ok ever since I've installed the turbo I know I've had an exhuast leak on the manifold. Theres this big burned spot in between the 2nd and 3rd cylinders. I was always lazy to take the manifold out and replace the gasket and my downpipe is welded to my exhuast. My dad was all that leak is bad it might burn the valves or something because of blow by. Got my thinking, I got somethign going on with the valves and my compression is low in the 2nd cylinder. All the problems center around the 2nd and 3rd cylinder. So what do you guys think? Could this be my problem? Haha it's probably too late now I think the damage is done buy its probably cuz of this exhuast leak. I figure I'll get a flange and gasket for my exhuast and get that flex section installed finally. Then I'll take the manifold and stuff off and change the manifold and have the dump pipe welded to the downpipe. NO more exhuast leaks no more smelly hill climbs hehe..




Hmm I was thumbing through the chiltons and it said incorrect timing or valve timing could cause faulty high speed operations. Is there anyway to check if the timing is proper on our car? LIke looking at something on the cam gears?

I'll give the SB Chevy answer. Exhaust leaks are bad for performance period. As for valve damage, when you shut your engine down it's probably at 800-850 degrees or so. The colder air can get in there and cool the valves down too quickly and crack/warp valves. This is pretty unlikely in your case because the leak is small. Mostly this applies to open header cars. Have you gone back to the dyno yet? Maybe your car doesn't like that dyno =)

regarding the timing thing, you can check it by rotating the cam gears and noting that the notches line up. there are a set of notches on the outer ring of the cam gears that you can see with the access cover removed. just crank your car little by little and see if these notches line up. they should. there is also an arrow on your crankshaft timing belt pulley that lines up with an arrow on the oil pump, but that is a little harder to see. but check that the cam gear notches line up.
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james

Do you have the factory MLS gasket on the car? or a knock off like a felpro from napa? cause the knock off gaskets suck, unless its the tti racing one, thats a pretty nice one, but i'd rather just get a mls oem replacement.... check your manifold, it could be warped as well, if it is, just have a machine shop mill it a wee bit to clean it up... and check the head and make sure its up to spec.... i would also advise you to stud the exhaust manifold with 1.5'' studs, and use lock washers and double nut it if you have room.... Doing all that should help you build boost A LOT faster, but your leak is not that bad, I have had leaky probs since i have had the hrc manifold, hope it is fixed this time around....

merlin, if u want to rebuild the engine let me know and ill get psi to do it for u. they use a machine shop that has produced 10-11sec dsms and they are good and cheap

Buying a honda is wrong, trying to mod it is a sin, saying it's fast is a crime.


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97GSX ~ 18psi~ Ported/Clipped 10 degrees Frank 2 w/47trim, Ported Exh. housing, Tial 40mm External Wastegate with discharge tube, Ported O2 housing, 3" downpipe, 3" Straight Pipe, Apex N1, fake cat, K&N FIPK, Greddy IC Piping, Type S bov, S-AFC, Profec B, Greddy TT, Slimline Fan, RRE Catch Can, Greddy Big FMIC, ND 660s, Walboro 190lph, ACT 2600 w/street disk, clutch SS line, lighten flywheel, removed cruise control line, Greddy EGT, Coolant, Boost Gauges, motor mount inserts, Magnecor & plugs, greddy oil cap, greddy radiator cap, and free mods. To all the haters _|_ tia

thanx for the helpguys. Yeah I never really considered it a bad thing because the car would boost up fine. But I probably should get it straightened out. Haha I don't think I've checked under it yet who knows whats under the manifold.

Here's a wierd thing about my car. Everysince I had the turbo installed I can hear a ticking sound like valves that need adjusting, but we don't need to adjust valves so I don't know wassup with that. For a while now when I start up the car COLD it would kind of studder and and lose power when I gave it throttle. I can smell exhuast coming through the inside vents for a bit. Then after the engine is a little warmed up it drives fine. I usually side in my car for like a minute to warm it up so I prevent that loss of power or studdering.

I'm using the stock gasket. I tried tightening up the bolt in that one area and it doesn't seem to work. Hmm maybe Star screwed up my manifold :(

Thanx again for the info, heh if the engine needs a rebuild I'll hit you up Kory. That's the last thing I wanna do though....

I had an exhaust leak on the left side of my mani... just got fixed yesterday. When they took it off, the manifold was so warped they had to put it on a grinder for half an hour. :o They said the exh. gasket was fine, the bolts just stretched and came loose in spots, and allowed the mani to warp. I have the newer HRC cast manifold (not welded tubular). I've heard several people complain of cracks on HRC manifolds, so check for that when you pull it off.