I got an idea too add. Anyone ever use time-serts? We used to use them for repairing stripped sparkplug holes and other things that heli-coils were just a bad idea to use them on. Link
http://www.timesert.com/html/mtrcsert.html
My boss had a dragster, don't know what motor anymore, with a couple of these holding the sparkplugs in. Lots of compression and supercharger. Never had issues with them because they replace al the metal you stud engages on.

ARTech taco clone, Garret T3 with SVO mustang housing (EWG), braced down low to PPF. My thread stripping happen on the cast Taco - but that was using G8 hardware. TSE kit was used when Abe fabbed me up the new manifold

No hard street driving and your studs loosen??

So, what's the difference between these and Heli-Coils? They look exactly the same.

Heli coils are basically like a spring coil of wire. The time-serts are actually a collar or a ring with threads on the outside and the threads you want on the inside. It comes as a kit with drill bit, boreing bit?, tap, and insert tool. You drill the hole out that is fubar'd, used the little bore bit to make the top of the hole shaped right, then tap it with the supplied tap. The tap that come with the kit is for the outer threading on the time-sert. Then you use the little tool for inserting it into the new shiny hole, not the virgin you found down at the movie theater, and the time-sert has a locking mechanism that locks it in the hole. Voala, new threads! You can remove the time -sert with reverse drill bits or an extactor, but they usually never come out with normal use. I never seen it anyway.

Heli coils suck. They're cool for fixing holes things mount to. Like alternator bracket mounts, to radiator stuff. I've seen them mangle themselves in the hole after use, and they don't really like a lot of torque. Some love them-some hate them. They are easy to use and can usually be done on a motor in the car. I wouldn't trust them on anything but a lemons car to hold in a spark plug though. Helicoils basically use a bigger, but same thread pitch as what is in the hole already, so if it gets bound up they come out with studs/bolts. Timeserts use a differnt thread and thread pitch, and have some nasty teeth things that bind in the hole they use. Think of timeserts as a hollow stud and helicoils as a bandaid.

Cool. I've never used time-serts. Need to check them out.

Ive used Timeserts on blocks and transmission housing and they are a million times better than helicoils.
The only issue here, would the timeserts hold up to the heat from the manifold? Ive never used them on an exhaust manifold so I would be worried that the heat would kill them.

Exactly. If I were to track the car right now I'm pretty sure the turbo would fall off.

The timeserts I was looking at were carbon steel. We used them to replace exhaust manifold to head stud holes with no issues. Also if it holds up to cylinder pressures/heat replacing spark plug holes I would trust it to hold a turbo on within reason. Never tried it. I'm overly ---- retentive to over building and I'd try it, especially before buying a new mani and way way way before Helicoils.

I looked at doing timeserts when I drilled/tapped my BEGi manifold for Trackspeed studs and decided that there wasn't enough material around the holes... there are multiple versions of the BEGi and FM manifolds though so YMMV.

Bolt the downpipe to the bellhousing?

This is what I was wondering about. Anyone experience more failures without this? I dont really want to do it if it's pointless.

All you're going to get is anecdotal evidence, since no-one has done precise durability testing with or without this part. I installed the FM exhaust brace a year or two after my build. Eventually one stock stud broke and another backed out, but the exhaust noise was negligible and the brace basically kept everything together until a repair could be effected (I now use Inconel studs). I think the theory is sound and it's pretty cheap insurance at $32 or so.

I put on a different manifold, same style, and the fit between the threads/studs is way smoother/snug.

I'm confident this will work but only time and a track day will tell.

What is the difference between the tse stud kit and the fm one? Just the lock tite?

it's resbond, much stronger than any lock tite available.

TSE is 10mm, FM is only 8mm.

TSE will tell you how much faster then spec miata times the cars they tested their inconel studs one, other companies have not ever released that data.

I think that's fairly irrelevant statement that doesn't actually answer the question asked. Blindboxx, the FM kit is better than stock and is plug and play if you have 8 mm studs. You can make it even better, like I did, by buying a bottle of Resbond and using it during your installation. If you have 10 mm studs, buy the TSE kit, which comes with a small bottle of Resbond. If you have 8 mm studs and want a stronger set-up, drill and tap for 10 mm studs and get the TSE kit. If you want the most robust set-up possible, throw it all away and get a V-band system.

To summarize:
Inconel > Steel
10 mm > 8 mm
V-band > Studs of either size or type

thank you for splainin that. and curley, i know i didnt call it the right name, i just didnt want to go look it up ;)

i was actually going to buy a precision v band in/out but decided against it since it was almost another 300 bones. i ordered this guy 2 days ago. so im assuming i'll need the 10mm eithe rway, and ive come to terms with the fact that im going to be poor as ---- when im done with this motor, but i'll sure have a cool car. so i wont sweat the extra 55 bones ;)


edit:
and i had no idea that these studs make your car 'faster'... why is that?

Lol, no, they don't make you faster.

Keeping the turbo sealed to the manifold makes you faster, or at least your engine more powerful, and they obviously have a part in that.