2g manifold, Evo3 manfiold, XS Power manifold, or something else?

[eclipseGSTud]

I'm in the process of gathering the items to upgrade from the stock T25 to a MHI Evo3 16g. The issue is my car is a daily driver and I can't have much more than a day of down time. I'm going to port the 16g since its not installed yet and my friend recommended me to either port the exhaust manifold and 02 housing or get upgrades before installing the turbo. Here's where I need suggestions and advice. How long does it take for a machine shop to port a manifold and 02 housing? I guess it depends on the shop but just want to figure out from people's experiences. My cash flow isn't high right now, so I can't afford stuff like the SBR's $299 cast manifold or a $250 02 housing, but I'm also restricted by low down time, no garage to work in, and lack of experience. So far I can think of:

1. Request two days off from work. Schedule an appointment with a local machine shop. Have a friend help me take off manfold and 02 housing and drive me to machine shop and have the shop do a port job. Wait...then hopefully either the same day or the next day get the parts back and install them (have to use a friend's garage or go to parents' place).

2. Order a Evo3 manifold and 02 housing and bring that to a machine shop to port and don't have to worry about down time. Lowest price I've found the evo3 manifold for is $130, is that a good price? Which vendors sell them besides sbr? Also, I saw a XS Power tubular manifold for about $130. Is anyone using that manifold? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SUPER-DSM-4G63-EVOIII-BIG-T25-T28-16G-TURBO-MANIFOLD_W0QQitemZ250055418381QQihZ015QQcategoryZ33742QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

3. Try to find a used 2g manifold or 02 housing at car parts yard (i.e., pick n pull) for cheap then port them out. Then sell stock manifold and 02 housing. More work but less down time.


Thanks everyone in advance for your advice and sorry for the long post.

 

[daren_p]

$130 for an evoIII mani is much cheeper then I've seen it new, last time I checked they were around $200 & the GT version (basically a copy of the evoIII) was around $150. I thought $130 is about the price of the evoIII O2 housing. s far as porting parts should only take an hour or two but it would probably be a good idea to call ahead & make an appointment as they probably won't be able to do it right away if you just show up. If you have a compressor all you need is a die grinder & some carbide bit, some sanding & flapper rolls and you could port them yourself in a couple hours. Porting these parts is very easy to do, even for a first timer. Its not crucial like porting a head, basically you want to open it as much as you can & smooth everything out for the best flow. There are a couple tech write ups on porting on the forum here. As for the $130 tubular manifold, I would pass. XS power is very cheep knock off products & while some of their products such as their fmic seem to do well, most of their other don't do so well. Tubular manifolds are known to crack and can easily cost you ~$1000 for a good one, so this should give you some indication of how the XS power one is constructed.

 

[prostreetdsmx1]

i would recommend you just pick up something like tc.com's GT cast mani. we have used it in the past and it works and looks great. Like Daren said, just yank your O2 housing and pick up some basic porting supplies and have at it or just pick up a stock o2 for dirt cheap and port that one.

 

[wishihadatalon]

You can always buy a 2g manifold and a 2g o2 housing for cheap and then port them before you put them on. 2g manifolds have made insane power.

 

[perley03]

You can always buy a 2g manifold and a 2g o2 housing for cheap and then port them before you put them on. 2g manifolds have made insane power.

He has a 2G; why not just port yours and save some cash? A 2G manifold outflows a 1G, and is nearly identical as the EVO3 manifold.
The E316G turbo is known to creep on you, i would just leave the 2G 02 housing alone, so you don't get the creep issue.

 

[wishihadatalon]

He has a 2G; why not just port yours and save some cash? A 2G manifold outflows a 1G, and is nearly identical as the EVO3 manifold.
The E316G turbo is known to creep on you, i would just leave the 2G 02 housing alone, so you don't get the creep issue.

I know this. If you read his post you would know that he can not have any down time. As a beginner I would expect him to spend more than a few hours porting the manifold and the o2 housing. So that is why I told him to pick up an extra set, port them, and then maybe port his old stuff and sell, or sell as stockers.

 

[daren_p]

He has a 2G; why not just port yours and save some cash? A 2G manifold outflows a 1G, and is nearly identical as the EVO3 manifold.
The E316G turbo is known to creep on you, i would just leave the 2G 02 housing alone, so you don't get the creep issue.

Most of the time the main reason for porting the O2 housing is to get rid of creep as you usually pay special attention to porting out the WG passage & getting the best flow out of it . Boost creep isn't an issue on the evoIII if you take the time to port it properly

 

[LRS95TSI]

get a spare 2g mani or use yours and have a machine shop mill it out....it took my machinist 13 minutes to mill mine out and i helped!! then just take it home and use a dremel to sand it down and make it smooth...order a 7cm^2 gasket and get a ss autochrome o2 housing with dump...bolt all that up and its good to go...the evo3 turbo doesn't need some crazy parts to make good par...just port the 2g mani and either keep the o2 housing or go with what i said...i havent had any problems with mine in a year of owning it.

 

[eclipseGSTud]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I'm going to try looking for a 2g manifold and 02 housing at the local car parts yards first and see if I find a good deal.

 

[Jeff822]

DSMparts.com has a Evo GT manifold for $140 (i think) and you can also get a Evo o2 housing from them for around or a little over $100.

 

[nightspeed87]

to be cost effective for the time being Id just keep the 2g manifold buy a dremel kit and port out your 2g manifold focasing mainly on the wastegate ; porting that to the point where that couldnt get ported any more then run the evo3 kit with that and you could have all that done in three or four hrs on a weekend and with a good porting job it probably wont creep.

 

[clipsit]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I'm going to try looking for a 2g manifold and 02 housing at the local car parts yards first and see if I find a good deal.

I have a 2g manifold in great condition if you want it, PM me, along w/ a heavily ported 2g O2 housing too that I have been trying to get rid of. So PM if you are interested, b/c a 2g ported will def meet your needs. But like it was said before, if you do a good port job on the turbo you don't have to port the O2 housing necessarily, but it helps w/ spool too though.

 

[TSIMonsteR]

http://punishment-racing.com/biography.html

Punishment has some awesome looking tubular o2 housings for as little as $120. Might be a good choice.

 

[clipsit]

http://punishment-racing.com/biography.html

Punishment has some awesome looking tubular o2 housings for as little as $120. Might be a good choice.

Agreed. I bought my O2 dump from them, but then changed my mind and went w/ a different setup, but he is good people too and does quality work. I would recommend also...

 

[v2ner]

Just port the 2G manifold or send it to me. It's definitely not worth changing manifolds...especially for a 16G.