Anyway to fix this issue?
Cliffnotes...

1st I contacted Full-Race because I was under the impression all their manifolds came with a lifetime warranty, manifold was bought about a decade ago so it's had a long life.

Full-race employee told me they no longer honor the warranty apparently... so I took the manifold to a local well known fabrication shop and they fixed the cracked, lasted about a month and cracked again.

The fabricator noticed the head flange had shifted and move over time, he said it was due to heat/stress over time, I believe the shifted runner pushing against the last runner is what's causing the crack. Could I re-weld it and grind out enough material to create another gap in between the runners to possibly stop the cracking.

 

It's a shame you bought it with a warranty and they will no longer honor it. I understand that a small company can cease to offer something provided to early customers but to breach the contract you formed with the original purchase is disappointing. If they had that response years ago before their partnership with BorgWarner (which really pays the bills nowadays) I doubt they would have been as successful or highly regarded.
Now you have an opportunity to look at new manifolds that have benefitted from those 10years of racing with new techniques and development.

 

Any companies you recommend? Looking at GoAutoworks and TempestRacing as my top choices right now. Also curious as to why some companies just use solid head flanges, and others like this full race manifold use the cuts on the head flange????

 

The cuts in the flange allow for a little bit of flex with contraction/expansion. Idk if it really makes a difference.

That runner, at least a section of it, that keeps cracking needs to be replaced, at minimum. Just tossing new weld onto it won't fix it, which is what it looks like that fab shop did.

I'd just buy a new manifold, you're going to be charged $100 at minimum to fix it 'right' and you've already paid for it to be fixed once, you're probably halfway into a new manifold already.

 

Ouch. Right on their "robotic" weld!

 

I have $50 tied up in the manifold so far with taking it to the fab shop, I would rather spend another $100 or so to fix it. Only reason being is all the newer topmounts made by other companies have the turbo positioned pretty much vertically. This older full race manifold actually leans the turbo forward away from the valve cover. Don't feel like have to modify my downpipe to fit a new manifold on etc.

 

they hand weld the flanges

 

I know, was being sarcastic...this is not the first time I have heard of them not honoring their supposed lifetime warranty. To be honest, putting a lifetime warranty on a pipe manifold is just ridiculous.

 

got ya.. GET THEM SALES DOE

 

Yeah, seems to work for sure

 

Lol, yeah it sucks that they won't back their product now even though a decade is a long time it's unfortunately not a lifetime😂

plenty of manifolds on the market for $500- $600 cheaper that will work just as well now.

 

Well this tickles me....

 

I am very disappointed in this. I have a Full-Race manifold as well, and stuck with them over many years with shitty wastegates placement only because they offer lifetime warranty. I've wasted so much money on different parts to aid in better intercooler clearance and downpipe fitment. And now they are no longer honoring their warranty? Seems like a breach of contract on their part and are liable to fix, replace, or compensate customers if the manifold break. I want to see the disclaimer that allows them to void warranties without user error.

 

does anyone ever brace their turbo to the engine? I see a lot of cracked exhaust manifolds, but have not seen anyone mock anything up to help relieve some of the strain from the weight of the turbo. is there any reason this isn't done?

I see on v-8's they brace the turbos to the chassis, or engine- yes they are typically much larger turbos, but still same idea- why not in the Honda world??

 

If one does not have a flex pipe built into the exhaust system it will definitely stress crack somewhere.

But to brace the manifold and turbine, what would you propose? Possibly by using the AC bolt holes could one bracket the turbine, but you'd only be able to do that if the setup allows for it.

​​​​​​or maybe use some 1/8" sheet metal, and build a flat bracket that hugs the block around the DP and braces the turbine from underneath....A couple of gussets, and you have yourself a turbo brace relieving some of the stress...

 

The issue is using freaking pipe for automotive purposes...

Build the tubular turbo manifold, support the turbo, dont mount the turbo. I have customer with a 10.5 drag radial mustang with twin gt88's using 16 gauge ss tubular manifolds. The turbos are supported with heim joints/small rod ends that allow movement. Same set of manifolds for the past 6 seasons, no issues. This is just one example.

I save the pipe for under the house.

 

Gotta maximize profits doe

 

Doesn't make sense to me if it will create issues and especially does not make sense to offer a lifetime warranty on something that is prone to cracking in this specific indication and then not honor it...that definitely maximizes profits, haha.

 

I have a early ram horn b-series from full race and it is really heavy.. The wall thickness of the manifold is about 3mm and not backpurged and all hand welded. It doesnt have 100% penetration so you cant see any of the welds on the inside. It had pretty bad WG placement and creeped a gt35r. Cant remeber how much. I port matched the wastegate to the manifold and ported it a bit and replaced the tial 40mm WG with a 46mm. It got alot better.

Later I got a k series witch was robotic tig:ed and handwelded to the flange. It was alot more lightweight and the wall thicknes was thinner. I am not sure since it was a long time ago but I think it was about 2mm and that it was back purged.

A thicker material makes you get away alot easyer with cheaper materials before it cracks..

To give this cracked manifold a chance again you need to grind the old welds off and make a proper v grove for the new weld, clean it thoroghly so ther is no contamination in the weld and have it back purged or weld the inside.

 

 

How many miles were on this manifold?

 

maybe 20,000 miles from the course of 2007-2008 until recently.

 

Hmm, thanks. Somewhat disappointing, especially considering they made no attempt to honor the warranty, or even offer some sort of a compromise.