Pics of my cracked SPS mani after 3 months....

[59bhp]

until people are willing to a) maintain there cars to a really high standard and b) willing to pay for parts that wont fail, this will keep happening.

I did my dissertation on this subject and through various reasearch methods have found that no-one has produced an exhaust manifold that has a 100% success rate with regard to reliability and quality.

I also found that some were using methods that would make even the most simple of engineers cringe (anyone with half an idea about welding/metallurgy will tell you that the million pound SARD manifolds are laughable)

when i get some cash im going to make an extremely expensive manifold just to show that one can be made that wont fail, but the price will mean that mass or even batch production is out of the question.

 

[jabran200]

until people are willing to a) maintain there cars to a really high standard and b) willing to pay for parts that wont fail, this will keep happening.

I did my dissertation on this subject and through various reasearch methods have found that no-one has produced an exhaust manifold that has a 100% success rate with regard to reliability and quality.

I also found that some were using methods that would make even the most simple of engineers cringe (anyone with half an idea about welding/metallurgy will tell you that the million pound SARD manifolds are laughable)

when i get some cash im going to make an extremely expensive manifold just to show that one can be made that wont fail, but the price will mean that mass or even batch production is out of the question.

Thats quiet interesting actually. Would it be possible for me to get a read or something, fair enough if you can't.

I've seen a few sch-10/40 manifolds made from 45 degree bends (no 90's) last to date over 5 years and have no issues. There are cars I read in mags and stuff go over 10 years with manis from a similar material from the mid 90's.

I suppose some of the olders would have been broken or crashed so you wouldn't hear of them.

 

[riko666]

Ditto babe - never looked into the metallurgy or the welding practices used on the manifold, but from just observing some manifold around its easy to decipher the cause for fail

 

[easty-5]

My SPS manifold cracked too -

Now to be perfectly honest it probably cracked because the brace on my decat wasn't attached to anything. Dane's customer service was top notch and he offered to have it repaired for me or have a large chunk off one of his hybrid manifolds. You can't ask for much more than that. Absolute top notch trader he was.

On the other side of the coin, I bought a Zisco manifold. Although it looked awesome there was a bit of splatter on some of the runners from the welds. Not as neat as other Zisco Mani's I have seen, no big deal though. I fitted the manifold and the second runner fouled the IC hot pipe, it fouled it so much I had to grind away a reasonable amount on the pipe flange. It also pushed the pipework into the rad. It was a very VERY tight fit.

Regardless how good a product 'usually' is, there are always going to be a few which are below the norm quality. It's basic statistics. The more that are produced and sold, the more chance there is that a few are defective. That's the joys of buying handmade items.

 

[Fatman]

Sorry Fatboy, it wasn't just the welded area it was the whole manifold. Manifold's are design to get very hot and not get brittle, moisture on the brain I think.

I'm afraid you can't just 'design' away basic metallurgical principles.

Below are pictures of my manifold removed after 6 months on the car, its condition was pretty much the same as the first post here.

Was yours heat wrapped as well?

 

[Sheldon]

that looks pitted too! was it heatwraped?

 

[jabran200]

are the welds ground down on these manifolds? looks like it.

 

[ChrisGT]

are the welds ground down on these manifolds? looks like it.

They were in his first batch for some reason, Dane stopped doing that for the second lot though...good way to weaken them! lol

 

[Sheldon]

They were in his first batch for some reason, Dane stopped doing that for the second lot though...good way to weaken them! lol

and probably thats why he didnt do them like that anymore...

 

[Gryzor]

Was yours heat wrapped as well?

that looks pitted too! was it heatwraped?

yep

 

[Gryzor]

I'm afraid you can't just 'design' away basic metallurgical principles.

by design your are going to pick a metal with suitable dynamic properties to withstand the temperatures of a given application, in other words your not going to design a chocolate teapot .

 

[Toyota T23]

:drive: good thing i made my own mild steel manifold, i can se.
Been running for 36000km, it still look perfect, and i didnt brace it.

 

[Toyota T23]

Ok let me qualify all of this... This according to Dane is the old style manifold - he doesn't sell these any more. If buying used make sure you buy the new one...

Ok so early this year i bought the SPS race coated and heat wrapped mani off a tgtt member who had never fitted along with a HKS actuator never fit.. All was well. Around june i got it put on my car...

After mapping a piece from inside the mani broke off went into my turbo... stopped the turbo working. Thankfully my mechanic found the piece and took it out... Turbo still worked Dane gave me £20 and asked me not to create a fuss as it was his old style mani's= fair play- (please remember I didn't buy from him- however the product was new when i fit it...)

About 1.5 months later the manifold cracked in the centre so I took it to my mechanic who had it welded up... (I thought was very premature for a crack) Dane gave me £20 again and said that he wouldnt give me anything else...

I kept quiet and knew that it was quite good of him considering I didn't buy from him- although it was a brand new product of his...

So about 1.5 months later - whilst I was in Scotland. My engine's making a weird sound... Im thinking oh no! Took to tuning developments (great service!) and they looked over my engine and did compression test all was Aok. They unwrapped the mani and that was my problem... loads cracks! Big ones...

This had been on my car about 3 months... I don't race don't drag etc and I was running standard CT9 at 1bar. I don't drive like I stole it...

Anyway I think it should have lasted longer and had it lasted a little longer I wouldn't have made this thread and would have kept quiet as dane requested- but I think its sufficient to warn against the old style SPS mani's...

Dane has been quite good in fairness... I don't want to put people off him but just thought it would be interesting for people to see and make sure you buy the NEW style mani. As for me I will use WEPR next time not SPS - but nothing personal.

Pictures of mani after 3 months fitted...

Are you running stock ECU, if not, then problem could also be konservative ignition, that would give you very high EGT readings, and could melt your manifold

 

[gorganl2000]

well...we have a car here running one of dane's 1st ct9 MS manifolds....and unpainted...just plain old MS

no problems at all........it has served it purpose completely....in the service department, SPS is a top guy

here we also make MS manifolds--i've seen 2 ct9 cutoms ones made locally from "steam pipe bends" from the local hardware---cheap material........and both are still in existence...mine is now over 4 years old and the other one is even much older...lol......and both still going strong:rockon:

sad truth is, some products will fail....its a lot to do with the materials used, the fabricator's welding ability, design and even how the car is treated/abused can contribute

long life manifolds dont usually come cheap

 

[Kenn Mceachren]

I used steam pipe bends also, they were 1,5 pounds each.
Been running it for 3 years too, still working fine.

 

[Dub-Se7en]

think i have an old speedvision steam pipe one, no fucking chance of that cracking, lol. never used it cos i bought a JAM one.

my Zisco one has been on the car since may, apart from the paint coming off (expected) it's perfect

 

[Spanner87]

if i was dane i would just put it down to development,it takes a lot of knowledge and skill to produce items like these,if they crack its just a stepping stone to improvement.as with motorcycle tuning,race parts on a everyday road use setup are always going to show weak points under stressed conditions.

i used to manufacture 4-1 systems for use in drag racing and people were fitting them on road going bikes and moaned when they cracked.
"for race use only" they were designed to be used 1/4 mile at a time and people were trying to use them every day

i would be fairly interested in seeing a stock ported mani tho!

 

[Fatman]

It would seem to me the lesson from this thread isn't that sps manifolds are rubbish but that heat wrap causes catastrophic failures quite quickly.

 

[Jay]

It would seem to me the lesson from this thread isn't that sps manifolds are rubbish but that heat wrap causes catastrophic failures quite quickly.

I would still regard the stainless one I posted as rubbish though.

Little more than an expensive doorstop.

 

[Beaker]

I have a toytuning mild steel manifold on my car. What ever bad things are said about toytuning, I have never heard of one of there manifolds cracking (correct me if I am wrong). Also the good old roadrunner manis were pretty much the same and I dont think many people had problems with them.