[Si-Mon]

Well after a mixed weekend I have decided to make plans and stick to them with regards to the progression of my MX5.

Wasted a lot of money recently on buying parts and then selling them on again for a loss because of not being able to decide what to do with her.

So with that in mind I have decided, a very small turbo is going on to give me a little extra oomph (and that psst noise, yes I am actually 2 years old) and over the weekend I had the pleasure of being passenger in a BBR turbo off a member off here and I LOVED it. Okay he had a fairly large turbo making way more power then I want but to be honest the engine bay layout with the BBR manifold the way it is was the best I have seen ever. To me it was a better solution then both the FM and Begi offerings based purely on looks, and apparently it flows really well too.

Then on we go to actually finding one.. and it really does seem impossible. Even called BBR directly and sorry we can't get them for you, we would have to order so many over it wouldn't make sense.

So, does anyone know of another manifold that hangs the turbo right down there out of the way like the BBR? Is it going to involve me getting 1 fabricated costing stupid amounts of money?

 

[gs1200]

Not exactly on topic but how many would manifolds would BBR need to manufacture to make it viable?
I would imagine lots of BBR owners would more than likely be prepared to part with cash to get a spare manifold.

Sales staff at BBR at one point told me that they had lost one half of the mould for the manifold, so it?s possible we could never see a remanufactured part.

If the moulds do actually exist is it possible BBR would like to sell the moulds, as I am sure someone within the NUTZ family would have the knowledge on where to get them cast.

Now I know the BBR manifold had issues, but it is the best looking turbo conversion imo, my own BBR has the unmodded manifold 93/000 miles no cracks yet, its run at 14PSI and I have even drilled it to fit EGT probes on the runners and no cracks have propagated from here either, maybe I have just been lucky but I for one would like to get a spare if it was possible

 

[UTU (Rich)]

ETD are one of the well respected manifold producers:

http://www.etdracing.com/manifolds.html

Whether it hangs low or not I don't know, but you can have it made with a custom flange to hang whatever turbo you want off it!

 

[Si-Mon]

Well the other option is to use a BBR manifold, take it to a fabricator and get them to make a tubular version of it. I mean it is in essence a 4-1 manifold, just cast instead of tubular.

 

[UTU (Rich)]

Well the other option is to use a BBR manifold, take it to a fabricator and get them to make a tubular version of it. I mean it is in essence a 4-1 manifold, just cast instead of tubular.

Tubular SS turbo manifolds tend to regularly crack, that why the established companies, etc produce cast ones!

 

[Si-Mon]

The BBR and GREDDY cast manifolds crack all the time, and most of the ETD as far as I can see are tubular rather then cast and as you have said, they are reputable.

What is the reason the tubular ones crack though? As long as they are made from a solid material and the turbo is bracketed in some way and not literally just hanging off of the manifold I don't see why they should.

 

[UTU (Rich)]

Sorry thought you mentioned stainless,(skim reading, bah) which is pretty much unsuitable due to it's quick expansion rates!

If you look at the specs for the way ETD produce they're manifolds eg Thick Gauge 1010 Heat Treated Mild Steel, etc if you duplicate it and have someone with the skills to produce it I see no reason why it wouldn't work! Will it be cheaper - you'll have to find out!

The Greddy manifold can usually be sorted with expansion cuts, the cracking is down to poor design more than anything. Cast also has the benefit of being compact in design compared to tubular.

 

[Si-Mon]

So what you are saying is stainless is the problem rather then tubular design. So using a proper material, eg thick mild steel we should be fine.

I know of a guy who can do manifolds for me cheaply enough (well no more expensive then ETD anyway) just need to um... "borrow" a bbr for a bit.

 

[KFC]

I have a receipt for a new 1.8 BBR manifold , over 800 years ago

Worth noting for the 1.8 BBR switched to a manifold that mounted the turbo high and I am sure they did that for a reason

 

[Road&ster]

I wouldn't waste time looking for a rare turbo manifold, there's plenty of other readily available (and easily replaceable) manifolds out there that will do just as good a job.
Things have moved on a bit since the BBR turbo was brought out.

 

[Si-Mon]

But the low down manifold looks soooo much better

. I guess will probably end up going for the first reasonably priced S/H kit that comes up but still.

 

[UTU (Rich)]

Isn't this reasonably priced enough for you???

http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=49031&pid=646608&st=0&#entry646608

 

[Si-Mon]

While that is questionably good price (arguments ensuing as to how genuine the turbo is) it is not really "kit" enough for me if you know what I mean. Though have a lead on 1 greddy kit and another HKS kit so fingers crossed.

 

[skinny]

BBR manifolds are very rare - a few owners had some problems with them cracking when the relief split was not put in and went to BBR who basically told them to get lost.

 

[Andrew]

So what you are saying is stainless is the problem rather then tubular design. So using a proper material, eg thick mild steel we should be fine.

I know of a guy who can do manifolds for me cheaply enough (well no more expensive then ETD anyway) just need to um... "borrow" a bbr for a bit.

I might be willing to lend you my BBR manifold so your guy can take the relevant measurements (mine had the relief cuts but still cracked), especially if your guy could make me a manifold for a reasonable price. PM me....

 

[Andrew]

Right, spoken to Saahil ( Mr. S. Hill) and we're going to look at getting some manifolds made up! I've started a group buy thread here so if anyone else is interested and wants in, please let us know!