That crack may have been exacerbated by vibrations, but it sure as hell looks like an incomplete weld to me.

 

Stephanies SOP:

 

This is from an angle that is different than the others. Let me know if there is a specific area or angle you want to see.

 

The only way that might define if the hole is a welding issue is if the manifold had a leak from day one. If it was okay, but later leaked, chances are that is a hold from the welds cracking. If you had a vacuum leak from day 1, that might be a different story. That might be hard to determine since you pick up the manifold used. We'd be happy to fix it if you can't find someone local to repair it. Make sure they get the area for the injector seal flat or you will have another leak. Just give me a call.
Stephanie

 

I would not powder coat it as that's going to make rewelding cracks in the future a huge pain.

 

I took it to a local welding shop today and was told the original weld was too hot and undercut. The welder did not want to touch the intake. I will contact you soon regarding the intake.

 

Try a different welding shop. I can't say if there are or are not bad welds there, as I am horrible at welding aluminum. But I have had several different welding shops tell me stupid things like that just because they did not want to do the work.

 

Sounds like a welder who is not up to the task and trying to blame someone else. Find a new welding shop or give me a call.
Stephanie

 

They either stopped that weld short to not get into the injector recess, or machined too much away when they machined the injector recess. It was likely either never sealed after machining, or was so thin it never stood a chance. It's going to be a bit of a PITA to fix properly, and will likely involve hogging out a good bit with a burr bit and having to grind the port interior when its done, in addition to re-machining that pocket. That porosity pinhole didn't help, but wasn't the cause of the failure, and weld quality likely was not, either.

 

Thank you for never calling me back! I found someone locally to weld it for a quarter of the cost you told me!

 

How is BEGi still around?

 

Good question! I swear the customer service all depends on the day you catch them on. Corky has rewelded my intake manifold twice for the cost of shipping. They did try to claim the cracks were due to my AWR motor mounts. At the end of the day they fixed it though. For the money I would never recommend anyone buy this manifold. Too high of a chance you end up with a $800 paper weight. It does function pretty well when it isn't cracked though!

 

I was told 2 hours of labor at $95 and hour to repair the intake. Stephanie and I talked about updating the intake to their latest revision with injector bosses instead of holes drilled into the flange. She was going to check with Corky and call me back, that call never came.

 

Any intake without a brace is asking for trouble. I've seen this issue many times, the intake brace is there for a reason. These engines have a high NVH (noise/vibration/harshness) and will only get worse if you use racing engine mounts.

 

I think this is a really relevant point. If I was to ever make an aluminum intake I would not offer any sort of warranty on it. I don't honestly believe you can make a welded aluminum one that is long term track reliable on a miata motor. Eventually the NVH will cause it to crack. Bracing it should help, but I am not sure if it would still make it something that would never crack. Also the fact that you can make 400+whp on a stock manifold makes going to an aftermarket one sort of moot in my book. You will be breaking other things before you really "need" an aftermarket IM.

 

I am sorry, but I cannot make Corky call you back. I give him messages, I remind him to return calls. If he won't give me back the information plus the information I need to help, I can't call either. I am sorry my efforts were of no help.
Stephanie

 

Aren't you the one who handles most of the communication?
I'm afraid we need proof of life for Corky.
Please post a picture with him holding a dated receipt for a bottle of cuervo.

 

Be careful! You may receive an infraction for BASHING a vendor on this forum if you continue to pursue the unprofessional business practice of BEGi or their subsidiary companies. It happened to me after I received the world's crappiest intake manifold and demanded everyone know about it. They can't handle the truth!!

 

I got that PM infraction too, but it was for a different vendor, and in a different forum. Out here, even the mods DEMAND that BEGi steps up their game, so you should be fine.

 

From what I have seen, some MODS choose to back the failures of said company.. through issuing out counter complaint posts and these PM infractions on Miataturbo in attempt to discourage voicing members discontent of purchased products from said company. And still there is no improvement of said company's GAME. Same as it ever was...