So i'm just a little annoyed at this point and simply need to vent to some people that actually understand what i'm talking about (i.e. not my wife)

So about a year ago i bought an inexpensive turbo kit (t04Z) from the rx7store. It was about $2500, and included the exhaust manifold, downpipe, turbo, and most hardware. Since then, i have only put 4,000 miles on the car and let me tell you, cheaper is not the way to go. So far, i have had the ehaust manifold crack, blown out three turbo-to-exhaust manifold gaskets (yes, the metal ones), melted the oil return "high temp hose" twice, and the outlet flange on the turbo, where the weld is, literally fell/cracked off the back of the turbo. Now i know many of you are thinking, hey, you're running too lean or are not using a turbo timer, or simply in boost all the time and creating an excess of heat. Sorry, all of these are incorrect. I'm good to her, and do everything possible to keep the underhood temps down. FYI - It took me quite a long time to find a place that would weld the flange back on the turbo since it's cast iron.

I was somewhat impressed with my rigging skills in fixing the oil return problem 'cause i was leaving the parking lot at work when it started smoking. I found that whatever the flange was that bolted to the turbo and became pipe threads, had the same thread pitch as a shower head pipe. So i made a run to the hardware store and picked up a 45 degree shower pipe, and poof! No more issues since.

The thing that really pissed me off is that about a month ago i noticed yet again another ticking noise coming from the engine bay. I took my boroscope out and saw where the manifold to turbo gasket had again blown out. Well damnit. So tonight i finally had time to go out to the garage and take the thing apart. Well on top of the stupid gasket going out again, i found ANOTHER crack in the exhaust manifold. I don't know at this point if i should simply replace the thing or not. Where it cracked this time was in a different spot, but WTF? I'm kinda thinking that whatever kind of stainless that the exhuast manifold is made of simply won't stand up to the heat of expansion and contraction.

At this point i'm weighing my options, but i think if i get another exhuast manifold, i'll have to replace the downpipe as well since the flange is probably in a slightly different position.

Well thanks for listening.

 

Have you ever contacted Jason about any of this? I had problems my GT35R kit that I got from him and I got in touch with him and he took very good care of me. He stopped using those manifolds and found a much nicer one. It's not expensive but is much better quality than the old one's.

 

You can have the manifold welded back up and make sure the flange is flat. Check that with a straight edge and feeler gauge. Then weld in some braces that go from flange to flange. Usually 2 braces is good enough. That will do it. The braces will hold the weight of it all then instead of putting all the weight on the tubes

 

i ran a $50 ebay manifold for about 2 years never had any issues, sold it to a buddy of mine and he have been running it w/o issues for another year so far. i guess i got lucky?

 

Gasket fix;

http://www.turblown.net/store/index.php?productID=80

 

i run an $80 ss autochrome manifold and only had it crack after several years of use then re welded and gusseted it and ceramic coated it and no issues since.

Busted 7 on here has been running the same one i have with 0 issues for many years and through 2 major setups and is currently making 500hp on it

 

Not sure when you got the kit from me but I switched manifolds a while ago. There are many that have used ebay style with no problems and then there are some that have nothing but issues with them. I have found the ones that have issues they are untuned and running high exhaust temps which kill the cheaper manifolds. If you can keep the EGT's in check then the Ebays will last.

 

I bought a manifold from Jason almost a year ago. It wasn't cheap so I hope it is the newer version.

I have a Garrett turbo that just broke the exhaust housing flange the other day. I went ahead and welded it back up, no telling how it will hold since I used a mild steel rod.

 

to answer jason's question, i bought the T04Z kit somewhere in the neighborhood of late 2009. I want to replace the manifold (in fact, i just send you an email). But i don't want the same one i got in the kit. Were they changed sometime after 2009? I have a dual EGT gauge, and both rotors run about 1400 degrees under boost, so i figure that's good considering my lamba reads around 11.2:1.

 

Rob
Just sent you an email.

 

Jason,

Are you're manifolds eBay style?

 

Yikes! how did you manage that?