentalmechanic.com/2011/09/racing-beat-knockoff-header.html

I'm guessing neither bothered to hit it with header paint or anything? (Didn't click the links)

The Racelands are cheap enough, I might get it ceramic coated if I can find a place that does it reasonably priced. Not sure I want to drop $250-300 with Swain.

There is good stuff on Ebay and bad stuff on Ebay. I bought OBX exhaust stuff a couple times for Volvos and both times everything worked fine with just a bit of tweaking. The flnages were flat, the welds were the right teperature with the right amount of material, and the stainless has not rusted in 2 years of DD use. I had to enlage on hole on a three hole flange pattern on one system and bend hangers a bit on the other. At 30% of the cost of IPD or whatever high currency value country of origin parts that are really really well made, fit perfectly and have great customer service, the risk panned out for me.

z31maniac wrote: I'm guessing neither bothered to hit it with header paint or anything? (Didn't click the links) The Racelands are cheap enough, I might get it ceramic coated if I can find a place that does it reasonably priced. Not sure I want to drop $250-300 with Swain.

Why would you paint a stainless steel header?

I'm running a Raceland and it is perfect in every way for the price. been on my beater car for two years with no issues.

Alan Cesar wrote:

z31maniac wrote: I'm guessing neither bothered to hit it with header paint or anything? (Didn't click the links) The Racelands are cheap enough, I might get it ceramic coated if I can find a place that does it reasonably priced. Not sure I want to drop $250-300 with Swain.

Why would you paint a stainless steel header?

Because of the issues you pointed out. Cheap steel leading to rust. Seems that if its a known issue, you would do something to mitigate it.

In reply to z31maniac:

The first one I had used header wrap on. I thought that was the cause of the problem. I did the replacement without wrap to see if it would hold up; figured someone would find the information useful, and it was interesting to do a durability test. Painting is probably good advice for anyone buying one of these and driving it through harsh winters on salted roads.

But, you know, most Miata owners don't do that, and a lot of states don't use road salt anymore. So that one's up to whoever buys it. Unpainted stainless looks nice.