I, like many people on the forum, was an OBX manifold user. i read all the threads saying that they are junk, and like most people dismissed what everyone was saying. Now 5000 or 6000 miles later im typing this to show you what has happened and as a reminder to people who are thinking of buying one of these rag *** manifolds made out soda cans.

Heres the evidence......

 

I filled that all in with weld its nice and tough now

 

I have seen those manifolds last 30k miles so they are hit or miss. Just go buy another for $150 and call it a day or you can go and spend $900 on one thats better quality.

 

naw, schedule 40 els from mcmaster. for the same 150 i can make one thats 400 times better. regret not going this way in the first place.

 

I can't tell where that crack is exactly. Is it right where the turbo flange is? Can you take a pic of it further away, im just curious where exactly it cracked. Mine is still going strong now for a year and a half *knock knock*

Did your manifold happen to glow at all? either during cruise or beating on the car? I'm wondering if it has to do with some cars having higher egts or something like that.

 

yeah its right below the turbo flange on both sides! One night i pulled off the road to check something under the hood and the mani was glowing.

 

What's the old phrase? You get what you pay for. It kinda falls into one of those categories, I think. Hope you get it fixed or find a better replacement.

B

 

Why is it rusted, is it chrome plated steel instead of SS?

 

It's probably 400 series stainless, if you can call it stainless. It will hold a magnet. The one I've seen would hold a magnet on one tube and the other tube would not. They must build them with whatever cheap stainless they get their hands on. Did you heat wrap the manifold ? That would explain the rust and probably why the thin crap stainless cracked so quickly.

 

yeah you think "stainless" wouldnt rust. it was not heat wraped.

 

same thing happened to my GReddy...

so I'ts not only ebay manifolds.

My welder said the GReddy mani was some of the worst quality metal he's ever welded.

 

I have seen it happen to Greddy, HKS and a few other stainless manifolds.

 

If you can weld your own mani then whats so wrong with welding that crack back up its just where they mitered the pipe and welded a flat piece to it to make it divided

 

It will generally just keep on cracking..

 

Exactly. I im going to spend the time taking the mani off and welding it im gonna make damn sure its not going to crack for a while.

 

Thats sucks looks pretty Bad!

 

Most of greddy's **** is garbage so that's no surprise.


Stainless manifolds are going to crack regardless. I dont care who made it and how well it is braced.

You want something that ill hold up, go cast or make your own out of schedule 40 piping.


However, 6000 miles is pretty good. I'd say you got your money's worth out of it.

 

Mine was right around $100 back in feb 07. but it's ssautochrome, I'm not sure if there is a difference. I always thought they were all from the same place, but I read on here somewhere that the ssautochrome ones were better built then the obx ones. Not sure if that's true or not, but mine has held up fine for about 2 years now.

 

Ya, I didn't know this until I bought the kit. The only thing thats really nice is the turbo, which is actually a mitsu charger.... so that says it all.

but it's OK now... it's been VERY welded up and braced all over, so I don't see myself having any issues in the future.

 

schedule 40 is what im going to be going with the next manifold. ill be making a build thread here as soon as my tubing arrives.

 

Very well shown. This way people won't be cheap and actually buy good quality stuff. Why waste money. U pay for what u get really.

 

 

Knock on wood but ive been running a cheap manifold for over 5 years, i milled all the surfaces and made it fit well and so far i havent had any problems.
500H/p and running 10's and no cracks and it has been red before, i also black heat coated it and its not rusting.

But im going to build a new manny just becouse and i know its just a matter of time before i need a new one!

I have a mix of expensive parts and some cheap parts but i make sure the cheap parts are working properly and keep an eye on them! So far so good.

 

That's exactly how my car is too, a mix of cheap and expensive parts. Even the expensive ones I try to get as good a price on as I can. I'm sitting at around 500 as well, my car isn't driven hard on a road track or anything for extended periods of time, but I do run 20+ psi everytime I drive the car. I've never really noticed my manifold red but I have had the turbine housing glowing before so I have a feeling the manifold has been pretty hot at times.

 

I just had a look at my OBX which I recently purchased due to a tight budget. Those cracks are a design flaw in my opinion. Where the two runners meet, they were cut and a piece of flat metal was welded only on the outside. If you look down about 2" from the T4 flange you can see what I am talking about. I am going to get mine welded on the inside, then reinforce the entire manifold and make up strong turbo brace. That way there is no weight on the manifold, hopefully it will last alright.

The manifold I got also had a warped T4 flange, which I am disappointed about... I am unsure if I can use it.

No fitment issues on my RHD FD thought. The wastegate runner has a good amount of room. However, we are going to modify the manifold with two synapse 40mm gates.


=Ben