Exhaust Leak

[WYTSKY]

Hey guys,

Unfortunately my car has developed an exhaust leak today, and it has gotten louder over the day and the car has become very sluggish.

Its not the normal high pitched squeal and I have checked the turbo and when I turn the car off I can hear the turbo spinning freely without any problems so I know the turbo is fine.

I have an external gate welded on the back of the turbo, but have felt around the weld for air/sound and it is fine.

The best way to describe the sound is like an unmuffled exhaust, as in no exhaust at all, just not as loud.

I have put soapy water and normal water all around the manifold and cant see any bubbles, my guess is its at the back/bottom of the manifold.

Later tonight when it has cooled down I will get under the car and see if I can see/hear anything further.

question:

Where in the Eastern suburbs can I get it checked/repaired? I was thinking Performance Exhaust in Ringwood, any other suggestions?

Thanks, Adam

[paulr33]

ringwood performance exhaust is bang on

been there, good work and good bloke

[boostn0199]

Check your turbo to manifold gasket aswell and also the front pipe to cat and rest of exhuast but if its loud most likely the manifold itself or turbo to manifold gasket.

[WYTSKY]

Got under there last night, found this, sprayed it with soapy water and i was blowing lots of bubbles, so I was spot on.

Went to performance exhaust today, Dave was very honest and admitted 1. They can't weld cast - or atleast it would not hold for long. 2. they can't weld upside down, so the whole manifold would have to be taken off.

Now sourcing parts, getting a fancy gasket and other bits from the states from the recommendation of Dr drift.

If anyone has a R33 Turbo exhaust manifold in good cond please let me know

Thanks very much for the help guys.

[R31Nismoid]

Whats your exhaust like - seems that the weight/heat combo has caused a crack.

Very rare to see a manifold crack like that.

Ensure you change all the manifold studs as well. Likely 2-3 will break when taking the manifold off anyway

[WYTSKY]

well, I did try one of those heat wraps, pain in the ass and F*ing itchy to put on, pretty much useless, took it off to find this crack with a stanly knife, never putting anything like that rubbish on the car again.

So the crack did form with the exhaust wrap on, had it wrapped for about 6 weeks, still I find it hard to believe it cracked....

the only other thing I can think of is that because of the small .63 bum on the turbo and 19psi? I did have that thread awhile back about the extremely hot intake and that going the 0.8x housing would allow more flow and stop the turbo heating up?

is that maybe something I should look into to stop this happening again?

The exhaust is very comfortable on the back of the turbo, not stretching or pushing into it when it sits freely - about 2mm off the turbo. front/dump pipe does have a flexy join in it to reduce tension even further and the momo course cat back.

oh and I anticipate I will have to call the thread doc out

[scotty nm35]

I have heard heat wrap can do that, didn't believe it till now.

Another option is to fill up on Eflex (from Lilydale Caltex) and get a tune with lower exhaust temps.

Bit far I guess...

[ssxRicho]

Mate I changed my manifold 3 times in 2010. It's not all that hard, just a pain in the bum.

Coat all the nuts in wd40, wait an hour, coat them again. Let it sit for an hour or so, then have a go at them.

You will be able to get a manifold from the wreckers (osaka imports) $100-140 + nissan mani gasket $110 (kudos motorsport) + turbo gasket & crush washers $50 (kudos motorsport).

My first one.

[WYTSKY]

I know its not that hard to change, just a pain. If the heatwrap can cause this that would be a bit of a relief so that at least i know my actual setup isn't causing this...

that crack is massive, what was the cause?

I called osaka imports, $120 for the manifold, Sam will get one for a lot cheaper if I cant find one for 50-70 bucks in the mean time on here.

[ssxRicho]

The dump was heat wrapped for that one and running the standard r33 turbo @ 12psi.

The other two didnt crack, just warped with no wrapped at all and 21U highflow @ 14psi. In saying that

the car sees only track work.

When you pull the mani off, make sure the exhaust housing is still flat.

[llama_au]

Heat-wrapping caused that on a Tomei stainless steel exhaust manifold we had pretty quickly. Wouldn't use it again.

[WYTSKY]

Thanks, will check turbo properly, hopefully nothing is affected on it because the only part of it that was wrapped was the pipe to the gate on the back of the turbo.

[Ruffels]

who highflowed the turbo out of interest?

[WYTSKY]

Got the manifold off and the studs out... unfortunately 2 broke in the block but i'll get in contact with the thread doc.

I'd like to mention how much easier wd40 made getting the nuts off, I sprayed it in the morning before work and they looked all rusty, by the time i got home that night they looked shiny again and all came off fairly effortlessly.

my next question: When i get my new manifold, where can I get it heat coated, does it improve engine bay temps/prevent cracking and how much does it cost roughly?

its more then I thought, that crack goes right in there. I have checked flanges with a metal ruler and they are perfect.

Adam

[R31Nismoid]

Get some pics of where the gate is welded on etc also.

Preferably "as mounted" so to speak for a point of reference.

[WYTSKY]

I have been searching around, people seem to be raving about hpc coatings, havent been able to get a hold of them yet.

[Russman]

Hope you get it sorted soon man.

[llama_au]

HPC coating is excellent stuff.

[R31Nismoid]

Was the crack on the top or the bottom?

I'm guessing the bottom side?