I know these have a horrible reputation, but I was wondering where exactly do they crack? If its just at the welds then I could just have someone go back over them, and have a decent manifold. A shop installed one on a b16 locally, and it made awesome power, I told them about the cracking and he said he would go back over the welds for 30 bucks. And I could have them throw on some more bracing. Is that a decent idea?

 

its not just the welds that crack. the piping and everything cracks. I belive that the reason is because the piping is stainless and it does not have enough support, so all the weight from the turbo and dp. lays on the mani. 98ctr

PS: my friend had on on his gsr eng. and cracked, then he rewelded it and it cracked again within one day.

 

I didnt realize the piping cracked also...

I dont suppose more bracing could fix it?

 

the SS they use is also too thin.

It just can't take the heat either

 

Instead of wasting your money on that garbage, go buy a blox manifold for 300 bucks that will not crack, and has nice wastegate placement

 

yeah, don't try to fix junk.

 

i made 360whp on that mani with a straight T3, but yeah, it cracked everywhere. first time it cracked, the wastegate was barely hangin on by a piece of metal, the second time it cracked in 5 different places including diagonally accross the collector. so i had it welded up n sold it

 

Point taken.

 

The manifold is not SS, it is chromed Mild steel.
And its not as simple as that to go over the welds.
To properly weld that stuff, A lot of prep workd will be involved. And most likely you wont be able to get to 50% of those areas.

Among that, like eveyone else has stated The welds are not the problem.
The materials is approx 18-20g
It is very thing weak material

 

I have a guy telling me to just make a bracket from the block to the turbo, so that the mani doesnt have to support the turbo weight. He did it this way and said hes had success with it.

 

The manifold will still crack. Especially at the wastegate outlet. There are some sucess stories and some raeally bad stories. but the ratio from good to bad is like 1-50.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tchleung &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but the ratio from good to bad is like 1-50.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats what I told the guy. But I wonder how many people are bracing the turbo itself, and not the mani only. He made the good point that all the tubular mani's you buy will include a brace for the turbo.

Mine would also be for an internally gated turbo.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chip &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Instead of wasting your money on that garbage, go buy a blox manifold for 300 bucks that will not crack, and has nice wastegate placement </TD></TR></TABLE>

Agreed

 

This guy has been using an SSAC mani with his turbo braced for almost a year.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tegunderpressure &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This guy has been using an SSAC mani with his turbo braced for almost a year.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Is this "guy" mpir3? If so I can vouch for his car in person and he has never had a problem with the ssac manifold.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tegunderpressure &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Thats what I told the guy. But I wonder how many people are bracing the turbo itself, and not the mani only. He made the good point that all the tubular mani's you buy will include a brace for the turbo.

Mine would also be for an internally gated turbo.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i never said all tubular manifold require bracing of the turbo. The SSAC manifolds are thin walled. They just can NOT support a 30lb turbo and dp hanging off of it under extreme temps. It has NOTHING to do with the fact that they are cheap manifolds. If you look at any racecar running a thin walled tubular manifold, chances are the turbo is braced off the block with a triangular support.

Let me try to put this in a way somepeople on here can understand since every time someone has tried to explain it people still don't get it...Say your hanging from a tree branch by your arms. Your buddy comes along and hangs from your legs. Assuming he weighs more than you, (just like a turbo weighs more than the light SSAC manifold), you will only be able to hold on to the branch for a short period of time before you lose grip. ok so now you want to last longer...you climb back up the tree and decide to lay across 2 branches (forming a bridge with your body). You holding on to the first branch with your hands and the second branch supports your legs. Ok so now your buddy decides to jump up and hang around your waist...Are you able to withstand him longer? ...no, all you have done is relocate the stress from him pulling to another area of your body (what bracing the manifold does). You decide to give it one last try....this time your buddy is gonna act like hes hanging from you, except he is gonna stand on a ladder. Although he has his arms around you and is connected to you he is NOT attempting to pull you down by any means. You could lay up in the tree all day unless the ladder breaks. Then stress will be put back on you..

 

The manifodls are still known to crack at the welds and just all voer the pipes in general even with bracing too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tchleung &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The manifodls are still known to crack at the welds and just all voer the pipes in general even with bracing too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

why do you think it cracks NO ONE braces the turbo!!!! brace the manifold all you want....it will still crack!!!! Do you have any experience with it? I supported the turbo like i described above and NEVER had a problem with the manifold.

 

Its not really hard to find a well functioning manifold for a cheap price.

Why don't people ever learn that ssautocrome is just crap? It looks pretty and looks like it the tubular "equal length" style, and people want to bend over backwards to make it work. This thread is useless, Bleh

 

I agree this thread is useless...making one work is simple...it just requires alittle thinking and custom work, something the majority of people on here can't handle. Ive posted pictures of how mine is setup, its so simple its not even funny.

 

I think what people are trying to do here is clear up the misconception that you have to brace the manifold for it to work. The turbo is what is putting the weight on the manifold, as stated a ton of times, and with such thin material, it just cannot support the weight. The turbo should be supported so its weight is not supported by the manifold...thats all he is trying to say.

Crappy manifold, great manifold, whatever...thats for the dyno and experience to decide. As for this thread, I hope it clears up common misconceptions with this manifold, although its been covered a thousand times. Its like any other messageboard topic, people read something once and it surely will get regurgitated a million times over in other threads.

"LS trannys good for boost"
"Light flywheels cause stalling and are hard to drive on, never get below 12lbs"
"never run over 8PSI on stock internals"

All common messageboard regurgitations. Hopefully people will see this one as well, learn from it, and start spreading knowledge and reason instead of quoting other people.