Go to freshalloy, and look up "the 2 piece turbo manifold."
-Jeff

 

Good read, but still torm between whether or not these things are crap or not. Time will tell. Seems as if the new design is better. As far as the metal strap, could it seriously create more stress with expansion/contraction of a minute fraction of an inch than with that of a 15lb turbo sitting unsupported on the outer edge of the runners?

 

[psychology]
What you are experiencing, this argumentitveness in the face of overwhelming opposition is called "cognitive dissonance". Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation.
This summed up means that you belive the SSA manifold is good, or will work. You believe this because you have to. You must justify to yourself that this money you spent wasn't a waste. But now, in the face of a 3 page read on Freshalloy, and numerous people in this thread who are all telling you it sucks, you need to continue questioning and creating new ideas in your head.
Here is a great example.
"If learning something has been difficult, uncomfortable, or even humiliating enough, people are not likely to admit that the content of what has been learned is not valuable. To do so would be to admit that one has been "had", or "conned." This is your case to the T.
So basically, what needs to be done is that you need to realize that you spent money on something that many, many people on every forum I can think of recommended NOT getting. You did, either because of lack of research, or lack of funds. So, with the purchase made, you need to stop questioning what is undeniably fact (or so many threads wouldn't mention SSA cracking) and just realize that you will need to pay special attention to your manifold and check for cracks. You may get really lucky. But to justify that it's great because it has all these aspects of quality work (which other, now cracked manifolds had) is incorrect. Once you learn this is all cognitive dissonance, admitting fault and growing mentally comes next.
I'm not bashing on you. I'm just saying why you are finding it difficult to believe all these testimonials and pics on the FA thread.
-Jeff

PS. Yes, after studying psychology, I am the first one to look at my $500 item and say "Wow. What a waste of money. This sucks."

 

cool and the pics are where?

 

Jeff, You are right "to the T". I am agreeing with you 100%. Not saying I didn't buy something that maybe/probably was a waste of money but like you said, lack of funds and the ability to fix it is what told me to buy it. Regarding the pictures of the crack and what not they are two totally different designs. Refer to pics. The new design seems well supported and the weight centered as to reduce the load bearing stress of the weight of the turbo mounted at the end of the runners like the old design. I knew clearly what I have been getting myself into from the get go and am willing to chance it. The worst thing to happen? It cracks and leaks. Put a weld over it and let it ride. No biggie. It was either this or fabricate my own, but since the latter is beyond my skills right now and I was not going to dish out $600 for a manifold, this seemed feasible. Like I said, time will tell how good this one is.

 

The old design, or different one for that matter.

 

Note the difference on the thickness of flanges, runner design, etc. Anyways, Blunt man, read my previous post, I had to get my dog stitches last night so I was unable to take photos.

 

eh, i think its a 50/50 chance with SSautochrome. new design or old, any brand manifold is prone to cracking. fuck the haters and just ride it out. if it lasts it lasts, if it doesnt, fix it for cheap and brush off the hate.

on that note i wouldnt buy one but if i was doing a budget setup and got one for cheap maybe.

 

Exactly, they were reporting HKS mani's cracking, anyways, that's exactly what this project was, a budget turbo setup. I've always read in the Hot Rod magazines about junkyard engine build that cost less then $800 and yield 300+hp for 350 chevy's. I've been wanting to do that to my truck but figured I would try this first since more of my interest is in my car.

 

keep in mind, the top mount manifold never had an old or new design, just one that cracks. they haven't sold enough of them to warrant changing them.