Attention!! AF61 TURBO OWNERS!!
 

Owners of the AF61 turbo. I have some questions. A couple of months ago I purchased the SS manifold off of Ebay (I know, I know) Now that I'm fitting it to the motor the manifold doesn't fir right!!! The wastegate flange rests on top of the crossmember and the turbo flange is to close to the side rail of the engine compartment. Am I the only one with this piece of SH*T problem??? I've come to realize that you get what you pay for. Can anyone recommend another maifold that would work with this the AF61 turbo that won't break the bank?

Thank any help would be greatly appriciated!!
Diego

I have HKS manifold with same problem. I'll re-weld it.

did you get an FC manifold on accident?

I'm not sure if its an FC manifold is there a way to distinguish the two?

I'm willing to bet he did get the wrong manifold.

FC mani http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FC3S-...spagenameZWDVW

FD mani http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazda...spagenameZWDVW

Both are bad designs (junk IMHO), but if your looking for something to connect your engine to your turbo at a really cheap price, these will suffice.

~Mike............

probably an issue with your motor mounts.

Dont you have to cut into it? Remember when we rebuilt that one doods engine and he had that same turbo and a huge cut in his strut tower body.

Af61R requires you to dent in the strut tower because the comp housing hits it. Also, There is a tab on the motor mount that the motor mount shield bolts to. You need to cut that tab off.

Actually guys it is not the FC manifold after seeing the pics that were posted. The problem I see is that the tubes for the wastegate aren't long enough. It appears to be about a 1/2" short, because the flange rest on top of the subframe. As for the strut tower, it has already been dented because of my last turbo and it still doeesn't fit. The turbo flange is to close to the rail, so I can't even sit the turbo properly on the manifold.

what other manifolds are being used with the AF61?

kit wasn't very well designed...what can i say?

I just bought the turbo only

But the "kit" comes with the exact same POS eBay manifolds.

~Mike..............

I got it Mike.... What I am trying to find out if I can use a different manifold and if so which one will work with this turbo.

i love how everyone says pos, but nobody proves it. my friend has had one on his half-bridged, t66 powered fd for over a year with no problems, and he's even tracked the car a few times.

I am using a HKS cast manifold w/ the af61.

But then it is also on a first gen too :)

Thanks guys I'll try and figure this one out some other way.

I love how you are constantly humping these manifolds, don't you get blisters? J/K, but really, if you'd read my posts on the subject of those POS manifolds you'd see my comments are of the POOR design and not me going off on how they break/crack whatever. So don't missquote me and group me in with those people. The design plain SUCKS ASS PERIOD. The main runners are no were near being equal and neither are the wastegate runners. The main runners are too big of a diameter. Not that these are huge flaws, but the HUGE flaw is how the main runners do not smoothly taper or merge what so ever to the turbine. ANY time you have a obstruction such as this in the flow direction, the effective hole diameter is dynamically SMALLER. So theres your proof of POS regardless if these things no longer crack (YES the older OBX thin wall tubing and thin warped from the factory flanged ones DID crack {find your own proof on this, but its strange how the newer ones have thicker wall tubing and thicker flangers :rolleyes:}). Ohh, not to mention the MANY MANY owners of those manifolds need to have the flange mating surface re-surfaced due to being warped strait out the box and many MANY having to egg-out the holes on at least one of the three flanges to get it to line up with its mating part.

Now, as I said before...... if someone is just looking for a piece of metal to connect their turbo to their engine block at a cheap price, those manifolds work fine. Someone looking to make the best spool and power, those manifolds aren't designed for it. AND NO THERE NOT HKS COPIES. Ever see a GReedy or HKS stainless manifold???? They look nothing like the eBay ones. They also have proper taper and merge angles into the turbine.

There, enough of a rant for those POS manifolds from me. Its gotten off topic and I'm sure EVERYONE is tired of these useless debates. Lets try and keep this thread free from this crap. I'm sure it'll be hard for you NOT to respond and turn this thread to shit, so if you have something to direct at me send it via PM and keep this thread on topic.

~Mike..............

you're still under the impression that i'm defending the manifolds? the design is ripped off from the hks/greedy/ks stuff, but the runners are larger. it's not a $1500 manifold, so quit comparing it to a $1500 manifold.

I ran one of these manifolds for awhile...

The only problem I ran into was the warping of the mating surfaces like he had mentioned. I had mine resurfaced.

It is a cheapass manifold and works good if you're on a budjet.. my damn HKS manifold costs like $1000 for HKS or I can get one off ebay for $650 (still genuine HKS).

I agree, if you want a cheapass manifold to bolt on to your turbo... than thats the way to go. I also agree they do well for the price, and I also agree they are a piss poor design. Can't beat $150 though, lol.

If you're throwing in a $2000 turbo, you might as well throw on a manifold worth at least half that.

Just my $.02

that's because you had the old one with the thin flanges.

Justin at www.alienauto.com and also 1Revvin7 at www.turblown.net both make top quality manifolds that are still very affordable. All of the other shops I trust typically sell full kits and I'm not sure if they'd make a manifold for the 61R or not. But you really can't go wrong with either one of the first two shops I listed. Great guys with a great product and excellent customer service. Best of luck to you.

Zach