Stainless steel 7CM Turbo to Manifold Gasket

The gasket being mentioned: EXTREME PSI : Your #1 Source for In Stock Performance Parts - 7CM Turbo to Manifold Gasket : Mitsubishi Eclipse 90-99

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Well, we spent our night before we left for the Shootout attempting to fix an assumed simple exhaust leak. The car is a 6-bolt swapped '99 GSX (not mine), running a 2G exhaust manifold and an E3-16G. All exhaust gaskets related to the turbo, etc. were replaced less than 1000 miles ago. We could tell there was some sort of leak underneath the manifold, so we began to remove it, expecting to find a large crack in it. Nope. Turns out the stainless steel gasket between the manifold and turbine housing had broken up in several pieces; two of which were still in place and the rest had fallen in and around the turbine housing.

This is complete BS, in my honest opinion. A quality piece of stainless steel should not fall apart like this at all, especially within 1000 miles.

We had broken off a bolt in the turbine housing during disassembly, so we also had to remove it and replace it with a spare. We pulled it off and discovered the path of some of those gasket pieces. One of them had lodged itself in the turbine housing perpendicular to the blades of the wheel, and it completely rocked the peak of each blade. Now, because off this junk gasket, this E3-16G needs to be rebuilt with a new turbine wheel and shaft.

Learn from our mistake - Don't use this type of gasket before the turbo. It's just not worth the potential headache.

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If you want to read about more failures with this gasket, read these:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/207090-mad-dsmer-slowboy-7cm-gasket.html

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...engineering-stainless-steel-turbo-gasket.html

 

[99gst_racer]

Disclaimer: I'd also like to add that this has absolutely nothing to do with Extreme PSI as a company. They are simply who we bought the gasket through, and a link was only added to show the exact gasket that we had fail. Truth be told, the majority of the DSM-specific vendors out there carry this same gasket.

I just wanted to specifically point out that I am happy with my dealings with Extreme PSI, but not happy with the quality/style of this particular gasket.




Also, I have been asked what I plan to use next. The attached pictuire below is what we plan to use next. It's a thin, embossed steel gasket. I've used these gaskets for turbine entrance and discharge on T3 and T4 set-ups, as well as O2 housing gaskets on Mitsu set-ups, and I have yet to have one fail to seal or cause damage to other components.

 

[99gst_racer]

Update.

This is the gasket that I would recommend to anybody using a Mitsu type manifold and turbine housing. It's a multi-layer OEM gasket and it's available in 6cm and 7cm sizes. A little pricey, but well worth the extra coin.

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They can be purchased here:

Forced Performance Turbochargers: Mitsubishi DSM Turbine Housing Inlet Gasket

http://www.maperformance.com/turbine-housing-inlet-gasket-dsm.html