OBX, XS-Power, SS-Autochrome FD turbo manifold owners only
 

As in the title, please do not post here if you are not an owner of these manifolds.

OBX and XS-Power (SS Autochrome) manifolds look very much the same. Anyone knows for a fact if they are, indeed, the same? For example, OBX's box shows part # TH9398 on it (see: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OBX-R...spagenameZWDVW ), do XS-Power's box show a similar number or comes in a similar box? Only obvious difference to the naked eye is the extra welds on the main pipes on OBX's.

On www.xs-power.com, they show a unit with semi-oval turbo flange ports. On www.ssautochrome.com and on ebay (see: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazda...02054064QQrdZ1 ) this same unit is shown, plus a different unit with rectangular turbo flange ports. Is this what differentiates an earlier, more fragile unit from the newer, improved, stronger units? If so, which one is the newer one?

Will apreciate if you shared your experiences, good or bad, and your pictures of these manifolds in here. Thanks.

i've talked to a few peeps sayin these are garbage. they crack!

Did even you read the first line of the thread, or are you just joking?

Got the OBX manifold, no problems, only cost me $25 bucks off of ebay used. Had it for about 2000 miles now.

Thanks WhoDiddy6 for dropping by and posting here, and let me give thanks beforehand to all of you who want to post here to hand out good advice about these products, but really, PLEASE, POST HERE ONLY IF YOU HAVE OR HAD OWNED ONE OF THESE PRODUCTS. This is to just try to keep this thread as informative and factical as posible. Thank you.

EKTwin93, and to all of you owners of these products who want to post here, did you run into any installation troubles and if so how did you go around fixing them? Also, what kind of turbo you are using and how much boost pressure are you running on them?

Own one for my FC with the T4 flange. No problems thus far, but the manifold feels hotter than it used to feel... not a real big deal, just thought I should mention it though.

Installation troubles... the T4 flange facing was not as flat as I would have expected, so I took a side grinder and smooth it off. The welds however were of maticulous quality.

I’m running the OBX version. I re-welded all the major stress points,(although the welds are robotic the penetration on the early OBX's Sucked, hence the major cracking problem. The newer ones look a lot beefier. I also put in some additional bracing to support the turbo. I had to get a spacer flange machined (I’m running a T04s w a 1.08 might be 1.00 hot side) to get my turbo to fit w/out hitting my LIM. Had a bit of binding on the exhaust stud which a carbide die grinder took care of that problem.

So far no issues, although my tuner mentioned I’m probably loosing a decent amount of hp just due to the backpressure the manifold develops. Manifold design is not as simple as something that fits.

Personally I wouldnt buy a second one, Better to just get a real good one first and not have to worry about it/ loose power

Well I have one, and it isnt that bad for the price they ask. However the flange of the wg had one faulty hole in it, so I had to widen the WG hole. Other than that, no problem with it.

I paid $120 for the manifold and the WG, put a softer spring (8.8lbs) in the WG re-flanged the entire unit and ceramic coated it.

My FD was down, a bolt broke off in the stock manifold and I wasn't about to spend money on another brick oven...so that was the night I went single.

I have 10,000 miles boosting 17psi over the last year and some.

I wish I would have wrapped it too, that's about my only complaint...hell even their customer service was okay...better than some bigger names.

I think I have the most budget'd single turbo FD, but damn this fawker is fast...not the fastest FD I've been in, but I didn't pay Rick Engman to build my motor, didn't pay for a turbo "kit", and didn't pay for tuning...hell, I built the turbo out of a tractor turbo :hahaha:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...p/c0951394.jpg

My OBX manifold fit fine. However, I was initially running a turbo with a 1.15 hotside, so I had to grind down quite a bit of the LIM. As Bacon stated, running an extra T4 flange in between the turbo and the manifold would bring the turbo up enough that there wouldn't be an issue with the LIM. I will most likely do this when I go with a T78 or T88 and everything goes back together. For the money, I think they are great manifolds. ONE MAJOR THING I WILL SAY ABOUT THEM THOUGH - don't buy one thinking you can resurface it flat if it is warped because you will quickly end up spending more money at a machine shop trying to flatten the flanges that you would have spent on another manifold.

also in include "hot rod headers" in that mix and some stone mountain racing. its all imported crap. I had a few, machined or redrilled and knew that a good product should never have to be modified to fit for the purpose is was designed for.
So I went to all brand name and everything fits great 1st time! Thats all crap and they are making a killing on ebay over the last 4 years.Chinese or vietnam made crap.

Ive bought an OBX manifold used, and still have it. I think it's a great manifold. Anyways I had to drill out the holes (that bolt to the motor) to make it fit, and thats pretty much it.

Ive bought an OBX manifold used, and still have it. I think it's a great manifold. Anyways I had to drill out the holes (that bolt to the motor) to make it fit, and thats pretty much it.

I have one, and never had a problem(fc). I've had it for a bit over a year. No probs so far. The spool is not as great as a tubular, but then again, at a lil over $100 you cant ask for much... Even though I am happy in the ammount of money I saved on it.

I need the flange dimensions or a location to buy the flanges for the wastegate flange coming off of this header. I know it fits one of the HKS wastegates but I'm not sure which one.

My turbonetics racegate won't bolt directly to it and I need a flange so I can fab something up.

Thanks
Joe

BTW: I've been running this header for about 10,000 miles. No problems so far.

well. there seems to be a geeral idea that turbo xs, obx, and ssauto are the same. nope. infact, there are a number of guys on ebay. infact the ssauto chrome is the guy who makes the manifolds, turbo xs makes the turbos, and obx makes whatever. the fact is they where not knock off parts when ebay hit, but now they are because everyone has knocked them, off. infact if you hold a bad quality manifld, you can tell right away by the liugntyess of it. most of the time the flanges are warped, and randome other things. the wastegates you dont want. they do a good job copying them, but the fact of the matter is that most of the time you get a bad diaphram. also, there seems to be some confusion about where they come from. most of the cheap junk is made in ireland, but copied in china. isnt that funny? knockoffs of crappy parts? hah. the most retarted thing is that the turbo xs turbo knock offs. the actuall turbo xs turbos are fine if you happen to find one. but the fakes are glued togeather and the friggin serial number is stamped with TURBO. lol. you guys are smart ( well some of you. ) most likely, ceramic coating any of these or rewelding will strengthen it up a brit, but the fact is that sometimes the crack everywhere.

i got a xs power fd manifold. $75 on ebay. It has a xs-power little name plate welded to the main flange.

I had to drill out the holes a little to put the turbo and WG on. the holes of the exhaust studs were fine.

Im running one RB spacer and a 1.0 divided tang hot side and it fits. I had to get longer studs.... but im happy with it. I spool the masterpower t-70 i have pretty quick. i was shocked. I have a stock port s4 jspec.

But thats just me.

SSAC is the same as all the above.... except obx. I knew the guy...

i love when people say they crack.. i work for a lot of poor people, so i've used a bunch of these manifolds on fd's and modified them for fc's...

the flanges usually come warped...belt sand them if you're poor, take them to get decked at a head shop if you can afford it.

turbo bolt holes don't always line up.. either drill them out and use bolt/nut, or grind on the snail.

other than that, i've never seen a reliability problem with them, EXCEPT when idiots try to weld them themselves and fuck them up. great if you know what you're doing, but don't bother if you're not good at it.

all that wastegate "bad diaphram" stuff is just crap. i think they stole an hks and just carbon-copied it. i've had both of them taken apart right next to eachother and other than very minor aesthetic differences, they're identical.

I got one and it works great! If you got the money, you can afford brand names and flaunt it all you want. Just do some of us humble people a favor. Quit knocking our shit!!!! Some of us have found inexpensive reliable ways to get performance. And if it means buying a CHEAP manifold and spending an extra $100 bucks to make it reliable and save some serious money. I'm all for it!
BTW, Please stop spreading everything bad you hear about these products back into the forum. Many of these facts ie. "glued manifold" "always crack" are bogus!
Do you really think the compressor housings are glued??????? lol

someone's gonna post a picture of the glued compressor housing that came apart.

I think you mean "XS Power", not "Turbo XS". Turbo XS is actually a reputable company, XS Power is the crappy ebay seller. Two totally different companies. ;)

How close is the turbine housing to the front secondary runner on your LIM? I would have to imagine that by only adding another flange, it would still be DAMN close to it. I have both FC (selling it) and FD manifolds in my garage right now, and I would like to get the turbine housing as far away from the intake manifold as it sits on the FC manifold. I think it was suggested before that cutting the engine flange and rewelding at a different angle is one of the better solutions. I was thinking I may try having my shop weld the turbo flange at a different angle instead. My wastegate is really close to the subframe right now, and I think putting all of the tubing at a different angle would make it hit. This would also give me a chance to have the shop use an actual T4 divided flange instead of that stupid ground out thing that it comes with. The only other thing I would have to be concerned about is having the tubing meet up correctly with the flange so that air doesent just slam into the back of it.

I beleive i have the OBX manifold off ebay, its okay except i don't like the way they have the flange for the wastegate, i have a 60mm HKS race-wastegate and because of the position of the flange its now the lowest part on the car, right behind the front tire....not good in my book... So after some re welding im sure it'll be fixed...