New Exhaust manifold - bad fit

[Holeshot]

Another in my catalogue of woes- sorry.

I’m replacing my RH rear exhaust manifold as part of it has cracked and a chunk has come away.
Anyway, I bought a new replacement from SNGB and fitted it today, only to find it doesn’t align with the front one where they link to the down pipe. What’s more, if I try to fit the down pipe to them (difficult and squint) it throws the down pipe out of line and about 1/4” from the picture frame rail. Doesn’t align with the front exhaust system either. So altogether pretty rubbish.

So my questions before I send it back are:
1 - Has anyone experienced the same problem.
2 - if you have, was there a fix to align them properly?
Maybe I’m missing something obvious.

Anyway, here’s a pic:



Cheers, Hilton

[42south]

Hi Hilton
I had a similar experience with fitting two new manifolds to my car.
Firstly get the pair milled flat as a pair. When fitting leave the manifold slightly loose then fit the lower down pipe and then tighten up the manifolds.
Next check that with the studs in the block that there is enough stud protruding through the casting to get the locking nut on. I had to get the area around the studs taken back to allow enough room for the nut to fit on. They are thicker than the originals, the milling shows up in the photo.

[Holeshot]

Thanks Mark.
I see exactly what you mean.
I did manage to get the suds through with enough thread for the nuts.
I haven’t got the facility to mill them unfortunately and don’t want to have to remove the other manifold to get it paired. Though I suppose I can judge how much the new one needs milling against where it came relative to its partner.
I just wouldn’t have thought it too much to ask for £200 to get a part that doesn’t need modifying.
Is there another supplier you know of that provides accurate replacements?
Thanks again,
Hilton.

[42south]

Hi Hilton
Those older manifolds do break the ears, where the studs go through. I’ve had two go, and they are a pain in the arse to change in situ, as you are finding out.
I think This is why the newer ones are thicker.
I bit the bullet and changed out both on the same side for new ones which made the fitting easier.
The other issue is the quality of the manifold gaskets currently available. The ones in the kits are poor in my opinion, due to lack of a decent reinforced metal ring on the inner hole, where the hot gas comes out. I had two of these fail over a couple of years.
Good ones are available but they are a lot dearer, and you have to be very specific when ordering. The good and bad are often sold under the same part number.
If yours don’t have it and you want to use them , use a good gasket goo for reinforcing.
This link to terry’s shows a reinforced one. If you look at the cheap one shown lower down the page you can see it has no reinforcing.
https://www.terrysjag.com/product/EBC10199.html


Cheers
Mark

[Holeshot]

Good advice Mark, thanks.
I’ve checked the ones I’ve got and they look like the premium one you’re talking about.
Let’s hope I can find a manifold that’s fit for purpose, then I can get them fitted on the engine.
Cheers, Hilton

[Holeshot]

I’m having a job sourcing a non-SNGB manifold. The last 2 places I’ve tried have both sent me SNGB ones. Neither are better than the one I’ve posted a picture of.
My conclusion is that their casting is not as per the original and needs modification.
In the meantime SNGB have taken their one back along with my original one to compare. I await their thoughts.

So does anyone know where I can find a place that sells non SNGB ones??
I’m starting to get desperate!!

Also - as an alternative - can anyone recommend a good machining shop in SE London (or anywhere actually!) that could machine the port face to the correct angle?

Thanks, Hilton

[Holeshot]

A note to anyone considering buying a manifold from SNGB..........

They don't fit!

I sent mine back to them along with the original for their technical dept to compare and they agree that they have been machined at a significantly different angle. If bought as a pair then they will align together, but that will bring the downpipe a good 1/2 inch nearer your picture frame which doesn't have a lot of room to start with and will possibly knock when car/engine is running.
They checked and found that they have sold 140 of these but strangely have had no come-backs. Maybe a faulty batch, but I've bought other ones of theirs from other suppliers over the last couple of weeks in a vain attempt to find a good one, and all are the same.

I've arranged for mine to be machined to match my original, but can't help feeling a bit p'eed off that I have to pay for this on top of a new part.
Oh well, at this point, I just want to have done and fit it all back together and drive the car .......

Cheers, Hilton.

[panamacarrera]

Hi Guys

I'm resurrecting this post because I have the same problem except my two 'new' manifolds were from a set off a second hand engine, I'm not sure where they came from originally.

Has anyone successfully machined the top flanges to get the bottom of the manifolds to line up? If yes, who did you get to do the work? I figure its best to send mine to someone who's successfully done the job before.

It's looking like I'm going to have to pull the engine again to fix this, not happy...

Cheers!

Nigel

In both photos the front of the car is toward the top of the picture.

First photo, A-bank (Right side of car); second photo, B-bank (Left side of car)

[MarekH]

The difference in the castings was covered in 2011 and again in 2015.

You only need to remove the topside components of the engine to get access to remove the manifolds. Just undo the short stubby water hoses and pull the carbs and water jackets off as a single unit.

There is one "long" and one "short" manifold per side, so if you can arrange to have two thin ones on one side and two fat ones on the other, then you probably don't need to go and get anything machined. As the ends are at roughly the same height as the engine mounts, if they aren't currently fouling the engine frames, then I don't see that they will once the engine is running. It is the topside which moves the most as that is furthest from the pivot point.

kind regards
Marek

[angelw]

Hello Marek,
I don't think he will be able to arrange the two thick and two thin on each respective side of the engine, judging from the pictures. A Rear Left Manifold becomes a Front Right when swapped from one side to the other and visa versa. The pictures seem to indicate that Left Front /Right Rear and Left Rear/Right Front are the matching pairs.

Hello Nigel,
As Marek suggests, you can remove the Exhaust Headers without removing the engine, but its common to have to remove the rear most exhaust studs, if not all studs, from the head for the Rear Manifolds, for often the Rear Manifolds will interfere with the forward area of the transmission tunnel when trying to withdraw the header out far enough to clear the studs.

Regards,

Bill

[panamacarrera]

Thanks for the advice, Bill.

Your comment has had me looking at my photos and moving my upturned hands into some quite twisted and distorted positions! The result of all this mental and physical excursion is I think I can switch the manifolds so I have a correct pair on one side and a 'wide' pair on the other. However, this will still leave me with a wider gap between the downstream front pipe outlets than the exhausts.

In the meantime, I'll search for the threads that Marek referred to.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks again to all.

Nigel

[panamacarrera]

For the ease of all, here is a link to the post MarekH refers to in his last post...

http://forum.etypeuk.com/viewtopic.php? ... t=manifold