Why shouldn't I buy an Ebay manifold?
 

This is why. Behold this wonder of engineering. The red indicates where it fails to even mate up to my block.



"This Manifold has been ported and polished for the best possible flow!!!"

:fawk::jerkit:


https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/mem...ums/73/268.jpg
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/mem...ums/73/269.jpg
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/mem...ums/73/270.jpg
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/mem...ums/73/271.jpg
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/mem...ums/73/272.jpg

should have gone with the cast ebay mani.

fucking sticky this thread.

bugger me they are cheap and nasty, never had the chance to see one up close, now i have i will be staying away from them lol

Dr.

I don't get what the big deal is... okay, it's off by a bit, you have to enlarger the bolt holes. The gasket is still going to seal, use a washer if you're nervous.

I have the same mani and it didn't need anything done to it and sealed fine.

PS: What's to port? It's stainless tubing.

I think you had your expectations set a little too high for the price you were shelling out.

looks like they had to grind the bird poop welds holding it together....

It doesn't look that bad to me. It's funny-my DIY mani's welds and grinding on the inside didn't look any better and I got props for a good DIY mani.:giggle: Open the holes, slap it on and go. Reweld it if it cracks.

That's cause yours probably won't fail in the next 15 minutes.

The truth is that they had to grind to hide all the sugar. It's obvious by the color inside the manifold that it wasn't backpurged at all when welding. And it's more obvious if you look at the poor grindin of the inside of the turbo flange.

you think that Chinaman building a cheap manifold that costs $30 is going to bother back purging his welds :P

Yours is made of .090" stainless. Ebay mani is made of .009" stainless. Slight difference. :bowrofl:

Manifold could be perfect, are you sure you don't have an Ebay engine?

For what you pay for them, you kind off have to expect it. Enlarge the holes and press on. If you want quality, buy from FM or Begi and spend the extra coin.

In order to save a dollar -
Be prepared to spend Three. ;)

i dont mind mine it has served me well fwiw. It is definatly not for the faint of heart though.

That's pretty much the plan.Hey I think some of you guys have the wrong idea.. I knew what I was getting myself into when I bought this; I did this to myself. :bang: Although to be honest, even though I knew what to expect, the horrible reality stunned me. have you seen that restriction in pic 2?!?

I just wanted to warn anyone who might not have done the research what to expect. this is NOT a quality manifold. Anyone looking to find out more before purchasing one of these should also note that being cheap thin stainless, it will crack, spilling your precious boost on the ground.

I only did this because it is the only manifold I've seen for sale in my country in a year, and my country is on a remote island. Getting a FM manifold here would cost me US$395 + US$200 shipping, so thats about NZ$1200. This POS alone cost me NZ$350 (US$175) from some guy who bulk imported them.

In conclusion, folks, even if you're on the tightest budget, get a decent manifold. A cracked cheap manifold will let down your whole cheap turbo setep.

lol But it's got teh SHINEYZ!1!

Since I've got a lot of cheap friends I get a chance to see a lot of different ebay manifolds and downpipes.
From what I can tell overall quality seems to vary from which starving 9 year old welded which part.

I've seen one manifold that blocked half an exhaust port and an o2 housing that was so badly warped you could see it from 5 feet away. But I've also seen manifolds that are still going strong after 3+ years of abuse.
It's a crap shoot, I've gotten lucky with the header I bought off ebay.
I've also learned that it's just so much easier to buy a proven part, and not have to deal with the hassle of tweaking stuff to "kinda sorta" get it to fit.

Or, you could have bought the AVO manifold from Oz. I know your countrymen hate the aussies with a passion, but its bar none the best cast manifold out there.

I must have gotten lucky too. I've got about 5k on mine now w/o issue. Bought it new from an individual for $60. All flanges were flat too.

i bought a megan racing manifold and turbo outlet for my SR20 back in high school.. i had to drill out the holes for the manifold but other than that i cant complain. The elbow got a crack in it after a while, but my exhaust was only on half the hangers with no flex section :) .

Megan isnt much higher quality than this ebay stuff...i guess its luck of the draw, and IMO not really worth it for the miata. There is enough used stuff out there that isnt over priced by fan boy wanna be drifters.