Stainless Steel Manifolds

[shnaped_second]

Hey guys,

Just looking at a ebay stainless steel exhaust manifold and was wondering if anyone has used these items on a stock turbo setup and have they had any dramas? i had a 180sx with a cheap high mount stainless manifold and it cracked welds about 5 times before i had it repaired properly, the biggest problem for me was the flange for the external wastegate, it kept on snaping off. Anyway would one of these be worth the $200 odd for the extra power?

Cheers

Brad

[MR331307]

Hey guys,

Just looking at a ebay stainless steel exhaust manifold and was wondering if anyone has used these items on a stock turbo setup and have they had any dramas? i had a 180sx with a cheap high mount stainless manifold and it cracked welds about 5 times before i had it repaired properly, the biggest problem for me was the flange for the external wastegate, it kept on snaping off. Anyway would one of these be worth the $200 odd for the extra power?

Cheers

Brad

ive used them

Some turbos hit the Tappet covers where you have to modify the Flange

But apart from that i reakon its worth the money

Usually i find the Side mount Stainless ones to crack but top mount dont usually have a problem

[cameron]

ive used them

Some turbos hit the Tappet covers where you have to modify the Flange

I've seen this on 3 of thoes manifolds aswel,

I surpose you get what you pay for!

[juls33]

you get what you pay for

i purchased three manifolds of ebay a testor for quality

there were all sub standard chinese made cheapies but in there

defence i paid peanuts

i had to deck both faces the gaskets supplied were no good and the

taped threads for the collector where the turbo mounts were apalling

and had to be removed and a new peice welded on and taped

after a short time they all cracked and fell off

pay the money and get a good one is my advice

[Cameron_Datto]

How long on average did you get out of the manifold before they cracked ?

[ULOOOK]

The cheap manifolds will crack. As rbsilvia said they need further work on them before you fit them to the engine.

[FATGTS-R]

This subject pops up often and the answer is always the same. You get what you pay for.

Pay peanuts, for cheap grade, thin, and poorly welded stainless steel manifolds and the chances of it failing are higher.

Pay a lot of money, for decent grade and well made stainless manifolds and the chances of failure are substantially lesser.

Nissan has a prime example with the R31 GTSR. Factory fitted stainless manifold in 1987. They are still around in great nick and still command over $1,000 second hand. Work ok too .

[DVS JEZ]

i put an x forceebay manifold on the 32 GTR with matching 50mm wastegate, only had problems with the wastegate flange facing the wrong way, making 416kw so far on 24 psi with to4z. havent seen any signs of cracking yet,

they look nice and shiny at 1st but then they go crappy looking,

i pick mine up today as i got pro coat to put an internal and external ceramic aluminium coating on it.

if your interested i will put up some pics tonight.

cheers

Jeremy

Edited November 7, 2006 by DVS32R

[`nigno]

i put an x forceebay manifold on the 32 GTR with matching 50mm wastegate, only had problems with the wastegate flange facing the wrong way, making 416kw so far on 24 psi with to4z. havent seen any signs of cracking yet,

they look nice and shiny at 1st but then they go crappy looking,

i pick mine up today as i got pro coat to put an internal and external ceramic aluminium coating on it.

if your interested i will put up some pics tonight.

cheers

Jeremy

All stainless manifolds regardless of brand will discolour with use, and also become brittle and crack in areas of high heat and weight. Generally I find that the cracks appear in the valleys of the welds where the runners meet the manifold flange, always pays to keep a close eye on them.

If your concerned about it, and you have some basic tools and fabrication skills its quite easy to make yourself up some brackets to relieve some of the weight off the manifold (particularly if its high mount) which will definitely help.

[123456]

Is there any noticeable performance gain in getting an aftermarket exhaust manifold on a lightly modified car, like mine? I heard the stock ones were good for 250rwkw?

[GTRNUR]

I've heard of HKS manifolds cracking on engines making over 450 to the tyres. Like all things when you give them a flogging they wear out eventually.

Personally my GTS4 has a chinese made $250 special on it and I've abused the hell out of it. Its wrapped in header wrap which some will say caused issues, but the big thing is that I'm daily running 20lb+ boost and also use anti-lag which blasts hell out of the thing as far as temps go. Its holding up so far. I'm expecing it to fail some day, but when it does I know i've gotten my money's worth.