I'm now considering single turbo.. and wanting to ask few questions about manifolds.

I'm most likely going to go with 62/1 with HKS 50mm wastegate.

Can someone tell me if those ebay knock off would be ok to go with?? I've heard that I would need to get a new flange for the 50mm HKS wastegate.

Or go with HKS cast manifold and get an adaptor..

Or HKS SS manifold.. but too pricey!

What my plan was to go with the cheap Ebay SS manifold and re-enforce the welds (as Simon had suggested) and while doing so, add the new flange for the wastegate..

Wanted to know if you have used the ebay SS manifold and had any problems.. And what kind of problems you have experienced..

Thanks in advance!

PHIL

 

I'm sure someone will speak up but I've heard problems using hot sides larger than .84 due to LIM clearance with the ebay manifold. Nothing that can't be solved with a spacer or cutting/rewelding the turbo inlet. I've also heard from other threads that some people have had problems with the exhaust flange supposedly warping. Don't have any experiance with this manifold myself however if it needs to be reworked too much you might start to wish you went with a different manifold.

 

Id stay away from those ebay manifolds.. ive seen one and the build quality is horrible.. the runners feel like there sheet aluminum! the main base flange is not worth $10 ... that manifold truely belongs on ebay .. spend the money and go with a known reliable manifold and you wont go wrong .. HKS, Greddy,A-spec,whatever....

good luck!

S.

 

I have that manifold and had to have a new flange welded at a differnt angle to clear my 1.15 turbine.

materials and weld quality are decent, but all the ******* holes are off, big pain in the ***, but its a usable piece.

 

Ebay manifold build quality is crap, materials are thin wall crap, it will warp, it will crack. Why buy a manifold then spend the time and money to rework practically the whole thing, then still have a questionable piece, you wound up saving nothing really after all of it.

 

My friend and I both purchased the Autochrome manifolds to use with our T04E and plain bearing 35R turbos. The bolt holes on the turbo side line up perfectly with both turbos. The bolt holes on the exhaust flange lined up fine for my friend (I have yet to mount mine to the motor).

I am using a 44mm Tial V-band wastegate so the wg flange isn't an issue.

The turbo flange and the exhaust flange were slightly warped from the welding heat on both of our manifolds, but nothing that can't be fixed with minor work. Frankly, I think they will seal fine without any modifications when mounted with the proper gaskets.

I test fitted my turbo, which has a 1.00 exhaust side on my friend's manifold and it cleared the lower intake manifold and the chassis without a problem.

The weld beads are very uniform on both of our manifolds. Remember, the autochrome is different than the OBX. In particular, the autochrome is mandrel bent, while the obx manifolds I have seen are not, and the Autochrome pipes are thicker according to the specs.

The main gripe I have about the manifold is the odd D shaped holes on the turbo flange. Whether the shape makes much difference in terms performance is hard to say. Also, the runners are not equal length and are relatively short; the front runner is 7.5" while the rear is 9.25." The ID of the pipes is around 1.98.

The bottom line is I don't regret the purchase. The manifold is an accurate copy of the HKS original, for good AND bad. However, I think there are better manifold designs out there if cost isn't an object (Sean's 42R monster, Steve Kan's new equal length are two of my favorites).

 

I saw one of these manifolds in person while at A-Spec. Let's just say as the old saying goes you get what you pay for. Frankly I'd be scared to put one of the e-bay manifolds on my car.

 

Thanks guys.. I guess I might either get one made or buy HKS manifold.

 

Save the hassels and just buy a kit! You can check out mine (as long as it gets here) if you come up for the tunning session!!!

 

I have seen them crack as well. Most of them are designed wrong with the runners being much too large. The exhaust ports out of the rotor housings are less than 2" in diameter. Going this larger piping cause causes you to loose exhaust velocity and hurts spool. There are soo many manifolds that are just designed bad. It takes alot more than just welding up some tubing that fits the turbo and clears the motor and fender. Various shops put alot of time into their manifolds taking things into account like runner length, exhaust velocity, turbo size, etc. These all have to be matched to the application. The obx one for example is crap. I have seen one develop like a 4 inch long crack right beneath the turbo flange between the runners. This was with less than 3000 miles on usage. Those others that claim to be stronger are just thicker and heavier with the same poor design.