Thank you in advance for any and all help provided,

My manifold is cracked and I can not find a replacement from dealer or aftermarket. I'm from/In Los Angeles CA, the Nissan dealers tells me the part is discontinued and is not is stock. I was given a aftermarket part for AP Exhaust Technologies (771110) but they told me it isn't in production yet. No ETA on making it since its not in demand. I went through the city "referees" agency/group and they ran into the same issue as I did, actually they ran into it first and asked me to see if I can find the part on my own. The car stutters every time I slow down or stop/take off. The referees told me that they will give me a exemption letter so that I can pass my smog check since neither them nor I can find the part but I need the part fixed/replaced. Has anyone ran into this before? Is there any other place I can get one? Or anyone have good advise on to what I can possible do? The car is my everyday drive. Two different mechanics and the referees themselfs both said that welding it might not work because of the material that the manifold is made from. I did look into JB Weld the heat resistant kind but it doesn't hold up well. The manifold has the cat attached to it. Apologies if its a bit confusing.

TIG welding is the only thing that will work on that, and you'll need an artist with good equipment. There are headers out there if you can get the smog exemption, or you could consider having an exhaust shop graft on a cat or a cat coupling from a different 2.5. There's a Chinese outfit called OBX on eBay Canada that makes headers and supposedly ships to the US. I don't know how many hoops you'd need to jump through, but they're cheap enough to cut up to make something.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/S-S-Header-For- ... SwdipfYn-x

Hmm, that redirected to a US vendor, apparently they have some in Fremont, Cal.

Thank you for the reply @VStar650CL,

I had thought about the exemption letter and running some other header. Ill have to repeat contacting the referees every 2 years when the smog comes up
(7-10 business day turn around). So I thought about trying to find a actually part to avoid that but that may not be an option for me. I was told that getting those types of parts shipped here in California was tough to do. Going to see if they ship to my address. I had not hear of the TIG weld. Going to look into a shop near me. I really can't believe I can't find this part. Its not like the car was made when dinosaurs walked the earth.

vicicarus wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 26, 2021 5:20 pm

I had not hear of the TIG weld. Going to look into a shop near me. I really can't believe I can't find this part. Its not like the car was made when dinosaurs walked the earth.

You're most welcome. No but they made very few of them, so they also made very few parts. TIG stands for Titanium Inert Gas, it uses a titanium electrode to create staggering temperatures but bathes the work in inert gas to prevent oxidation while the metal is flowing. It's the only method to strongly bond dissimilar metals or keep the residual carbon in alloy steel from spattering and ruining the weld. Professional TIG guys are almost all artists that specialize in repairing the unrepairable. To get the car back to smog-legality, your best bet may be picking a good aftermarket cat for a 2.5 Altima or other "common" model, then have an artist cut and weld it to a set of cheap headers.

Try searching salvage yards:
https://www.car-part.com
Shows 1 exhaust manifold from a 2008 in San Luis Obispo, and 2 from 2007 in Fresno.

Thank you so much @ jp314,

I thought I wasn't able to buy from salvage or other sealers? At least that is my understanding. So it is alright to buy.!? If I may ask, would you know if the 2008 is an even fit with the 2007?

vicicarus wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:55 pm

I thought I wasn't able to buy from salvage or other sealers? At least that is my understanding. So it is alright to buy.!? If I may ask, would you know if the 2008 is an even fit with the 2007?

I'm not sure why anyone could stop you from buying a good used part. I understand in Cali there are some strictures against dealers and repair shops doing that, but not individuals. From what I saw on NissanPartsDeal, '07 was the change year, so yes, an '08 should fit, an '06 will not.

Thank you all so far for your assistance with my questions,

I was so close in getting the mancat for this car. The San Luis Obispo spot said they didn't have it in stock. The Fresno place also said they did not have the part anymore. I found a part from Columbus OH and submitted payment. They were going to get me the dimensions of the shipping box so that I can send them a a prepaid label. I called them back just now and apparently the sales person is new and was not informed that they could not sell me the manifold with the cat attached. =( They are issuing me a refund. So now, unless I can find a seller that is not a business that is selling the part I'm guessing my only options are to wait to get the exemption letter from the referrers and find something like @VStar650CL suggested. And see if I can get the original part TIG welded.

I want to update my situation,

I got a call back from the "referees" and they are asking me to go through a smog repair station to get a detailed diagnoses that the manifold is the problem. Once I get that form from the smog shop then I need to submit that and my current registration to them via email/fax. Once the referees receive my paper work they will issue me the exemption letter. They informed me that once I get this exemption letter I own the car and cannot sell it EVER! The only options I will have is to retire the car or sell it to the city which will give me at most $1000.00 I think what I am going to do is try to trade it into a car dealer and see what deal I can get on a new or used car. I don't know if its worth keeping the car, I like the car. I had been eyeing it for a while before I got it. I've had it 4 years. I'm going to see whats the most I can get out of it.

Where did you find the info for the aftermarket part for AP Exhaust Technologies (771110) ????

RockAuto handles pretty much the whole AP/Eastern line. If it's available at all, they should be able to get it.