Everyone that's using a stainless steel exhaust manifold have you had any problems with it like cracking etc.?
Also how long have you been using it?

crispeed

 

i have had mine for about a year now and had no problems with it, rob has had is for about 1 year but god knows how long it has been on the car (prior to him buying it) i would guess about 3 yrs,his just cracked just took it off and mig welded it back shut and wa laa good to go!

 

ummm, that's voila

 

I have had a SS manifold for just on a year now. No problems and it has that cool discoloured thing going on!

 

You're talking about the manifold, not the dp, right?

 

Which part are you worrying about cracking? The welds? If you have somone to do a nice tig welding on the pipes, it should not crack. There are a lot of different welding rods and make sure he/she is using the right one. If you are worrying about the pipe crack, use better stainless such as the 321 series. If you have money to burn, use iconel which can withstand higher temp than the T321. The best way to do the welding is to purge the inside piping with inert gases such as nitrogen or argon so the oxidation of the welds can be reduced. Most people do not do this with Tig Welding but I think this is necessary if you want to weld titanium.

Chuck

 

Thanks for your replies!
The reason I asked was because I found a supplier for stainless that has very good prices for the good stuff so I'm about to start making some manifolds in stainless!
I honestly think the reason why most people stay away from stainless is because of the price. I'm also going to have the flanges made out of stainless.

crispeed

 

Hi crispeed,

I've had mine for over 2 years with no dramas. My flanges and piping are stainless.

I know you know this anyway crispeed, but I'll mention it in case anyone else is reading

Don't forget to make the holes in the flanges a little larger around where the bolts are! This is due to the fact that the stainless changes more in size due to the heat, so you can snap the bolts off if you aren't careful

Cheers,
a777

 

crispeed, you may not want to use stainless flanges, stainless tends to move around alot more than standard a-36 steel when you are welding it and unless you want to spend a lot of time on the sand wheel straightening it back out i would stay away from it also if you are worride about customers headers cracking all you need ot do is supply a brace that goes form any where on the turbo to the motor to isolate resonance. most of the time a headers cracks it is due to the different frquencies that the motor and the turbo makes and once the stainless gets hot and moving around it will crack and it usually is not at the welds but close to the welds. i have been making turbo headers for a while and this has been my experience, i am even using thin wall stainless now and have had no failures since i started supllying braces with my kits.


BTW, i dont know if any of you have heard about the race this weekend in San Antonio but Stephan P. ran a 8.12@178.7 mph!! on a hot track in the middle of the day! ******* amazing, the car will be in the 7's soon and guess what Crispeed? he is in our class!! it looks like i am gonna have to put a three rotor in sooner than i thought!!

 

I don't know about you but I'll be running at the NHRA so that means he would have to run with the pro cars!
If I put a 3-rotor in my car I'll probably put it into the wall on the roof!
It looks like I'll have to put some mini tubs in it so I can keep up with you big dogs next year!

crispeed

 

You guys that are making your own manifolds, where do you get the T04 flange? I found the engine flange at RacingBeat... but they don't have the turbo side of the header... also, is there a special wastegate flange, or what do you recommend to use for that?

 

turbostreetfighter: good idea(the brace)......I thought about that a while back when we sent our manifolds out to get done. I went against what my partners thought and had it done anyway. Should work out fine.You haven't had any problems yet huh? Looks like I made the right choice then

 

backhalf it!!!!!!!!:o

 

I'll tell you what!
Give me the dough and I'll do it!
You could also give me your car!

crispeed

 

Hey Kurgan, buy yourself an oxyacetalyne kit and sawzall, you will never have to go flange hunting again, I cut most of mine out of 1/2 thick plate, a holesaw a drill press is good for the ports..
I have finished my divided turbo manifold, I used extra heavy steel weld els and pipe, it turned out pretty good, total materials cost was about 25 bucks, wastgate flang will be determined by what wastegate I buy I guess..
I biult a header earlier this year out of food grade stainless pipe, which I think is 304, for my n/a, I welded it with a mig with stainless wire and blue shield gas, it glows red after a hard run, and has yet to crack, on the flanges the bolt holes were made bigger than the exhaust stud, no leakage problems, it doesn't come loost, and it doesn't pop on downshifts, I incorporated the egr ports into the header, which I think keeps the afterburn pop at bay..Max

 

forcedperformance makes some of the nicest flanges out there
computer controlled plasma cutting machine*

 

Chris, Did I tell you the new price for my car to get backhalfed? I bought all the parts so hector is charging me 800 for the labor. That included shorting the rear housing and my axels. . I decided against the 3/4ths. I payed

$700 for wheels and tires
$250 for the chromoly
$100 for the rear housing
$350 for the springs
$400 for the 4-link
plus the $800 for the labor so thats a total of $2600 for the whole job!!!! So the Drag car is back in business

 

If any of you guys ever need any flanges.....we get all of ours laser cut. I do all the programs and take it to a friends shop to use his laser. Prices are cheap and the work is perfect.....I mean the laser is perfect when you compare it to any other cutting tool. I've used them all......anyway......just thought I would throw that in here just in case anybody's connect falls through.