important announcements for tubular exhaust manifold owners

[repo]

Tubular manifolds are notorious to crack every now and then.

By following these few simple instructions You can extend the lifetime of Your precious manifold:

* beware of Your EGT's. EGT over 910 celsius causes permanent damage to mild steel.
* NEVER wrap Your tube manifold with thermowrap, if car is not pure dragster. Use of thermo wrap voids warranty once and for all.
* brace the turbo. Descent brace allows heat expansion, but eliminates vibration
* brace Your downpipe. Tie the downpipe to the gearbox case, remember the heat expansion
* support Your exhaust pipe. Exhaust pipe load MUST NOT lie on the manifold. Arrange ex pipe supports well enought to release all the weight from the turbo. Mind the heat expansion.
* use flex joint in ex pipe. Ex pipe without descent flexi causes the manifold to crack in no time
* be aware of ground clearance with large diameter ex pipe. Large pipe come close to ground. If U hit the ground with it, You apply tons of load to the manifold.
* use good engine mounts. More power You have, more it bends the engine mounts. Excessive movement of the engine causes manifolds to crack

There are multiple cases where my tube manifolds endure 600hp daily abuse for 50 000km without cracks. But only by obeying these simple instructions.

Should the manifold crack, despites of obeying these hints, I will always repair my manifolds for free. That is what I mean with lifetime free repair warranty.

[cochemaniax]

I know a tuner in Germany with one of the best tubulars- and expensivst too-

PK_motorsport, 1500€, made in finland from marine-steel,all tubes equal long.
Sadly no english website.
My friend is it using over 70.000km now with 500hp and doing exactly
what yo explained above.

greetings from (very)hot spain,

Heinz

[david]

manifold

So following these rules will prelong exhaust manifold?.
Very good thread mate

[GazzaG60]

do you brace the wastegate repo?

alo do you have any pics of the brace you use and also how you brace the downpipe.

i use a single bar at present but have seen plenty of triangulated braces.

thanks

[repo]

Here's typical brace.

I have become lazy to take pics of my stuff lately, this pic is like 4 years old.

http://acf.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat..._01_13_019.jpg

[A80Avant]

im sure that all these braces are needed to maintain a good tubular exhaust manifold,but they dont sound simple.

i mean in order to embrace turbo, exhaust manifold, downpipe, exhaust pipe, on to the engine in that short space takes a bit of doing!!

Also, can i ask if with all these braces, it happens that an engine mount is shot, and obviously it is not always aparent that it is ( Bram's engine mounts are 8mm shorter than the new ones!!), can that create a problem to the manifold? can it move the engine's position to a point that will stress the manifold?Or is it because of the mounting of the EM to the head itself will keep that in place?

[repo]

Despites how hard I read Yout question, I do not understand what You mean.

[Mr.Crossfire]

A80avant: The manifold, turbo, wg, etc should always be mounted to the engine/transmission. So they move together when the engine moves. That way engine mounts do not have influence to the turbo mounting.

[A80Avant]

thanks Mrcrossfire.

i had a couple of exhaust specialists telling me that even with bracing the EM if you have a broken engine mount,then the EM is in danger.SO it is not true then since EM is braced ON the engine itself and transmition so the whole thing just moves together as one piece.

cheers

[GazzaG60]

think of it this way. if the turbo and manifold are fixed to the engine and cant move then they cant be damaged as if engine moves 1 inch so does the turbo. the engine mountings may cause downpipe/exhaust damage though.

what you see with the tubes is when you hang a big turbo on them the leverage away from the engine is much more. they will sag and therefore move about lots more.

think dog on long lead v's dog on short lead. turbo being dog and lead is manifold

[masterjohnson]

wow love it. well old threads really useful in here. well i dont wanna mess up my exhaust manifold because it will surely be a pain in the **** to replace.