second problem with etd manifold
 

Just wondering if anyone else ran into this problem. the middle bolt on the bottom row that bolt up the turbo manifold to the engine is a tight ass fit. meaning that i can't get a wrench or a socket in there....no way possible. I even have to chop off the end of that stud just so the manifold can be pushed back all the way. anyone else with this problem? or am i the lucky guy. also, what do y'all advise? tighten the rest to torque spec and tighten the middle as much as i can?

I got the exact same problem. I can't fit a wrench in the to tighten the nut on, I can't even get my fingers there to hand tighten it.

Remove the stud and replace it with an allen head bolt. This was required on a FM/BEGI manifold as well. The short lived FM3.

You owe me a coke. :)

brilliant!! now i need to find a grade 10, m10 x 1.5 allen bolt.........the hunt is on!!

grade 12.9...Ace Hardware

.......i guess before i storm out of work for a bolt, where did you get yours?

edit: the guy above me beat me to the reply. thanks!!

ace hardware doesn't stock allen bolts m10 x 1.25, any other suggestions for local pickup?

mine does!

https://www.miataturbo.net/braineack...ld/cracked.jpg

see top left & right...ignore crack...

You must have an industrial nut and bolt supply type of place near by don't you? Check yellow pages under fastners.

tried grainger and fasten-all. i'll check for more. i got a response from etd.
"The large tube are like that, there just isn't anything we can do with the size of the flange on the 1.6L. Just reef it down as best you can it shouldn't leak, we have had hundreds like that go out with no problem. The manifold bolts only need about 15 ft/lbs total to seel so that just arm tight. If you have about that much on it, it will be ok. The good news is that it's in the middle of the manifold and the rest of the bolts around it also help hold it all down. If you have any type of pressure on it at all it will be fine. The only other way to do it is to use smaller tubing which would seriously inhibit the flow of the manifold so this small trade off makes a better flowing manifold. Unfortunately Greddy didn't leave us much to work with if you know what I mean."

"design for manufacturability" and "design for assembly" are two phrases I hear all the time at work (machine shop) and unfortunetly is all too often not considered. I have a nut like that on my 2.5" dp, I just left it off. don't want that with the manifold though, you'll just loose boost.

Get the bolt. I wouldn't take the chance. The loose, in comparison to the others, could cause that manifold to crack.

What was the first problem you had?

when i got the manifold it had a hole in the welding so i had to get it patched up, which wasn't too big of a problem. it sucked because it took 6 weeks to get. so its kinda been one thing after another. but hopefully everything else goes smooth.

does anyone know the real torque spec for the manifold to block bolts?

28-34 ft lbs(really)


Or, you could tighten one until it breaks, then back off a little on the others and replace the broken one:gay:

I ground the edges off an open ended 14mm to gain the clearance to install the ETD manifold. that allowed me to fit it.

I had a FM3 (and have installed FM2's) and that center nut can be a bear. What I do is tighten the nut with my fingers as much as possible at first. I found a trick that if you carefully fish a boxed in wrench, it will just barely slip over the nut. You can get a little turn from accessing from the top, then a little more from the bottom. Alternate from the top to bottom. Yes, it's a pain but it works.

if u were in west coast, autozone has all of that u just have to be pushy about it... employees (i work there weekends) dont like to have to go through the troubles of going through shelves and shelves of bolts//nuts//studs etc... i like to tell the customers it doesnt exist...

www.mcmaster.com have lots of 12.9 grade metric fasteners