I just ordered mine after my SSAC from eBay broke for the second time. The wastegate flange just snaps off. and takes part of the bottom of the collector with it, this causes it to sound like a diesel truck... but no boost i had to shorten my #2 top exhaust manifold bolt, enlarge the ports, and enlarge the bolt holes. It puts the turbo in a much better location. and now i can take my ghetto rigged hockey puck motor mount spacer out. haha i cut a hockey puck in half and put half on top and half on the bottom of the mount to make the turbo clear the bmc. wastegate dump is also easier to route.

I also just got one after my ssac one broke just like urs. Had to do the same as above, also on the exhaust stud i made shorter the manifold had a huge lump on it not allowing the manifold to sit flush. so i just grinded it down to fit. After all this i noticed i had an exhaust leak by my flange where the turbo bolts up. thought it was my gasket, replaced it....still leak but in the same spot. I suddenly found that the tapped hole on the manifold for the t4 flange was where it was coming out of. Dont have a welder in my shop, so i just found a bolt that fit, cut the top off, used a grinding wheel in the center of the bolt so i could use a flat head to screw it in. Bolted everything back up no more leaks Have to say manifold holds boost nicely def worth the money after some slight modding.

glad to hear that manifold is working for everyone!

Hey I got this manifold aren't you guys worried about the port size difference? Look at what I mean, I mounted an old exhaust gasket up to the new manifold port. The port on the manifold is waay smaller.

That looks like about 4 hours worth of porting to me. The JGS manifold isn't much better.

WDRacing wrote:That looks like about 4 hours worth of porting to me. The JGS manifold isn't much better.

Yeah I kinda figured I would have to, but I will only be able to go so far with a Dremel or a grinder, what about farther up the pipe? The OEM pipes are 1 5/8ths of an inch diameter (sort of because it is squarish) and the manifold is 1 3/8ths. I know that doesn't sound like a huge difference but when you are talking about a diameter of a circle that is a lot of material.

I was just thinking because you will have a turbo you will be flowing MORE exhaust then stock and need something that is less restrictive then the stock manifold... Plus I was worried about the dremeling it out because the outside diameter of the pipe is 1 6/8ths. That means 1/8th of an inch will be left over to hold all the weight of the rest of the manifold, plus the turbo. So I guess you could dremel, but not much past the mounting plate, which is 1/2 inch, so that is a steep porting job. Just thought that was worth a mention.

Yeah it's definitely not ideal.

WDRacing wrote:That looks like about 4 hours worth of porting to me. The JGS manifold isn't much better.

I don't have any problems with doing any porting work,but is there any cast iron manifold on the market without those issues?

my rev hard was better, but still needed porting. so probably not..

motoman399 wrote:my rev hard was better, but still needed porting. so probably not..

So i guess it would be wise just to go ahead and get the E-Bay manifold and work with it instead of spending more money on the JGS?

i personally have no experience with the JGS, but my rev hard fit nicely. i had to grind down one exhaust stud, but the guy that i bought my car from used it without porting it and it still flowed decently. i wish i had before pics of it. but i only have after ones.

Any feedback on durability yet?
cut flange between runners/quick port-gasket match/ little grinding and enlarging stud holes/ other tips to prevent cracks?

recommendations for gaskets oem? torque spec. oem?