stalyun

keeping it short and sweet...

I have a ramhorn manifold, replaced all bolts with studs, solid motormounts, coilovers, there is a flex pipe in place, boost=19psi.


the studs that keep breaking are on the topside of the manifold, above the flange. none of the lower studs have broke. the top studs, i have replaced about 4 times now. I have used grade 10.9 studs/nuts with blue locktite. the manifold was not doing this to my friends car before i bought it. if the studs are not breaking, they are backing themselves out.

this is driving me crazy and is costing me a small fortune... any help is appreciated.

Blaze45

Has the manifold been welded since it has been it was on your buddies car?

Bump since I would like to know the reason myself. Used to have an 88 Accord that did this all the time, it was completely stock. : P

Blaze

dbsharp

have you tried adding supports/ braces to help support the mass of the turbo, exhaust, and manifold?

stalyun

it has been welded before to freshen up some of the welds.

we have not added braces and supports yet.. was thinking about it. but it did not have
braces/supports on my buddies car. my buddy now has a huge top mount with a t4 turbo on it and his is not breaking anything.

i believe there is something else causing it to break.

stalyun

we are adding a piece of exhaust to my exhaust system. we are thinking that the exhaust is pulling towards the back of the car. when i do a pull, the engine torques back which may be causing them to break.

well see if that works.

Psychoteen101

Try downgrading bolts... Might not make sense, but the higher grade bolts are more hardened and are more prone to breaking under extreme vibration. Try and use something more along the lines of a grade 5, its a bit softer and will have a bit more flex.

I had the same issue and put in grade 5 bolts, then i safety wired them to eachother, never had another break.

Blaze45

If you really feel that the exhaust is pulling and causing the issue, do you have a flex pipe installed? I didn't have one installed and I kept cracking my downpipe. If you don't have one installed, that very well could be the issue. No flex in the exh. under a full boost pull... The engine will flex and if the exh. cannot, the exh. bolts are the first thing to go... I dunno. It makes sense in my head. Hope you figure it out.

Good luck.

redzcstandardhatch

ive never ever broken an OEM exhaust bolt. LOTS of turbo motors. i;m probably lucky, but i've NEVER had it happen. we've probably set about 30 turbo builds out in the past few years, and some have nearly 100k on them now, with nary a problem as far as that goes.

might want to buy some new OEM ones.