Don't ask me. It was fine when I took it to the body shop. And this is how I got it back. So I have a substantial exhaust leak out of the bottom of the manifold. :(

Anyone have a spare Star manifold that they could stand to part with?

i looked at those pictures over and over, and i cant see anything?....what are we looking for

Look at the manifold bolts. They are all cracked. The manifold itself cracked and shifted down a little. See it?

shit, now i see it....damn!, good thing it didnt fall off.... will they warranty that?...that sucks.....you might be able to get that welded for cheaper than buying a new one, maybe:shrug
doug

I bet the body shop guys were having a little fun with your car man! :nono

edit:
funny story about that. I took my car to an exaust place that people told me would not make me install a cat in my custom exaust system as long as its a cash under the table deal. Well I build a gps tracking device that would display my cars location on a map on my computer at home when it was turned on. They say they need the car over night so I left it there. I'm sitting at home and notice my car is going for a little joy ride so I quickly grab my friends car and a digital camera and drive out the to catch the guy. Next day I show the pics to the guy at the counter to bribe him for a discount }(. He gave me a few bucks off and fired the guy right in front of me, It was funny as hell. Then I showed him how my gps tracker worked. This is off topic i know, but the moral of the story is these things do happen.

Hmmm That sucks. Do you have a downpipe bracket on your downpipe? The weight can sometimes cause additional stres on the exhaust side of the turbo and exhaust mani.... I personall yneed to put my bracket back on....I havn't had it on forever and I know that is something that could possibly happen.

p.s. The vinyl is coming off of your valve cover too. :-D just messin

Oh shit. That's some bad shit. Do you have a flex pipe? If not, maybe that's the reason why it cracked. Theres some people in the board that have been complaining about their star manifold cracking because the downpipe that came wit the kit did not have a flex pipe. I hope you get that fix man and also you should tell the shop that it wasnt like that when you first brought the car.

My star kit didnt come with a flew pipe. I had to have one made :(
Sorry Brynden




Member # 333

i need a flew pipe ;)
no seriusly that sux B. let us know how it all works out. finding a star manifold might not be easy.

Is that a cast manifold? Kind of looks like it. Could have happend because of too little support, or just weakening of the metal due to overheating, or just running to hot..just a shot in the dark there...Also, from the pics, looks like your coolant line there is leaking a little bit onto the mani?? hard to tell..hehe yeah at first i saw the M part way off on the valve cover...BTW, really diggin the new look man!

that's strange...what does the flex part have to do with it? i think that it must've been all the vibrations 'caused by loose bolts on the bottom or top of the manifold or could've been the order the bolts were screwed in and having a leak for awhile. OR the body shop people were jealous and chipped away those areas. that's just my guess. but if i were you just buy a new one, and get ones that are like they make in TTI racing if there still in business.

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that's strange...what does the flex part have to do with it? i think that it must've been all the vibrations 'caused by loose bolts on the bottom or top of the manifold or could've been the order the bolts were screwed in and having a leak for awhile. OR the body shop people were jealous and chipped away those areas. that's just my guess. but if i were you just buy a new one, and get ones that are like they make in TTI racing if there still in business.

without a flex section in the downpipe... the weight combined with the shaking, of the downpipe/exhaust causes alot of stress on the mani... i wouldnt recommend welding the manifold either... ive heard bad things from people trying to reweld their manis, it just wont hold up to heat and stress. on a side note Brynden, you might want to make some support braces for the manifold/turbo/downpipe when you get your new setup going.. just for state-of-mind. good luck to you man

and for etx :thumbsup :thumbsup .. that was a funny ass story.. glad to see that you caught that asshole taking your car for a joyride.

Fuck that Brynden. I think I'd shit a golden brick if I got my car back with a CRACKED MANIFOLD! Seriously, they can take it out for a joy ride and all...but they gotta pay for the damages. You need to damage some of thier siht. Just egg thier delivery truck or something. j/k :+

Seriously though - just tell them they need to buy a new manifold. It doesn't matter if they pushed it or not - they broke it. Their fault. It should only be around $300 for them anyways. Chump change compared to a lawsuit.


95 Eclipse RS : 5 speed
15.901 @ 88.34mph
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the star manifold though is 400 bucks and is prone to cracking, its cast, it happens..i have the same problem..i studded my head and when i was tightening down the mani after this last rebuild the bottom two corners cracked off..so that equals big boost leaks..coudl i get ahold of wyatt to get another, Nope

This may be a dumb question but how do you have a major exhaust leak out of the bottom if the TOP mounting locations have a crack in them? Shouldn't you have leaks from the top.

When you modify the downpipe for a turbo kit you lose the original support bracket for the DP. I know the HRC instructions fail to mention that, I'm not sure about the star. But when this happens, as mentioned above, it puts alot of stress on the exhuast manifold. Soon after adding my turbo kit I took it to a welding shop and had them weld a bracket from the side of the DP to the frame itself. Doesn't move now at all. Now when you do that, you have to make sure you have a flex section in your exhuast, or the first time you start your engine the movement of the engine alone will snap everything. IMO having a custom exhuast without a flex section is foolish.

If this is confusing to anyone, take a look at a stock car. There is support bracket from the DP to the transmission, it doesn't look like much, but it's exhuast mani's best friend.

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When you modify the downpipe for a turbo kit you lose the original support bracket for the DP. I know the HRC instructions fail to mention that, I'm not sure about the star. But when this happens, as mentioned above, it puts alot of stress on the exhuast manifold. Soon after adding my turbo kit I took it to a welding shop and had them weld a bracket from the side of the DP to the frame itself. Doesn't move now at all. Now when you do that, you have to make sure you have a flex section in your exhuast, or the first time you start your engine the movement of the engine alone will snap everything. IMO having a custom exhuast without a flex section is foolish.If this is confusing to anyone, take a look at a stock car. There is support bracket from the DP to the transmission, it doesn't look like much, but it's exhuast mani's best friend.

i dunno how you cut your dp, but w/ the hrc kit you don't cut off the brackets. i still have my support brackets on.

Well, the bracket wouldn't like up with the 2.4 anyway, even if it was all set up for the 2.0. The best way to brace a turbo/manifold is to use one of the clocking bolts, and run a piece of angle to the block, rather then welding a bracket to the manifold. When the manifold heats up, it expands, which results in a broken bracket.

-=B-=

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Well, the bracket wouldn't like up with the 2.4 anyway, even if it was all set up for the 2.0. The best way to brace a turbo/manifold is to use one of the clocking bolts, and run a piece of angle to the block, rather then welding a bracket to the manifold. When the manifold heats up, it expands, which results in a broken bracket.-=B-=

heh.. thank god we have that "swiss cheese" design in our block.. right bill? :P

>>i dunno how you cut your dp, but w/ the hrc kit you don't cut off the brackets. i still have my support brackets on.<<

well.. i have a custom downpipe/exhaust setup.. and when it was made, i have brackets setup for the downpipe and exhaust.. thats not the problem for me... my flex section should have been longer but that was my fault for not noticing it when it was done... i was speaking of brackets/braces for manifold itself, not the downpipe. the manifold (esp the NER manifold that i was using) was setup in a way that the only thing that was supporting the turbo was the manifold.. and most of the weight of the dumptube and part of the weight of the downpipe was straining it too... add heat and my manifold goes byebye.

I am having my new star manifold cryotreated before it get ceramic coated. This should prevent any future cracking. If you guys decide to do this, port it and drill/weld the egt bung before you cryo it. Otherwise you will be going through a couple drill bits trying to get through the cast iron.

Having a solid front motor mount and a good flex section helps quite a bit. Not as much stress is put on the manifold itself. Having a couple hangers welded to the downpipe for support is also a good idea. I learned the hard way also. I kept popping heads off my stainless exhaust manifold bolts.

I have an extra star manifold, but it is promised to someone. If he backs out, I will make you a super deal.

HEY B WHATEVER YOU DO GO AHEAD AND GET A SET OF ARP EXHAUST MANIFOLD STUDS. I ACTUALLY BOUGHT A SET FOR THE LSI (CHEBBY) IT GIVES YOU 4 MORE STUDS BUT THEY ARE IN STOCK MORE THAN THE NEON STUD KIT. AS FAR AS THE MANIFOLD I WOULDNT RECOMMEND WELDING. AND AS SOMEONE SAID EARLIER I WOULD STIFFEN THE MOTOR UP WITH SOLID MOTOR MOUNTS IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY. LATE MIKE

Thanks for the suggestions guys. ARD is driving out to Austin to pick up my car this Friday and fix it for me. I do not know if they have found an exhaust mani or not. They did mention coating the manifold so that it would not crack anymore. I would do it myself but extracting the head bolts could be a bitch and if anyone breaks one off, I want it to be the people that can pull the head.

Thura, the manifold looks like it has tilted down and the exhaust is leaking out the bottom. Don't ask me how, it just is.

well after all these suggestions, i went ahead today and had someone weld a flex pipe for me. i noticed a difference when i shift. it doesn't jerk the engine as much as it used to. sorry for what happen to you Brynden but atleast you probably help me avoid something that would've caused damage to my manifold. theres always something to learn everyday. :thumbsup

2.6 liters! wow! maybe you just got toooo much torque. hehe. bryden, did you dyno your car yet?

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HEY B WHATEVER YOU DO GO AHEAD AND GET A SET OF ARP EXHAUST MANIFOLD STUDS. I ACTUALLY BOUGHT A SET FOR THE LSI (CHEBBY) IT GIVES YOU 4 MORE STUDS BUT THEY ARE IN STOCK MORE THAN THE NEON STUD KIT. AS FAR AS THE MANIFOLD I WOULDNT RECOMMEND WELDING. AND AS SOMEONE SAID EARLIER I WOULD STIFFEN THE MOTOR UP WITH SOLID MOTOR MOUNTS IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY. LATE MIKE

RPM97TALON,

Do you have the p/n for the kit from ARP you mentioned? I need to replace all my bolts and looking for people who have accomplished this already for a little direction... Thanks in advance...

DoN
'99 Eclipse GS Sports Edition
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you just mentioned how the solid front motor mount helps "a bit." what about the full polyurethane kit? wouldn't that, in effect, eliminate any possibility of the engine moving at all - in turn leading to no chance of cracked manifolds b/c of lack of a flex section?

just asking, because i just got the full motor mount kit installed (have yet to drive the car), but that engine doesn't move at all anymore. entire car shakes, but the engine isn't going anywhere!