Exhaust Leak at manifold, considering aftermarket options

CS-Wolf

New member
So my st185 has developed a new, and quite loud exhaust leak that goes away once the motor is warm. Earballing seems to place the leak somewhere at the front of the car, and with it going away once warm I'm thinking it's got to be either the gasket between the exhaust manifold and the motor, or the one between the turbo and the manifold. Or perhaps worst case, the manifold might be cracked. So I figured that since I'm probably going to be have to replace gaskets, I might as well replace the turd looking stock manifold with something a bit nicer, and a lot lighter. I found a few options, but I wanted to run them past you guys first, just to see if anyone has any experience here with these specific options or the sellers. Also, this will be my first time working with changing a manifold (out for a header or other) so any advice or tips are welcome.

The headers I'm looking at.


http://www.ssautochromeinc.com/turbo-ma ... -downpipe/

http://www.jperformance.co.uk/toyota-3s ... p-269.html

https://www.amazon.com/OBX-EXHAUST-TURB ... B00Q82BR24

Alternative options are of course welcome.
 

Kurt_st185_gt4

New member
I'm in the same boat as you ando the first link looks like the best bang for the buck at $200 especially when you factor the 3in down pipe in. That would match nicely with my 3in cat back exhaust and help the boost come in earlier.
 

underscore

Well-known member
Two problems with the aftermarket manifolds, first being that the cheap ones like to crack due to all the weight hanging on them, second is that most of them don't flow as well as the stock manifold and actually decrease performance. If I remember right the stock one is good to ~500HP or so before it becomes a restriction.

I'd highly suggest finding the exact source of the leak and then just fixing that as removing the turbo and manifold is quite a pain and can spiral into a nightmare if you start snapping manifold studs in the head, so it's best avoided if possible.
 

___Scott___

Active member
I suggest that as a first step, tighten all the manifold nuts. You'll need to remove some heat shields to get to the nuts, but otherwise it's not that hard to do.

That worked for me a long time ago.
 
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