low budget turbo exhaust manifold?

[907dirtybird]

I am in need of a new exhaust manifold on my 95 Talon TSi. Any suggestions on a good quality unit, that is also cost efficient? I don't trust the $90.00 manifolds on Ebay, and I dont have $750 for one from STM. What are you "low budget" guys running?

 

[Joethefallen23]

A good condition 2g or Evo3 exhaust manifold will work for about 90% of people on tuners. The FP manifold is pretty much end all be all for stock frame bolt on turbos.

 

[rydereclipse]

Can't go wrong with the FP manifold.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Yes a used evo one or 2g cheap less than 90 used.

 

[Kdouglas89]

Go to the junkyard, and you could get lucky and grab a 2g for around 20-30$

 

[907dirtybird]

Thanks for the suggestions, forgive me for sounding stupid, but I am not familiar with an "FP manifold"

Nevermind, I found one at STM, thanks alot everbody!

 

[bryanwheat]

You can buy a dorman replacement 2g manifold from rockauto.com for 93 bucks with a 5 year warranty.

 

[herostar]

You can buy a dorman replacement 2g manifold from rockauto.com for 93 bucks with a 5 year warranty.

Does anyone have experience with these manifolds?

Are they a factory copy or a proprietary design?

 

[braden26]

FP has sales fairly often on their manifold and for 175 dollars you can't beat it

 

[Pipnorcali]

Yea wait for the overstock sale or just call fp themselves 175 cant be beat

 

[gnarkill6x6]

Forced performance is the FP manifold they are talking about. Best bang for your buck right there.

 

[Clinical]

Myself and a friend made ~500whp on stock 2g manifolds.

Otherwise like others have mentioned, FP's site last I checked had their manifolds for $175 - they're really good.

 

[boost97gst]

2g mani. With some work its about as good as an fp. Just some porting and cleaning up. Benefits: Stock, cheap, and stock heat shields can really help with the sleeper look.
Cons: Not as pretty as an FP. Using a die grinder sucks and you'll be doing plenty of that if you want that extra flow out of it.
I think most would agree with those statements. Agreed the FP vs STOCK 2g, the FP is better. Ported and smoothed out here and there and they're neck n neck.

Quick edit: If you dont have a die grinder or the $25 bits needed to properly and quickly port it and open it up then the FP would probably be a better deal. If you have that and get a 2g mani for 20 bucks tho..... cant beat it
Edit 2: Joethefallen: I used some polishing stones along with a nice carbide bit to do the real work on the turbo side. I honestly think my mani would go 55+lbs/min. It was my 63 ar pte holding me at 52lbs. Still, on e85, thats a lot of power. Most would be very happy with that. And i took no more than maybe 2 hours to hog out the collector and o2 housing. The stock o2 housing you really can take a ton of material off of safely. I am undivided so it meant nothing for me to have the partition on mine. It was razor thin by the time i was done, and probably helped flow a couple extra lbs

 

[Joethefallen23]

It's also largely unnecessary for many members, especially those with a more modest budget, unless you find one for a good deal. It's not to say the manifold is flawed, in fact, it is proven to gain over a stock 2g/Evo 3 manifold.

The fact of the matter is the original poster asked what a good budget manifold was. Dollar for dollar, you can't beat a used 2G/Evo 3 manifold for most members power goals. Not everyone is after +400whp.

Many forget to factor in the fact that the FP manifold doesn't allow the stock heat shield to be utilized. A blanket for the manifold is another $100. Other options would be ceramic coating which can be pricey depending on who does it and how many "stages/coats" are done. Stainless heat shields show up from time to time for it in the classifieds. Either way, you're close to $300+ for a manifold where as a good, uncracked 2g can be had for as little as $30-50 and an Evo 3 closer to $100.

Again, much respect to FP on the manifold design, but for many budget conscious individuals, you can't beat the performance per dollar of a lightly ported used 2g/Evo3 manifold as per the OP's original question.

 

[Diamond Star Werks]

Brand new evo3 manifolds are $200. Order goes like this 1g <2g <evo3 <fp. Evo3 is not the same as a 2g manifold. Runner size and thicknesses are larger on the evo3 manifold.

 

[Joethefallen23]

I've seen many used Evo 3 manifolds for $100 or less. It wasn't suggested to buy new.

Otherwise yes, the differences are obvious and exactly why I buy them when they come up used in the classifieds. I always figure I'll find a use for them in future projects.

 

[Diamond Star Werks]

Wasn't assuming anything on anyone just clearing the air of possible confusion.