frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

Time to bolt these puppies on, they came off an 4.8L silverado. Project turbo bird part 2 is underway

Got my Stainless works flanges..somehow didn't ship out after I ordered em, but they shipped em ASAP once I asked where they were.

Found my set of truck manifolds for $45 off the truck board. Did a lil wire brushing to clean up the rust and stuff. These things rust fast if left in a cold damp garage

Painted em with Red hi temp paint (thanks Tiago) Don't know how long it'll last but it looks good now. Mainly did it to keep them from rusting. Bout the only thing that put me off of bolting a set of truck manifolds on my engine is how rusty they get. So hopefully the paint will stay for awhile.


I'll be starting on the welding tomorrow afternoon after I pull the pham stuff off the car.














Can't wait till its all done, it'll be nice to be able to change my plugs without dropping the entire turbo kit. It'll be nice not to melt wires again and to be able to move the turbo up to provide better oil drain back. I'll have to mod my DP a lil but I had to do that when I got the first turbo "kit"
J

2000 Tran Zam

iTrader: (2)

those are looking pretty nice! why did you decide to go with those manifolds over tubular ones?

That almost looks like an orange to me too.

Red91vette

iTrader: (3)

Nice! They look good with the hi temp paint, hope it lasts! These manifolds seem like you could run a twin setup off them, similiar to incon. If you just ran a small extension to the turbo, mounted down low, I think it wouldn't be to hard to do, incon did it somehow, I wish I had the time, money, and welding skills to try it! Good luck with your set up, let us know how it works out!

frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

Thanks, a few reasons why i'm ditching the phamsped headers,
Cracking, with no real support holding this 45lb GT42 up and constant banging of the crossover on the road, it'll be sooner than later before they crack.

Melted wires due to poor header construction that puts the headers too far out. Barely any clearance on the passenger side, I had to double insulate my wires with heatshielding and they still melted.

Plug access, I can't get to my plugs without dropping the entire turbo kit off the car.
The tubular manifold flanges are too thick and too wide, they lock the socket onto the plug on a few and simply can't get to the others due to header tubes being in the way.

Plug wires, had to order MSD wires due to their very thin, multi angle plug boots.

The crossover on the passenger side was too low and smacked every bump, dip or insect on the road...got tired of that. My car isn't even lowered.

Turbo was placed to far down, negating oil drain back to the pan. On hard decel or sitting on a decline the car would smoke like a beat ford.

Reasons why I'm going with the truck manifolds,
Don't have to worry about cracking, if they do, cheap and easy to find and replace. They are very well engineered and very strong, thank the General for that.

Don't have to worry about melting wires, from all the pics i've seen these things sit away from the fenderwells, tucking away nicely. Bolt on heat shields are a bonus.

Plug access, can't beat getting to the plugs like it was a stocker, 30 minute plug changes will be the norm again.

Plug wires, Any and all work

Crossover pipe will sit above K member out of the way of bumps and insects.

I'll be able to move the turbo higher up to promote better oil drain back.

Cheap and easy to maintain, nice for a daily driver like what I use the car for and its and easy transition to these from what I already have

*Edit*, plus they will make all the power i'll ever need em too, same as the tubulars if they weren't such a pain....

I hope its red paint, atleast its what the cans said...i'm colorblind but red is my favorite color

91vette, thanks staying single to keep what I already have, a few cuts and few welds and i'll be back on the road. Just looking to replace my crossover and my tubular turbo manifolds with better pieces and retain my GT42 and WG in basically the same area.
J


*disclaimer* this post only pertains to my previous ill fitting "kit" and my "kit" only, no need to compare my "kit" to other kits out on the market please.

2000 Tran Zam

iTrader: (2)

Lol, are you serious? How would you know if its your fav color if you dont know what red rly looks like

Jammer

iTrader: (1)

Looks good, thatks for posting honest info... Next time consider Jet-Hot, its pretty cheap... not as cheap as paint tho!

Wet 1

iTrader: (4)

Greatest **** ever made! Works so well you can place your hand next to a hot manifold and not even know it's glowing hot.

http://www.swaintech.com/header.html

frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

Yes yes I know the benefits of a good quality coated header, I've had plenty of coated headers in my NA past to know the benefits of it. BUT when doing turbo set ups twice because of ill engineering money tends to be tight. I want this done as quick as I can.

I'm sure the under hood temps will be a lil lower with the thicker cast manifolds than with the SS headers they are replacing....those sucker got hot QUICK and stayed hot long after shut down.

I got a quote from HPcoating.com to see what they'd charge to coat em either in there ultra high temp black or regular high temp red. It was 199pr for the red and 249 for the pair for the extreme black.
http://www.hpcoatings.com/hipercoat_extreme.htm


So it was considered, but too much $$ for a project like this.

And 2000 Tran Zam....cuz RED is fast
J

KraZy

iTrader: (4)

Till you get burned?!??

Those manifolds look perty, good luck with it all man. I am tapping my oil pan in the morning.

frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

Thanks Krazy, its pretty fun pulling the pan off of these things even with a tubular k member....and a lil nerveracking...be sure to clean out the pan real good after drilling and tapping....then POWERWASH it clean again...just to be safe.

J

Wet 1

iTrader: (4)

That's the amazing thing about this coating, it keeps the heat in so well that you can't really feel it, until you touch it! Jet hot is just a pretty coating, this swain tech coating is not only a protective coating, but the stuf does a great job of holding the heat in. Worth every penny IMO.

Blown SS

iTrader: (13)

Good luck man , please take plenty of progress pics for us ....

frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

Not a prob, pics is what i'm known for..

NA$TY-TA

iTrader: (21)

bad *** Jer im glad your getting that .... out of there and getting something that works.......

Keep us posted.

How long ya think its going to take u to finish what ya need?? This weekend only???

Kyle

frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

Thanks, i'm glad to be finally rid of those headers. I shoulda just tackled the truck manifolds the first time hindsight is a bitch.

Ahh the ol time quote, last time I said it'll be done in a week...it bit me in the ***. So when its done its done I want to be done by sunday. I'll be tacking it up on the car, and then transfering it to my spare block/heads that are set up in the garage. Then I'll finish welding it there and transfer it back to the car. Should stay nice.
J

2002 Trans Am

Should make that a little smaller there
funny how that kit turned out to be a POS, everyone was on Pham's ******* for making such a good product last year and it turned out to be crap....sorry for your lost time and money, but i'm sure once your "done" the benefits will outweigh the costs...somewhat

btw, in case you didn't know....red manifolds add at least 6-75 hp

METAL MAN

What did you expect for a kit that cost half what it should have. I can tell you right now there's no way a tubular manifold can support 45lbs (GT42 weight) hanging off them. You have to support that weight by hard mounting the turbo then isolate the engine movement with flex joints/bellows. I'd be willing to race anyone changing the plugs in the F-body kit I made even if they have stock manifolds

SuperZ

iTrader: (2)

Awww that looks familiar for some reason except mine are black.That is going to be bad *** when it is all done.Good job those flanges look good to.

frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

2002 Trans Am, yeah it was kinda too good to be true. when I posted up any mistake I found with the kit I basically got hung on a cross and whipped by the swingers most of which didn't even have the kit. I've been posting my grumblings about this kit to this day. Oh well, no biggie.


Metal man, I got it for an intro price, all companies do that when releasing a product like this here in the FI board. I didn't think it was out of line to pay that much for an intro kit. I can tell you right now that I new the weight of the GT42 was too much to be put on the end of a 3 ft long crossover too, that the turbo was too low, that the headers were too close to the fenderwells, and that cutting up my Kmember to clear one of the headers was BS, but I couldn't tell all that stuff until I bolted it up to the car. Pretty easy to see when something isn't right after all that nonsense. Instead of messing with it or fixing it, I'm just doing what I should've done in the first place. Too bad I bought into the hype...damn turbo hypnosis

SuperZ, can't really make em any different can we so it has to come down to the paint Thanks I hope it comes out like yours, I see you are having a great time with yours too

Now on with the new and out with the old, I hope to be posting pics of some progress today.
J

Phil99vette

iTrader: (11)

Question...How hard would it be to cut the necks off of the manifolds and weld some pipe with a repositioned flange?
Phil