so i know that the ram horn style manifolds see pretty decent gains over the log style mani's but i'm wondering where the top mount fits into the equation? is it in between the other 2 in terms of power? or would you see the most gains from a top mount? they seem to always be more expensive, so i'm hoping you could see bigger gains on a top mount than a ram horn? any info is appreciated

Thanks,
Ben

 

Top mounts tend to fatten up the upper powerband with a very slight sacrifice in spool time. There more expensive because they use more material. That and it's the new trend so all the kids want them A few downfalls with the top mount setups are that your underhood temps skyrocket, WG placement is generally not as optimal, some will have to cut there radiator support, and with the added weight of the material there is more of a chance that the manifold could crack down the road.

 

some also seem to make it easier to access the bolts/studs that mount the manifold to the head...one of the things I HATE about my ram horn.

 

i bought a topmount simply because it makes installation and maintenance of my turbo about 100x easier than a log or ramhorn....

 

i bought a top mount so i could see my turbo.... why spend all that money to hide it?

 

I bought top mount cause I wanted to be cool but now I regret it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbocivic94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I bought top mount cause I wanted to be cool but now I regret it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

why u regret it?

only thing is no a/c for me...but topmount looks sick to me u can touch the turbo without burning your arm touchin the ramhorn lol

 

the biggest thing about topmounts is you can run a 4'' dp easily...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony n. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">only thing is no a/c for me...but topmount looks sick to me u can touch the turbo without burning your arm touchin the ramhorn lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

And why would the turbo itself be cooler then the manifold? Why the hell are you touching it anyway? lol

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicVX94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the biggest thing about topmounts is you can run a 4'' dp easily...</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is true, but since 4" setups are a total wast of money under the 700HP range that kinda sorta rules out allot of setups. If you going for 700+ HP then I would say topmount is the way to go.

 

what if i'm going for a baller 300-330ish on a stock c5... it's only about $100 more for the mani and i'm already gonna be close to $5k all said and done with the turbo stuff and fuel, clutch and tune so $100 isn't that much more... im going to look into it more, i like how it makes it easier to install.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by White Smoke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Top mounts tend to fatten up the upper powerband with a very slight sacrifice in spool time. There more expensive because they use more material. That and it's the new trend so all the kids want them A few downfalls with the top mount setups are that your underhood temps skyrocket, WG placement is generally not as optimal, some will have to cut there radiator support, and with the added weight of the material there is more of a chance that the manifold could crack down the road.</TD></TR></TABLE>

what kind of spool sacrifice do you mean? more than 500-1000 rpm's over a ramhorn? and the manifold i'm going to get is from my local shop, the tuner corey parish fabs them up himself and they're guaranteed not to crack for 2 years, welds are very very nice, so i'm not worried about that

 

For 100$ I would still say no way but hey, thats just me. I am not sure what kind of spool differences you are going to see but I could not see it being more then 1k rpm. It's also hard for us to compare his manifold unless we have dyno plots or flow tests for both. Contrary to some belief, not all top mounts are created equal.

 

good point, i'll see if i can find some different graphs to compare

 

ill post a graph up but i went from a top mount to a ramhorn and saw no difference in spool time, my new graph coincides with my old one.

edit: the new one is a pump gas setup but up to the point where boost continues to rise they coincide. ill try to get it up later today. should be doing some race gas tuning on the new manifold in the next couple weeks, so well see how they compare on the top end.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mike@synapse motorsport &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ill post a graph up but i went from a top mount to a ramhorn and saw no difference in spool time, my new graph coincides with my old one.</TD></TR></TABLE>

awesome thanks

 

Also aren't top mounts (most designs) closer to true equal length?

And yes ht is full of trends, and like mentioned if your not going for 700+whp or a hardparker, there is no real need for a topmount.

 

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

why u regret it?

only thing is no a/c for me...but topmount looks sick to me u can touch the turbo without burning your arm touchin the ramhorn lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have to disassemble half of my car to take my manifold off. I use to run 4" downpipe with my ramhorn. I think it was lot easier removing the manifold with ramhorn.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by White Smoke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Contrary to some belief, not all top mounts are created equal.</TD></TR></TABLE>

About the only thing relavant to the topic in this thread...

You can't compare a "top mount" to anything else in general unless you're talking about 2 particular manifolds, not a style of manifold. The only thing you can generalize between the 2 is turbo placement and room for a downpipe, neither of which really has any affect on performance.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Boosted Chemist &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
And yes ht is full of trends, and like mentioned if your not going for 700+whp or a hardparker, there is no real need for a topmount.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What dictates the "need" for a "top mount" over any other type of manifold? At the end of the day the only reason "top mount" manifolds cost more is because they are the new thing. Very few have actually made them perform any better than other styles of manifolds.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


What dictates the "need" for a "top mount" over any other type of manifold? At the end of the day the only reason "top mount" manifolds cost more is because they are the new thing. Very few have actually made them perform any better than other styles of manifolds.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is why i still run my inline pro, i can run a full rad in a crx, and its capable of at least 500whp. Grant it its a couple years ago bandwagon, but it still a good part.

 

The inline pro manifold is no doubt a nice piece. I don't think it's on the same level as a proper tubular manifold, but it's definitely a better choice than 75% of the tubular manifolds that are hacked together.

 

just go topmount! lol i fell in love with mine

 

topmount band wagon member #5368