Alright, I received this tubular for free, so I figured I'd goof around with it. Looks to me like a fleabay special.

I've looked it over, can't find any cracked welds, and honestly this thing is heavy! I've seen a pacesetter manifold and that thing is definitely made of beer cans, bit this has to be almost as heavy as my evo 3 manifold.

I put a straight edge on the flange and wow, pretty crooked. I doubt it will even come close to sealing once I bolt it up. I might try to remove some material off the middle of the flange, and maybe blend the welds on the ports a little smoother, without removing too much material.

Any other ideas on this thing? Maybe some one has some info on installing this. I'm going to use my ARP Stainless turbo bolts, and new gaskets all around.

Yeah id say that's gonna be more of a hassle than a "fleabay," , manifold is gonna be worth dealing with. If you decide to try it though I'd beef it up and go over the welds again to ensure it's durability atleast. I myself wouldn't trust it for much other than idle time.

Yeah I'll do some updates on it. I don't mind the looks of it. The evo 3 is just kinda "meh" on the looks , and believe me if I had the cheese for a jmfab, it would be my first choice. Plus the rear bolt on the flange dosent look easy to access at all

I'm actually saving for a forward facing jmfab manifold currently . Trying to save some money on the upcoming wedding to afford it . But back on topic, I think the manifold could hold up for a bit on a mild boost application. I've seen some people use even the beer can manifolds for breaking in new engines. What's your goals for this manifold if it's used?

oren hughbanks said:

Yeah I'll do some updates on it. I don't mind the looks of it. The evo 3 is just kinda "meh" on the looks , and believe me if I had the cheese for a jmfab, it would be my first choice. Plus the rear bolt on the flange dosent look easy to access at all

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You don't buy a manifold for how it looks....you buy it for how it performs. With that mentality, I'd get use to wasting a whole lot of money for little to no results. Especially on a dsm flanged turbo....I can guarantee that a well ported evo3 or better yet, fp manifold is going to outperform any eBay tubular manifold and even most high-quality tubulars.

I had a hand me down EBAY tubular manifold that had a warped flange just like yours and even a 20 ton press and a surface couldn't touch that hard Chinese Stainless Steel so I scrapped it as it wouldn't seal....ever. Just mtc.

I agree with the statements above. If you're set on trying to use it though and it will seal I believe it can be used for lower boost. I personally would stick with the evoIII manifold.

The problems with Chinabay manifolds are the material and the welds. They have been getting better and better as the years go by. For example the $300 CXR manifold I am using is made from 11 gauge metal. Its heavy and its tough. The welds arent perfect but the manifold has been holding a HX40 in a a heavy BEP housing with a PR recirculated O2. Its significant weight. I coated it with DEI spray then wrapped it. I have had 0 issues.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/cxracing-11-gauge-manifold.477270/

I don't buy things for my talon just to look good, and I would never actually spend any amount of money on one of these junkers, I guess I should have stated that in the beginning that's really my fault guys I do apologize. I can see on the flange by the heat transfer and carbon build up that it definitely didn't seal for the last fellow who used it. But since the weather outside is awful, and my dsm is in its cave for the winter, I wouldn't mind doing something with it. I wouldn't trust it to hold 20+ psi of 700 degree gasses , but I'm only running waste gate pressure, according to my AVCR, its only 10lbs. I'm keeping it low until I have a better solution for tuning. The CXRACINGal manifolds did catch my eye, but I really settled on the FP cast manifold.

I am curious to see if there might actually be a difference in response, and of it actually will hold up. I have the punishment front mount kit, and it has held up great for the past 4+ years, granted the fitment isn't all that great.

All that being said, I did get this for free, so I should do something with it. Any ideas?? I'm going to spend a little time polishing up the ports, and smoothing the transitions out.

I've had it with cheap tubular manifolds cracking, so I bought this one from MAP:












I'm trying to get it on this week - spacing is a bit tight with the hx40, so we'll see.

That thing is a work of art. Really nice manifold. It might just be me, but I do really like the looks of a tubular manifold. It gets old every time you go to a meet and people just scoff at you " nice stock turbo and manifold " I mean I try to not to take it personal, cause % of people have no understanding of what it's like to build a DSM, but I like to add some different things to add to the car.

That map manifold is gorgeous

the only real time you would want to upgrade the manifold is to run an external waste gate. If your turbo is internally gated it is not worth the time to swap it out.

The consensus on ebay manifolds is they can help the turbo spool faster but are more hassle than they are worth after a year or two of heat cycles

I don't plan on running a external waste gate anytime soon. I have no access to e85, or anything other than 91. I've looked into meth injection, but kinda far down my list of upgrades.

Does anyone have any ideas about trying to straighten the flange on this thing, or are they all this bad. Hard to believe a human being could actually manage to create a manifold this crooked. The welds aren't half bad, but honestly how could you NOT notice that...

Buy/find a new flange take the old one off and weld the new one on.

My advice would be to stick with your evo 3. In my opinion, far more downsides than upsides to running a tubular manifold for most people. They run hot, crack, and most require significant rework to the downpipe (which can cause other issues).

My preference is to run a ported 2g or evo3 on my car...the turbo just wont fit.

If you're only doing it for the looks, I'd stay away from it. Sell it on eBay and use the money to buy a nice, pretty new heat sheild for your evo3. It'll look nice and keep temps in check.

OK I'll take the groups advice, and turn this into a nice coat hanger. Or lamp, or pencil holder. My evo 3 has been kicking just fine, and I don't want to mess with fitment on my down pipe.

Glad to see you made the right decision

I do try ha-ha Ive spent enough on my build on good quality parts, I don't want to start getting cheap now

oren hughbanks said:

That thing is a work of art. Really nice manifold. It might just be me, but I do really like the looks of a tubular manifold. It gets old every time you go to a meet and people just scoff at you " nice stock turbo and manifold " I mean I try to not to take it personal, cause % of people have no understanding of what it's like to build a DSM, but I like to add some different things to add to the car.

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That's when I say "line em up and I'll show you how nice...." Lol

the only way to fix that flange is to get it milled down flat. not worth what it will cost, unless you got a machinist buddy

No doubt dude. There's a huge difference between a 14b and 20g. You know how people can be, if its not polished everything, sticker bombed to the moon, its stock .

I do have a bud who could mill it, but idk how he could even clamp the thing into a fixture to mill it straight.

Use a belt sander and double stack gaskets. It will be fine, except it will crack in a week .

I could cover it heat wrap like a ghetto mummy then I'll crack in two days, it won't take a week