or do they only warranty the manifolds after someone posts all over the internet?

Someone recently emailed me this:

I got my turbo kit and I have a t-60 turbo on it and the 1rst and 4th runners have a hairline crack in the welds on the top of the runners. I am going to have to get the cracks welded but am wondering if you have any ideas on supporting the turbo for weight purposes. The manifold has small "tabs" on the bottom of the runners, are these to help support, the only thing is when I called spark racing they told me that it wasnt designed to hold the weight of the t-60.

now that is just wrong. i hope spark will remedy this, there is no reason they should not take care of this guy!


[Modified by FFgeoff, 2:45 PM 3/4/2003]

 

from what i understand they are warrantying all the manifold that are cracking its just too many of them

Now you see why i dont carry them....


[Modified by b18bturbo, 1:47 PM 3/4/2003]

 

i thought you did carry them?

 

stopped completly.. i used to get them direct from meng at first but not anymore stopped completly..

 

now they are on ebay for like $200...well the OBX(same thing)....not good...

 

yup
they are dirt cheap.. the material is thick its just not braced right from the turbo. you should brace the turbo to the block and i am sure it wont crack

 

its perfect for the DIY people... cheap and if you brace it, youll be fine.

 

well brace the turbo, dont weld braces to the manifold, or they will just crack off, too. Bracing the turbo to the block is a good idea, however.

 

From what tony was telling me the manifold is designed nicely just not braced well to hold heavy turbos for some reason. He said just add brace it should be okay to the engine block

 

I am surprized that all manifolds don't require bracing.
Even the Honda stock manifold has a brace half way down the block and under the oil pan. Every factory turbo car I've seen has a brace for the turbo.

 

yeah but what do you do when the whole runner to the wastegate breaks off at the weld. is it necessary to brace the wastegate too. evidently this manifold wasnt made to hold anything heavy, it couldnt event support the weight of a tial 40mm.

 

The one that i've had all the problems with was NOT warrantied. We took care of our customer, rewelded it and got him back on the road for no charge. Spark requested pics. of the cracked manifold (at the runners AND the wastegate) and then proceeded to tell us that they won't pay us for our labor to reweld it. They want us to send it back for inspection and then they'll send us another one. So, what are we supposed to do about our customer not having a car for god knows how long while we wait for them to "inspect" it? Bottom line, we took care of our customer, and Spark racing didn't take care of theirs...

 

And thats why you're the **** Tony

 

what do these support braces look like? anyone have a pic of a tubo supported by the block?

 

sounds like awesome customer service

 

out of curiosity, what was the mani designed to support? anyone know the difference in weight between T3/T4 and T3 60-1?

 

The differences in weight are 7-8lbs approx.

 

if you really take care thats AWESOME, props to you. I just wanted to hear from anyone else who has had a manifold fail, if you do take care of them as you say thats a wonderful thing.

two other cases (freinds of mine) Agen2integra had his crack, as well as jerseykid609, they have now both had their wastegate tubes fall completely off, as well as numerous other issues. Have these issues been resolved, and what needs to be done to figure out a solution? I was asked to see if i could come up with a solution, but i havent yet.

 

well it's obvious to me that the wastegate portion needs to be braced. SFP braces theirs, **** almost everyone does.

 

To be honest, that manifold is really inexpensive, and is really nice for the money. Knowing what material it is made out of, you KNOW its going to crack before you even run it eventually, unless you brace it mean.

I don't think its sparks responsibility to warranty cracks from this type of use. Everyone knows stainless manifolds crack after time, without braces. Its so inexpensive anyway, you always get what you pay for.

A Hytech or more expensive manifold that costs like 2x that much has a warranty, as it should, they are making 4x the profit on every single one they sell and can afford to take a few back.

Did I make sense? or am i wrong.

Jeff

 

We took off the manifold 2 seperate times to weld it. First for the runners and second for the wastegate. Labor to remove the manifold, reweld it, and reinstall it was $250 each time. I don't think that is too much at all. Maybe you're just too used to paying Thailand labor rates....

 

do you really want a solid brace with thin wall tubing? that stuff moves around alot when it gets hot, which makes for more cracks. wouldn't you want to mount it from the top with a hiem joint or 2. so it can twist and still be supported. I am not an expert but there is right way and a wrong way to brace things, correct.

 

trust me man, your not hurting our sales at all. back at u

 

Booo..bring back Michael Meyers.

Sonny

 

hahaha, you guys wont stop harassing me about that huh. i gotta spice it up sometimes and change that thing every once and a while. maybe next week ill go back to it. =P