I gots me an eBay header! (In-Depth Unboxing & Review)

[Partyman10195]

Hey everyone! I just received my new eBay header in the mail after waiting exactly one week for UPS to ship from Cali to Western Canada and I thought I'd do what I hope to be the most in-depth unboxing and review of the item itself for future reference by anyone interested.

I'll start off by saying I'm 16. I purchased an 03 Laser Blue Protege5 with 175k in February 2011 and aside from regular maintenance at such high km's, I absolutely love the car. If and when I sell it I will for sure be buying the exact same car except with a manual tranny. That's how much I love it. Anyways back to what I was saying, I'm not an experienced mechanic at all, I've taken the classes at my school and have enough know how to change this all out into my P5 and have it working correctly. In saying that, I'm also gonna come off as a complete n00b to some people and if your a n00b reading this then it will probably be a greater help to you than most. Either way, I hope I help to eliminate any questions those of you may have on whether or not eBay headers are the way to go. Now on to the good stuff

I purchased the item on Nov. 9th, 2011 and exactly one week later on Nov. 16th I received my package shipped directly to my front door by UPS. That's not too bad from Cali to Alberta! It cost $96.00USD including shipping by UPS Standard with tracking. The seller's name was tuningpros and at the time had a feedback score of 97.7%. They had great communication throughout the entire transaction and shipped the item very quickly after payment was completed on my part.
http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n549/Partyman10195/?action=view&current=SAM_0404.jpg

The box was looking kind of haggard on the outside but I wasn't expecting much from it when I paid for it. I cut through the ties and opened up the box to see my beautiful new part in a bubble wrap cover type thingy, as well as the gasket included in a sealed baggie.
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After removing the bubble wrap from the header I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't really know what to expect from this purchase, but it was quite a lot better than what I imagined it would look like. Shiny and everything!
http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n549/Partyman10195/?action=view&current=SAM_0412.jpg
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Now I'm gonna go through and basically show what the weld quality is like, the pipe diameters and overall quality of the part as a whole.

In these pictures I'm showing the welds around all three of the O2 sensor and EGR tube bungs. They seemed solid enough and the included screws blocking them off
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These show the welds around the top 4 runners where they attach to the flange individually. Here as well I was quite impressed, not too messy with the welds and smooth to the touch.
http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n549/Partyman10195/?action=view&current=SAM_0416.jpg
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Where the runners all attach at the collector isn't too bad. Seemingly strong welds around each individual runner and in between to hold them all together with no spatter or excess grinding down gives me some reassurance, but again, only after my install will the true quality be shown.
http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n549/Partyman10195/?action=view&current=SAM_0423.jpg
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Next up is gonna be showing off the flange where the header meets exhaust system. Quality of the metal in this area seems sturdy enough, only crappy thing is I didn't have a straight edge to test the straightness of all the flanges and stufff, so you'll have to use your own judgment on that one until I make a new thread detailing the install itself. Another plus is that when I measured the diameter of the tubing, it was 2" in diameter, just as advertised. No screwin' around with being "close" to 2 inches and all that bs.
http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n549/Partyman10195/?action=view&current=SAM_0430.jpg
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Almost Done! Now I'll be showing off the ports where the runners connect to head flange. This is one of the areas of the header which disappoints me the most, but with a little port and polishing work I'm sure a huge difference could be made. The ports look like they were quickly welded and polished out, as there are gaps between the flange and the runners as well as very rough and uneven welds, although I'm not sure this would affect anything other than restricting some airflow slightly or worse, causing cracks early on in the items use. I don't know, you tell me.
http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n549/Partyman10195/?action=view&current=SAM_0429.jpg
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Not much to say about the gasket, other than you should probably go buy a new, better quality one. I don't even know what a good header gasket should look like, but I have a feeling it's not this.
http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n549/Partyman10195/?action=view&current=SAM_0437.jpg

All right everyone, I hope this has helped someone in making a decision on whether to spend money or save it like I did! I'm not complaining, I got what I paid for and with a little elbow grease it could also be a lot better. Might throw a coat of high temperature header paint on it as I've heard they slowly start to develop a nasty case of surface rust, which isn't the look I want going on in my engine bay. Any questions or thoughts on the header leave a comment or PM me if your feeling it!

Again, happy zoom-zoomin' everyone!

 

[MazdaSport20]

Nice write up

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Have it jethot coated or similar coating instead of painting and get nonfouler setup on 2nd o2 bung to keep from getting cel.

 

[Fresco]

if it were me i would have the runners rewelded or at least the inside especially where you said theres a gap, some of the runner welds look like really thin, but thats just my opinion

 

[GNO]

Welcome to the world of wrenching. I love your enthusiasm.

Years ago, I gave up on modding my P5. I even let some maintenance issue slip past. My daughter will be turning 16 next year, and I'm passing the P5 down to her. Before doing so, there are things on the car that need attention. One of which is the exhaust. All of it! I'm still in the process of acquiring parts. The cat-back came today. Now, just one adapter left for the EGR. It should be in tomorrow afternoon, then I should be ready to bolt everything together. Consequently, I found it very entertaining in how you documented everything. I hope to do the same when I finish my little project tomorrow and/or Saturday.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Jedidiah55]

i know ppl who buy ebay exhuast cut the welds and reweld and smooth everything out because they dont want to bend some pipes but they are nice enough quality for an N/A 4 cylinder

 

[Jordysoso]

^ I just left mine how it was lol

 

[Partyman10195]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I myself even thought it was a little over the top to do a big writeup such as this but I thought, meh, whatever. Someone, somewhere, sometime is gonna have a question on it and they might as well have more detail than they need to answer there questions. I hope to do an even more detailed how-to for installing the header once I can find a warm place to do it. My garage isn't heated and it's only getting icier here in Alberta. Ill keep everyone posted!

 

[d0sitmatr]

I think its a great idea, hats off to you PM10195 !
I also noticed the flange and how poorly that weld is there, whether or not its going to create a problem is something only time will tell, but Im a believer in future proofing, so you might want to do as advised by several people and have at least that section re-welded.
also, a coating is def something to consider, the SS eBay headers are known to deteriorate at a fairly rapid pace, a coating will help to keep it alive much longer. ceramic is the best coating to have, but expensive and will offset the price enough to make you think it would have been better to go high end.
oh, and welcome to the world of Mazda. you remind me of myself when I got my first Mazda, a mid 80's 323 wagon, havent looked back since, Ive had almost a dozen Mazda's now and will always trust one.

 

[Mike R]

The only issue I see is the EGR bung. Not the correct type of flange. Should be a tapered seat. Like the one below.

 

[GNO]

The only issue I see is the EGR bung. Not the correct type of flange. Should be a tapered seat. Like the one below.

Nice catch, Mike!

Partyman- that can be a problem since pressure is needed against the flare on the pipe. You might be able to get enough pressure for a seal as is. If that's a problem, you can make you're own egr tube.

 

[Partyman10195]

I attempted to put together a how-to with pictures for installing the headers on my P5, but it was such a piss off! Everything was so rusted I thought I was gonna be breaking bolts left and right after I soaked them all in PB Blaster. That stuff works amazing though, well worth the money. Worst part was removing the spring loaded bolts holding the exhaust to the cat. I mangled one so badly I had to wait till the next day to get a special tool to take it off. Then the egr bung wasn't angled correctly so I'm trying to bend the egr pipe into place as well as waiting on a new donut gasket and spring loaded bolts.