Turbo Manifold and Stainless Downpipe on Ebay

[jdm_rs13]

just wanna know if this is any good.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...33632

[WeldingHank]

i've had that manifold on my car for about 2000miles now. haven't had a single problem with it. I have noticed more low end torque while off boost. and my T28 spools just as quick as my stock turbo.

[rico05]

I had one but never installed it. I had 3 welder friends of mine check it out. As far as they could tell, the welds while not very pretty had good penetration and the peice was solid. I plan to buy another one when I get off my butt and get some more power.

[slownslurious]

I just bought one of those manifolds for $90, I'll let you know how it works when I get it. For the dump pipe, I've heard that the ss autochrome dual chambered 02 housings don't clear the steering shaft/firewall on a CA.

[slownslurious]

OK I just finished putting mine in, it took me and my friend the whole weekend. Its nice, response seems a little big worse, I imagine that I feel a slight increase in top end. I'm running everything completely the same as before, stock CA turbo.Some observations:1) this manifold does not mount the turbo in the stock location. Mine mounted it about 1-2" foward (towards the radiator) and 1" or so CLOSER to the engine block. I do not see how this would facilitate a larger (GT28) turbo, since it provided LESS clearance for my stock turbo.2) You will have the bend the **** out of the oil feed line to get it to fit, its a *****.3) water lines have slack, if you loosen the lines on the back of the block you should get them in with no problem.4) oil drain line doesn't fit, at all, irreconcilable difference. I ended up cutting mine up closer to the turbo and running rubber hose all the way down to the oil pan. its not an ideal solution I'll probably replace it later.5) stock IC piping works.6) none of the stock heat shields will fit in place... and this thing gets real hot real quick. I really had to reroute my lines and I'm thinking I may still add some of that heat shield cloth around the brake MC and the vaccuum lines.7) the #2 cyl's top stud actually hits the runner on that cyl on the SS manifold. We ended up cutting about 1/4"-1/2" off the stud for clearance, and then we had to hold the manifold off the stud while we slipped the washer on. It took a long time to get the nut started.8) The manifold hits the valve cover and won't tighten all the way down. Its where a little screw is on the side of the valve cover, so I dented the manifold a tiny bit with a ball peen hammer and it fit. 9) there is no f'n way you could change the turbo on the car, the manifold would have to come off.10) the rear bolts on the manifold are a real *****, to take off the stock one and to put on the SS one.

Overall- this is not a real great manifold, but I only paid $90 for it. Even then I'm a bit disappointed, as it took a LOT of work to get this thing on, and both of our knuckles are raw from all the crap.

If you want to know how you could be better prepared if you are installing yours:Use quality OEM nissan gaskets, the SS ones are crap.Have a die grinder or dremel on hand to grind down the stud where it hits.Don't cry when you have to bang a dent in the manifold. It sucks.Buy an oil drain kit, cause your stock **** sure won't work. An SS oil feed kit would probably make life a bit easier too. Bring small children, their hands might actually be able to turn some of those bolts.
Modified by slownslurious at 11:58 PM 8/8/2005

[Dattebayo]

So I guess with a SR T25 it would spool earlier, right? That might require some tuning, no?

Also about your troubles this weekend... I dont think that every manifold that ssautochrome sells is exactly the same. Hell I dont think they make any of their stuff exactly the same! SO many people have said totally opposite things about their stuff its the only conclusion I can come up with...
Modified by 2BN_S13 at 11:58 PM 8/7/2005

[slownslurious]

SRT25 has a larger turbine wheel and would therefore spool slower.

I agree thats probably what happened. but.. like I said, this manifold gives less clearance. It was a lot of work to put on.

[JDMSIL80]

Darn! If I knew the fitment is that bad I wouldn't have ordered mine.

I already got my GT28R, seem like its gonna be a pita when it comes to install.

Anyone have similar problems with the SSautochrome manifold?

[slideways]

most tubular manifolds do that to lines. i have the same set up and the lines werent at all a problem. i pre bent them befor einstallation. for me compleete swap out. took 3 hours. that included taking out stock mani with turbo and bolting stock turbo to ssauto mani with installtion and refilling collant.. ididnt even cut that manifold stud. i left it on. hit the mani but whatever..

OK I just finished putting mine in, it took me and my friend the whole weekend. Its nice, response seems a little big worse, I imagine that I feel a slight increase in top end. I'm running everything completely the same as before, stock CA turbo.Some observations:1) this manifold does mount the turbo in the stock location. Mine mounted it about 1-2" foward (towards the radiator) and 1" or so CLOSER to the engine block. I do not see how this would facilitate a larger (GT28) turbo, since it provided LESS clearance for my stock turbo.2) You will have the bend the **** out of the oil feed line to get it to fit, its a *****.3) water lines have slack, if you loosen the lines on the back of the block you should get them in with no problem.4) oil drain line doesn't fit, at all, irreconcilable difference. I ended up cutting mine up closer to the turbo and running rubber hose all the way down to the oil pan. its not an ideal solution I'll probably replace it later.5) stock IC piping works.6) none of the stock heat shields will fit in place... and this thing gets real hot real quick. I really had to reroute my lines and I'm thinking I may still add some of that heat shield cloth around the brake MC and the vaccuum lines.7) the #2 cyl's top stud actually hits the runner on that cyl on the SS manifold. We ended up cutting about 1/4"-1/2" off the stud for clearance, and then we had to hold the manifold off the stud while we slipped the washer on. It took a long time to get the nut started.8) The manifold hits the valve cover and won't tighten all the way down. Its where a little screw is on the side of the valve cover, so I dented the manifold a tiny bit with a ball peen hammer and it fit. 9) there is no f'n way you could change the turbo on the car, the manifold would have to come off.10) the rear bolts on the manifold are a real *****, to take off the stock one and to put on the SS one.

Overall- this is not a real great manifold, but I only paid $90 for it. Even then I'm a bit disappointed, as it took a LOT of work to get this thing on, and both of our knuckles are raw from all the crap.

If you want to know how you could be better prepared if you are installing yours:Use quality OEM nissan gaskets, the SS ones are crap.Have a die grinder or dremel on hand to grind down the stud where it hits.Don't cry when you have to bang a dent in the manifold. It sucks.Buy an oil drain kit, cause your stock **** sure won't work. An SS oil feed kit would probably make life a bit easier too. Bring small children, their hands might actually be able to turn some of those bolts.

[JDMSIL80]

Which gaskets specifically would I need to get from dealership to replace the SSautocrap ones?

[slownslurious]

mine wouldn't have seated against the head if I hadn't cut down the stud...

I used the oem nissan gaksets from SPL parts (5 bolt turbo outlet and 4 bolt turbo inlet, and I went ahead and use their 3 bolt collector one to replace mine while I was at it.)You really don't need to take the outlet off so you don't need the 5 bolt one, on mine I wanted to install studs in place of the bolts so I went ahead and changed the gasket out while I was at it. I used felpro gaskets for the manifold ones, though they were organic and the ones that were on there were metallic, so hopefully they will hold up. I don't know anywhere to get high quality metallic ones in the US.

[slownslurious]

What did you do about the oil drain? mine is backing up and I need to fix it.

most tubular manifolds do that to lines. i have the same set up and the lines werent at all a problem. i pre bent them befor einstallation. for me compleete swap out. took 3 hours. that included taking out stock mani with turbo and bolting stock turbo to ssauto mani with installtion and refilling collant.. ididnt even cut that manifold stud. i left it on. hit the mani but whatever..

[slideways]

i chopped it at the STRAIT then used rubber host to connect it to eh pan. doubble clamped it on both sides to enshure leakless drain. been good for atleast 3 months with no probs.

[slownslurious]

I did that but mine has a kink in it

[slideways]

i didnt use a strait hose, i used one from hose leftovers on my ca24de. just found a hose with a similar degree bend and wallah it worked.

brandon

[slownslurious]

good idea, I found a prebent one at autozone today I'm going to try and put on.

[JDMSIL80]

My brand new turbo is ***ked up because of this manifold, please avoid at all costs.

[slownslurious]

how did a manifold **** up your turbo?

My car never smoked, and when the drain line got crimped, oil was backing up and spitting out the bov, I fixed it immediatly and didn't drive it until it was fixed, but I think its too late for the turbo.. it has a bit of white smoke now and then, pretty intermittant, but it didn't smoke at all before the oil backed up. So I guess in some ways the manifold ****ed up my turbo too, although in reality its because I didn't have the right parts to fix the hose when I needed to drive home...

[8ggalant]

slag messed up his turbo...i still plan on using mine..if it messes up then thats i risk i dont mind taking...i have 2 spare turbo's so blah...but as far as i see my manifold is fine..and i know like 5 cars locally who've been using ssac manifolds for sum time (one car over a year w/ no problem...hasnt even cracked yet -which is everyones usual fear about these cheap manifolds

[slownslurious]

the problem with messing up the turbo is that its pretty hard to change it out... blah.. not something I'd wanna do twice if I could avoid it.

[DriftSpecial180]

Is there any other substitutes for the SS Autochrome manifold?

[float_6969]

Not w/o spending over $1K.

READ ME: This is how you fix the oil drain problem. I used a 3/8" drive extension and stuck it down inside the tube. Then I carefully bent the tube till it lined up. If you didn't know, it looks like it was supposed to be that way.