Had a little issue with my tubular manifolds that I spend ages wrapping, after 340miles, and all at running in speed (due to engine rebuild), they developed a well massive blow. Having had a look around and prod I could fit my thumb inside the hole, so had to get some new ones. Lucky for me a local mate had a set in the boot of a car he was breaking that were still new in the packet, some Japspeed ones. Now I would have refitted my old manifolds, but the up pipe came off in two, and the bolts were shot. So decided to get the Japspeed ones.

Anyways here are my old manifolds all looking nice.








Here's them now.





Before I wrapped them.


And my new ones.






So off to Dylans for a hand fitting, as its NOT a job to do on your own.
Also did its first oil change since rebuild and I can honestly say she's running a dream. But I did make one hell of a mess, as the oil came out quicker than the container receiving the oil could take so about 3l of used oil went over the floor SORRY





As for the magnetic sump plug there, it has done its job superbly well, as when the oil was changed the magnet had an oil magnetic gudge on the tip. About half the size of a pea. So obviously during the running in process this was a by product of things settling in, and the sump plug did its job and separated this out.

 

What is the advantage of wrapping your pipes? Any downsides?

 

I'll leave these comments explain it.

 

What make of headers were the ones that cracked?They look like something has impacted with them i have never seen headers fail that badly before.SJ.

 

cheers

 

Not liking the flexi on the uppipe

 

Crapspeed doomed to failure in near future ��

 

I had similar thoughts. Flexi's in the up-pipe's never seem to last long term

 

By ****e buy multiple times, buy quality rcm, gt spec or whoever sells them buy once

 

Is it true that only top end ones can take the extra heat that comes from wrapping?

 

That looks like the steel has crystalised then burst under pressure. What make are they?

 

Crapspeed, just as bad as the holed one.

 

Definitely not true.

They are all 304 stainless which goes brittle when wrapped due to exceeding the heat range of the metal with a turbo car. So regardless of brand eventually they will crack.

 

As said what you've replaced them with isn't much better. I'd be surprised if you see a year out of them.

I had the GT spec ones on my old Type R, Had them wrapped and no problems in the two years I had the car.

Surly a set of ported standard ones would be far better at your level of tune.

 

Reminds me of dazdavies thread

 

I have had DEI wrapped GT spec on for four years and the car has been driven hard. No problems.
So out of the 304 stainless options they in my experience do the job

Anything with a flexi pipe in is a no go. In my experience they always fail whether in an exhaust or a manifold

 

Also had a set of headers wrapped for a few year and no cracks/problems , they were
These: http://www.kakumei-motorsports.com/p...me=IM-HDR-02G2
(Same as gt spec)

 

Agreed, headers are worth spending headers on.
Had GT spec headers on my last 3 imprezas without issue.

Braided flexi's on any part of an exhaust is a bad idea.
I have never had an exhaust that is flexi free fail but had several flexi's fail on various cars

 

The metal has become brittle, as said. Having said that, there's not a lot of stress at that point?
The best idea is a slip jointed up-pipe eg Harvey trick pipe - it also allows the manifold to work better.

JohnD

 

Guys they WERE Gt spec headers, 2 bolt ones.

I couldn't put the originals back on as the up pipe was in two, and I have lost the bolts and gaskets that held them together.

As for the Japspeed ones, I needed a set asap, and these were in my mates boot brand new and I got them CHEAP.

The originals cracked, and then the crack blew into a hole. They were then cut and snapped to get them off.


The Japspeed are on until they go, which may be soon, but then again could be a while. One way to find out. And tbh for what I paid I'm happy, as I can use the car as time was an issue and I needed something asap. The problem I think with the old ones were that they were made into one piece, in that the slip joints had been welded, and the up pipe was again welded. BUT they came off a car that had them fitted for a long while, so must have just been one of those things. No biggie.

Just have to source a decent set, or get my originals ported so I can get the most come mapping. As she's nearly all run in now, so a few hundred more and I can start to play properly and get her mapped to her potential.

 

Do you know how old the 2 bolt headers were?

How much mileage they had done etc ?

 

God knows, but hey ho. IF they go again I'll be looking at either porting my standard ones, or making up some mild steel ones. As apart from the cast manifolds the Subaru ones are steel. And I'd have 3 sets to "copy" the standard, and these two.

 

if you are below 350-400 ported standards are great. ive seen a few stainless manifolds pop, maybe not as bad as the ones pictured, the one thing in common tho was no undercover stopping water etc hitting them.

 

Well at the moment she is running a standard ecu and turbo. BUT I have built her for a lot more, and I have a top feed conversion injector rail here, so when run in I'll be putting aside money for a remap and turbo, and convert her to tp fed injectors parallel fuel rails and my Tomei FPR. So its just future proofing. As she is fully forged, and with ARP head studs etc.
And I have a freshly rebuilt gearbox in my garage ready for when the current one expires (which is due).

 

And this is why you wrap manifolds.