Manifold

[Dogsy]

Hi All

Anyone bought one of these if so what's your thoughts?

 m http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-MR2-Ro ... _854wt_689 m

Thanks   s:P s:P

[stupink]

not bought that specificly, but a general comment on ebay "tat" when it comes to manifolds, is that tbh, they're pretty good. for the money they're VERY good, occasionally you have issues with them cracking on the welds etc, but this is mostly on turbo applications and even then most of them are fine.. the welding is usually neat and tidy, the pipes polished well (thought not for long with the heat)....  no reason not to get one imo if you need one.

[Dogsy]

Thanks Stu, thinking I'd rather put one in than decat my own if precats are still in.

[Dogsy]

Is it an easy job to do yourself or is a garage required?

[Wabbitkilla]

I've seen a couple of these fitted, and to be honest, they actually look quite substantial with decent size tubing.
I did have concerns about the lack of bottom end brace and possible cracking as a result ... but no one has mentioned any cracking happening.
Early Che manifolds did suffer from cracking when the bottom braces weren't attached, but they seem to use smaller and thinner tubing.

One word of caution, these manifolds do move the location of the O2 sensors a little, easily fixed by just unclipping the connector from the head brackets.

[Dogsy]

Thanks Wabbit, is it an easyish job? Planned to get my Bro to assist.

[Wabbitkilla]

Ha ... how long is a piece of string!   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  
It's been said a few times I guess, but the old manifold can be problematic removing.
Start by getting yourself fresh Toyota gaskets for both ends of the manifold, the ones supplied with it are crap.
Might be worth getting some fresh nuts for the head studs.
I don't know if you get the "three amigos" for the bottom of it ... but the ones in the old manifold usually end up mangled beyond use.

Get plenty of plusgas on the nuts, bolts, and O2 sensors well before you start.
The O2 sensors can be a bit stuck, get the proper socket for them and try not to cause too much vibration on them.
The heatshild bolts usually shear or need grinding off ... no worries really.
Then you have the stud nuts, three amigos, and lower braces that mount the manifold to the engine block to undo.

It's quite d.i.y-able, but any of the nuts could be stuck and cause you problems ... it just happens from time to time.

[Dogsy]

Thanks Wabbit, this club is ace   s:D s:D

[onion86]

Quite pricey for everything though!

Just to help you out with part numbers for what you need (and the inc. VAT prices my local MrT quoted last month):

17173-22010 - Manifold to Block gasket - £22.57
90917-06065 - Cat to Manifold 'donut' gasket (need 2) - £4.46 (£8.92)
90116-10146 - Studs (need 3) - £2.16 (£6.48)
90179-10070 - Nuts (need 3) - £2.05 (£6.15)

I haven't managed this on my new car yet, tried a couple of times with a lot of PlusGas over a few days but 3 amigos won't budge (all head bolts and O2 sensors came off easily).
My old car I did at 36,000 miles and 2 of the 3 amigos snapped and had to drill them out, so just be careful!

[Dogsy]

Thanks onion.

Do you reckon it would be less labour intensive for a garage? She's in at mo and I'm off on hold Sat so I could get it delivered to them to fit provided it's not a stack in labour.

Really appreciate part numbers, good of you to take the time.

I feel a club donation is on the horizon, so much advice on loads of stuff already.

[thekickinside]

i would get one with he bottom brackets myself, and be aware some come with the three bottom studs, but if you wanta genuine toyota gasket and a replacement top studs/nuts in case you break any your looking at £60 for the gasket and studs/nuts

[AckersMR2]

When I did mine I sprayed the heatshield nuts each day for a few days and managed to undo that and get it off (note the bottom shield between the manifold and block won't come off until you take the manifold off as there's not enough room to get it out, so leave it on) use hex sockets rather than bihex as their less likely to shear. Without the heatshield spray all the bolts for a few more days, head studs, cat studs and lower block brackets. I then cracked off the 5 head studs to check they undid ok and then tightened them back up knowing I wouldn't need to replace them (£6 each!)
If you've got one us a socket set with a 18"-2' breaker bar as you'll need it.
I then cracked off the three bottom nuts and the bottom brackets to make sure I could get them off before I started.
Reason for doing this is you can spend £60+ on ancillaries ,some you might not need and my Toyota dealer won't take anything back that's not over £25 (value of each item)

[mrzwei]

Also, get the engine really warmed up, but H&S, watch your hands!

[Anonymous]

Perfect thread timing as i have just finally got myself one of these i expect to receive tomorrow   s:D s:D   I can finally then breathe out regarding the dreded pre-cats!

So am i best to go buy original gaskets from CTP or like even though the kit comes with them? I.E. are they that bad?

Also is it best to remove the bumper whilst at it? Ive done it before quite quickly if so.

[Wabbitkilla]

A good tip is to clean the manifold with white spirit after you've fitted it ... otherwise every greasy fingerprint will be there forever afterwards   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[mr-ed_smt]

I've had a cheapy ebay manifold fitted for a couple of years now. Done 20k, and quite a few trackdays and its held up just fine. I used the gasket which came with it (just because I was too impatient to get an original  one from CTP!)  - that's also been fine (still fitted). Original one is definitely better and worthwhile getting, but it doesn't mean the supplied one is unusable.

[mr-ed_smt]

A good tip is to clean the manifold with white spirit after you've fitted it ... otherwise every greasy fingerprint will be there forever afterwards   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

DEFINITELY this! My grubby greasy fingerprints are still visible on mine after 2 years! Once the manifold has heated up, they won't shift.

[Anonymous]

I've had a cheapy ebay manifold fitted for a couple of years now. Done 20k, and quite a few trackdays and its held up just fine. I used the gasket which came with it (just because I was too impatient to get an original  one from CTP!)  - that's also been fine (still fitted). Original one is definitely better and worthwhile getting, but it doesn't mean the supplied one is unusable.

Thanks for the Info mate!

I will be sure to get the WS out once fitted in place then and use rubber gloves as i normally do also   s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown:

[Dogsy]

+1   s:D s:D

[Anonymous]

Oh FYI

i saved a 10'r by buying via the auction and not buy it now price, just placed min bid and won it del. for 129. the buy it now is that without delivery. depends on if in a rush i suppose.

[Anonymous]

Well i tried fitting the manifold yesterday...
Took a half day to do and even bought some new tools for the job as always needed the longer sockets for reaching over studs etc..

Got the heat shield off 9which i thought would be the largest PITA due to the corroded state they were in but no they came off like a beaut!
I then started to try the head nuts (x5) to remove the manifold but could only get one loose, i started to round off the nuts to all others so aborted before i done too much damage. I will have to take the car into my engineering workshops on wkend bnow to finish and order some replacement nuts for the head  s:( s:(
I did spray the bolts again and again with WD40 and only tried to loosen them once the engine was hot. Dont know what else i could have done?

Bugga lol

[AckersMR2]

Dont know what else i could have done?

Don't use WD40 it's rubbish, as said, use PlusGas instead. Also as the heat shield covers access to the rest of the nuts and bolts so once you'd got the heat shield off you should have stopped there and spent a few days regularly spaying the manifold head nuts, support bracket bolts and three bottom nuts with more Plus Gas.

Sounds like you haven't tried undoing the other nuts and bolts yet so now you have the heat shield off go and get some plus gas and start spraying! Otherwise your going to face the same fate when you get to those parts.

When I did mine I sprayed the heat shield nuts for a day or two, then took that off, then during the week, while still using the car, each day I sprayed the other nuts and bolts until the weekend when I actually tackled taking it off. No drama, no sheared bolts or rounded nuts  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

Cheers Ackers,

Yes i nearly went and bought some plus gas, i shall get some today now...

Your correct i left all other nuts alone until i got the head nuts undone as i know all the others i could replace if damaged or ground off just not the head ones.
I will do that as you say and attempt again on the wkend once in a work shop. my only fear is that i have damaged the nuts too bad and will need grinding off now  s:( s:(  
Atleast in the Wshop i can gas heat up the nuts too with some good help and tooling. I also think the long reach sockets i bought are 12 faced and not 6 which im told now are prone to chewing nuts / bolts, bugga lol

[AckersMR2]

I hate to say told you so but I did say all that earlier  s:( s:(
Might not be too bad, spray all the rounded head nuts with plus gas now, today and tomorrow if possible, you could try some Irwin nut remover sockets, I've not tried them but only heard good reports?
And while you at it get some hex sockets instead of bi-hex ones otherwise you'll just do the same to the rest of the nuts and bolts  s;) s;)
If you've rounded off the nuts, no matter how much you heat the nut the bi-hex sockets you have will probably just keep slipping round, but hex ones might just get enough purchase to undo them?

Good Luck  s:) s:)

[onion86]

When I did my first '2 I had to Dremel off 2 of the 5 header nuts and one of the others just came out still attached to the stud even after PlusGas they're a right PITA, never had a problem with the heatshield bolts on either car. Luckily I had loads of replacement studs/nuts so could just put them in.

I take it you haven't tried the 3 amigos yet?  s;) s;)