Manifold of Choice
I've seen three...they are not sloppy pieces of sh*t. Dennis(d240t) has run 15psi on his for 2 years now w/ no cracking. please don't talk about stuff you have never seen or used.JustinM wrote:That unstable hybrids manifold??? Stay away...never seen one though it looks like sloppy piece of sh*t. Justin
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S14Swap240sx
- Posts: 116
- Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 8:14 am
how the **** do you guys find all these sites with ka manis? the ETD mani does look nice but the wastegate placement is crap. i was leaning towards the cast revahrd. but not anymore after seeing and hearing some things. i have yet to see an fmax mani. can someone point me in the right direction. also post up any other sites of KA manis. i would like to check them all out. thanks
http://www.import-autoperformance.com I should have their new version here next week sometime.
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Structure240sx
- Posts: 5615
- Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2002 5:04 pm
i dont know if i would buy anything from a company that fabs stuff called "unstable hybrids". i think i remember looking at the IAP mani. imho thats a rip. that thing wasnt even made of stainless from what i remember and they want $600?? so far out of all of the KA manis ive seen the ETD looks to be of the highest quality and is only $400 or so, i think. if only they would weld the wg flange in the collector area. how much does the revhard mani cost? and what about the fmax, where can i see pics of it and prices?
Stainless sucks though...I wouldn't want a stainless mani because all it's going to do is crack imo. The IAP is also all 8 ga. piping, powdercoated, full 1/2 inch flanges, and thanks to a problem I caught, is now supposed to be PERFECTLY matched to the exhaust ports on the head. I'll be verifying that when I get the new mani from them.
No, Stainless has a much greater expansion rate than mild steel. The more the manifold is expanding, the more likely it is to crack. Hence, a mild steel manifold is less likely to crack. What's wrong with the collector? what more do you want from it? it does it's job you know 
I'll agree that it's expensive, but it serves a good niche and hence IAP can get away with charging that for it. Oh, and bling doesn't matter one iota to me. Oh, not to mention that the 8ga. mild steel is almost certainly thicker (stronger) than comparable SS manifolds. Thicker steel also takes longer to heat up and cool down which is a good thing when keeping a manifold from cracking. I'm a fan of the braces too.
Edit: it's 650 shipped at the NICO discount price...yeah, I know it's only 50 bucks but hey, every little bit counts
I'll agree that it's expensive, but it serves a good niche and hence IAP can get away with charging that for it. Oh, and bling doesn't matter one iota to me. Oh, not to mention that the 8ga. mild steel is almost certainly thicker (stronger) than comparable SS manifolds. Thicker steel also takes longer to heat up and cool down which is a good thing when keeping a manifold from cracking. I'm a fan of the braces too.Edit: it's 650 shipped at the NICO discount price...yeah, I know it's only 50 bucks but hey, every little bit counts
oh **** im gonna jump on this now while its hot! i havent ever seen a stainless mani just crack in the tubing. if they do crack its at the welds. mainly the weak welds. if you use mild steel flanges and stainless tubing then youll be A OK as long as you can weld. for $700 i would expect to get a true merge collector. but enough of that rip off. im really leaning towards the jgs log mani if i cant find a good tubular mani. i saw one guys site where he used the kit to where all you have to do is weld the turbo flange on it. i was really impressed by the way everything worked out. well the guy who welded everything up on it did a really nice job by making everything come into harmony. so for the money and the way it turns out you cant beat it. ill try and see if i can post a link.
j-z wrote:if you use mild steel flanges and stainless tubing then youll be A OK as long as you can weld.
Actually, that's when the biggest problems will occur
Providing you even get a decent weld there, the expansion rates will be quite different and cause more cracks. Either go full stainless or full mild, but dont mix the two. As for the collector, could you show me an example of the kind you would prefer? I just couldn't justify spending a bunch of money on forged internals etc. only to put a log mani on there.actually there really isnt anything wrong with a log mani. you can still make major power with logs. check out http://www.lovefab.com now thats is you get what you pay for type of work. sux that he doesnt do anything besides hondas. but i bet i could get him to make me one if i sent him a head. see the quality of that manifold. well all of his maniolds. for some more quality manis check out http://www.full-race.com more expensive but you get the idea of what quality is suppose to look like. they also hold up really well. many 10 sec cars running both brand manis and have had nothing at all wrong with them.
lol i know exactly what youre saying. i was just using both of those sites as examples of high quality and a true merge collector. i think i finally made my mind up on the jgs log mani. that one guys site is what made my mind up. sorry i have webtv and cant post the link cause webtv is gay as hell. dont get it.
I am biased since I have the prototype unStable manifold and helped design it...but I don't consider it to be the end-all-be-all of manifolds. I like it because it is a cheap manifold, slightly nicer than a log, and there hasn't been any cracking experience with it.
That said, the RevHards don't seem to crack if you open the bolt holes and cut the flange into separate pieces (I did that to an old RH manifold I used before the UH one and it held together fine), but their turbo placement is horrible and the ports don't line up right.
I don't think the Tom Rice manifold is perfect either...its pretty good, but it has very similar turbo placement to the RH and the runners, while separate, are not quite equal length.
Other manifolds...I don't know much about. There have been a lot of new manifolds come out since I last bought/built a manifold. Still, for all out power, I'd like to switch from my current setup to a nice tubular equal length manifold. If I had a bunch of spare cash, I'd do it and upgrade my fuel system and we could start seeing 400+hp stock bottom end KAs.
Dennis
That said, the RevHards don't seem to crack if you open the bolt holes and cut the flange into separate pieces (I did that to an old RH manifold I used before the UH one and it held together fine), but their turbo placement is horrible and the ports don't line up right.
I don't think the Tom Rice manifold is perfect either...its pretty good, but it has very similar turbo placement to the RH and the runners, while separate, are not quite equal length.
Other manifolds...I don't know much about. There have been a lot of new manifolds come out since I last bought/built a manifold. Still, for all out power, I'd like to switch from my current setup to a nice tubular equal length manifold. If I had a bunch of spare cash, I'd do it and upgrade my fuel system and we could start seeing 400+hp stock bottom end KAs.
Dennis
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Structure240sx
- Posts: 5615
- Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2002 5:04 pm
the placement of the turbo on revhard manifolds depends on the turbo. on center turbos like mine that came with my nsport kit fit just fine and i have the auto brake master cylinder that puts the brake lines closer to the turbo. the ports are off and round, all u have to do is take a diegrinder and open them up. it doesnt make them perfect but does make them much better