Just when you think you get almost everything fixed and ready to get on the road again huh????

So I ordered a FCD got my injectors all cleaned by witchhunter.com just got in brand new injector plugs and only needed 3 gaskets, my turbo ported, and a new exhuast to be on the road again and be perfectly fine until I got an engine rebuild. Life with the rex was gonna be great right? Wrong.

Just checked out my exhaust manifold since I took it off while taking off my turbo. Inspected it and found a crack in about the middle of the fold, a decent size crack at that, and some cracks where the turbo to manifold gasket goes....

Oh the woes. Now I need some advice from you guys.

I was planning on doing all the above things as stated and when my engine blew I was going to get a BNR stage 4 as well as a rebuild...... Now with this miss hap I look at the problem and say, if I spend $150 on a used exhaust manifold Im still spending money on a near 20 year old part that will soon crack as well. That $150 could go towards a new turbo and exhaust mani.

So, what should I do? I am not made of money, no where close to that. Especially with August coming soon I will have to pay for Fall classes *taking off this summer*

Do I just buy a used S5 turbo and exhaust manifold or should I get brand new things? I want to get a new manifold and turbo but I do not have the money right now to buy a standalone.

I was thinking of buying an HKS cast iron manifold, also saw the stainless manifold on rx7store.net but did not know what brand it was. What is the major difference of the smaller mani vs the $8-900 mani. HP? I notice those are longer and seem to be built tougher.

And then onto the new turbo, that means new oil lines, and whatever other lines needed. Not really sure what plugs back in and what I get rid of when going with a new turbo. I would want a turbo that could make me 380-400+hp on pump gas. Right now it would not need to make that much, but when I upgrade my engine and other parts then I would like to see the beast open up.

If I get an aftermarket turbo, is there any way of controlling it via stock ecu, fd fuel pump and stock injectors for the time being? Or will I have to get all new injectors, bigger fuel pump, stand alone, ect??

Just asking for some advice from some people who have been down that road....Thanks

EDIT: I ***may*** be able to scurry up $2,000 just to give you an idea of the money scenario.

 

If the cracks are small you're Ok. I think you will find agreement with others on this site. Almost all stock exaust mani's have small cracks in them by now.

 

Let me go take some pictures asap and you guys let me know what you think.

 

if you spend 150 on a used manifold your geting ripped off. they go for $40

 

For real? Well now...I thought on average they went for like $150 on here..or something like that....

 

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...light=manifold
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...light=manifold
search for s4 manifold in the 2nd gen parts for sale section

 

ALMOST all turbo manifolds have crack on the engine mating surface.

 

Ok, got some pics

Enlarge them to see the crack



this one is harder to tell because I took it from the inside. Look at the darker spot deeper in the manifold. Look on the outside right before it starts to get real dark and you can see the crack line.


All of these are of the bigger crack that runs down the midddle. I did not take any of the mating surface. Let me know if Im worrying over nada. Thanks again!

EDIT:
Thanks snow! That dude lives just about an hour away.

 

i got one for sale right now!! 30 bucks on ebay WITHOUT shipping though...PM me and ill drop it from ebay and ship it out to ya!!!

NO CRACKS!
but it has no arm for the actuator though, its welded shut..

 

well preferably no cracks is ideal but small cracks are ok, yours are borderline since they still haven't begun to really leak but they are over 1.5" in length. personally i think you would be fine to reuse it but a newer manifold would be better.

 

Thanks Karack. I guess I will re-use it for the time being, then when the time comes I will just replace it. Is there any aftermarket manifold that will allow me to use the stock turbo, or do all of them upgrade to a t3/t4 ?
Also, any temp fix for the current crack that I have?

 

SSAuto sells a stock manifold, tubular replacement (better flow) for like $150 on ebay. You can't find it on the site. However...they are said to not be very good. But..it's not much money to lose! And it will "most likely" last until your ready to upgrade turbos..

 

Different flanges between stock turbo and a to4. I would advise you stay away from anything T3 when you decide to upgrade.

You can get away with a To4 on a stock ecu-ish combination, something in the range of a bigger fuel pump, Rtek 1.7/2.0 and bigger secondaries ( if you have a 87-88 car), and an additional injector controller. However this is not a great setup, and obvious a cheap route with no way to control spark advance. However it does work. Obviously a full standalone is the route to go if you have the money.

If you have cracks no the gasket mating surface, you will just keep eating up gaskets. I can't tell in those photos our not, but if those cracks are all the way through, ie an ehxaust leak, then you defineatly want to replace that. That will raise the boost threshold considerably.

If you are looking for a complete drop in system, we make those here in the shop. Hopefully by the end of the week if our site is finished being updated, we will have our banner at the top of the boards.

www.turblown.net

 

But..2.0 controls ignition? >.>

 

But the problem is that I am on a $2000 max limit for right now...I dont know. Maybe I will just pick up a used exhaust manifold for $40 and let that hold me over until time comes.

 

You got PM.