Stainless manifold

[airborne_7]

ok, ive just replaced my engine 325 sport, and i decided to replace my manifold for a stainless steel one from ebay brand new, but ive had dramas with it, all the 12 holes where the studs insert into are ok but when you try and fit nuts some of them are actually impossible to fit a nut onto, because of the shape of the tubes. ive spent the last hour or so denting the tubular pipe to allow anough room to fit the nut but ive got one that just isnt gona fit no matter how much i grind and hammer, has anyone else had dramas with this manifold

[HairyScreech]

who made it? is it a btb? a hottuning one? magnex?

[airborne_7]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT

the link to ebay doesnt say i dont think

[HairyScreech]

well considering it says e30 all 6 cylinder 323-m3 i can see why it dosent fit.

[snakebrain]

well considering it says e30 all 6 cylinder 323-m3 i can see why it dosent fit.

Except that the M3's a four pot, I can't see the problem there....

Does 'all 6 cylinder' in that context not basically mean 'any variant of the M20'?

[town325i]

well considering it says e30 all 6 cylinder 323-m3 i can see why it dosent fit.

Except that the M3's a four pot, I can't see the problem there....

Does 'all 6 cylinder' in that context not basically mean 'any variant of the M20'?

Yes it does and all m20 exhaust manifolds fit each other i had this sort of trouble with my hottunning one all i did was leave all the nuts i had on loose so i could move the manifold to get the last nut on

[HairyScreech]

im thinking that they think the m3 is a 6 pot. hence 323-m3.
otherwise it would be 320-327, infact it should be that anyway.
and it also wont fit ALL 6 pot e30s as theres all the m30 engined ones.

so if they dont even know how many cylinders the cars there advertising a manifold for have then how in the name of god are they going to make it fit right or produce a well made good flowing manifold.

a reputable place would have said fits all RHD m20 engines.

[town325i]

im thinking that they think the m3 is a 6 pot. hence 323-m3.
otherwise it would be 320-327, infact it should be that anyway.
and it also wont fit ALL 6 pot e30s as theres all the m30 engined ones.

so if they dont even know how many cylinders the cars there advertising a manifold for have then how in the name of god are they going to make it fit right or produce a well made good flowing manifold.

a reputable place would have said fits all RHD m20 engines.

You will more than likely find the company selling them does not make them thats why they no nothing about them

[HairyScreech]

true, but knowledge of a product is a major thing for a retailer.

it tells me they haven't spoken to there supplier or there supplier didn't know either,

which means when you ring them up and go "oi, this dosent fit" they will have no idea and will probably use the old "every car is different, your job to make sure it fits before buying, no one else has had a problem" line.

[spook]

Mate have you tried shortening the stud so the nut can fit on behind the tubes.

[Chris]

Pull the manifold away from the head with some bits of wood or somethingso that only one or two threads are sticking through then get a nut on each one before starting to wind them all on and bring the manifold up tight to the head.

Good luck.
Chris

[jbh]

well considering it says e30 all 6 cylinder 323-m3 i can see why it dosent fit.

Except that the M3's a four pot, I can't see the problem there....

Does 'all 6 cylinder' in that context not basically mean 'any variant of the M20'?

Yes it does and all m20 exhaust manifolds fit each other i had this sort of trouble with my hottunning one all i did was leave all the nuts i had on loose so i could move the manifold to get the last nut on

I had to do the same aswell with my hottunning one. my new 6 branch should go on a treat without any problems though

Mark pm heading your way

[airborne_7]

Thats what im going to try first thing tomorrow, shorten the thread i think wil do it but stil you pay that amount you expect it to be a good fit, o wel stil looks sweet now its on

[HairyScreech]

actually at that price i would expect trouble, a normal standard rear box costs more that £100, so a complex bit of fabrication shouldnt cost less than £100.

i do worry where they have these made, as theres no way they can be produced in europe and still give the guy making them a fair wage for £100. anyone thats ever made a manifold will know what i mean and why, theres a lot of work in them.

[jbh]

this is the one I have just bought from Scot.
might not look as shiny but will do what its supposed to do.

still to tidy it up.

[airborne_7]

JBH from that picture straight away ive noticed how much better yours is yes it may not look shiny, but that looks very easy to work on and i cant see any studs rubbin on the manifold, i recon ive just got a cheap patternt version of a decent stainless mainfold that (like panels) need alot of work to get right

[jbh]

JBH from that picture straight away ive noticed how much better yours is yes it may not look shiny, but that looks very easy to work on and i cant see any studs rubbin on the manifold, i recon ive just got a cheap patternt version of a decent stainless mainfold that (like panels) need alot of work to get right

ill need to do a few comparison pictures as I've got a hottunning manifold here. the hottunning manifold has slightly larger pipes but the weld aren't to the same standard. also due to the larger pipe this causes the problem for fitting it. they can be a nightmare to fit

[HairyScreech]

interesting to see that, and would be interested in the comparison pics,
is that a racing dynamics one?

from the look of it i dont see why it wouldnt be possible to get some off the shelf 3-1 collectors/some flanges and a pair of old down pipes and then bend up your own primaries.

cant be worse than any of the other copy manifolds.

[jbh]

interesting to see that, and would be interested in the comparison pics,
is that a racing dynamics one?

from the look of it i dont see why it wouldnt be possible to get some off the shelf 3-1 collectors/some flanges and a pair of old down pipes and then bend up your own primaries.

cant be worse than any of the other copy manifolds.

its the griffin motor sport one. ill get some better pictures of the 2 of them hopefully tomorrow or Friday.
looking at this one and the H/T one id say this would be the easiest to copy and tbh I don't think it would be hard to do a better job than some places out there. the hardest part is getting the flanges made as these would need to be laser cut. getting the bends right would need a bit of practise aswell i would imagine.

[HairyScreech]

getting the bends right is a simple case of using enough thickness in the tube, hamering a wood plug in the bottom end, packing it with sand, hammer a wood plug in the top.

then using a bit of heat and bending, means your bending a near solid bar rather than a tube and the radius wont collapse as easily. you have to be careful the tube dosent tear and thats where the correct thickness comes into it.

i guess im at advantage on this one as iv made stuff like this before, but its not hard for anyone to produce something acceptable.

even if you used universal bends and tweeked them to fit and welded together. as long as you dont end up with a lot of weld penetrating into the exhaust then i dont see why you cant end up with something that would be better than standard.

im sure turbo brown did a flange drawing as well, i could get some laser cut on the cheep.

perhaps i need to make up some m50/52 and e36 rack manifolds.