Supraforums:
- Take the header wrap off.
- That particular log style of manifold is not the best design possible in a turbo manifold. It's the cheap & quick way. For much less money, someone could have modified the OEM manifold to accomplish the same thing. Food for thought...
- THAT IS NOT "thick wall pipe". It looks like typical t304 16-gauge. When you build a header & claim you're using thick wall... That means you've broke out the Schedule-40. 16-gauge = .08", schedule 10 = .106", schedule 40 = .145"
- The amount of material cost, work done VS the price is completely outrageous. The price is simply rediculous for those turbo manifolds
Header wrap is stupid. It's destructive, and DOES NOT save money VS cermaic coatings when building & selling a product over time. I would seriously suggest buying youself a powder coating gun, and buying, or making an oven. Powder is much cheaper than wrap. It also won't retain moisture & cause your stainless to rust.
I do like the flanges. I preffer mild flanges greatly on turbo manifolds, but it's a personal prefferance, not an issue of right/wrong. I like you flanges.
Those manifolds typically would run roughly $600 a pop for a descently good home fabricator to make. Which there are dozens, hundreds floating around the net. So that'd be the $1200 range, give or a take afew hundred. Now that that's a blind guess, and I don't like blind. So let's break it down!
4x 1.5" 16-gauge 180* mandrel bends with legs = $80usd
6' 1/5" 16-gauge staight pipe = $50usd
Not sure what size V-band you're using but for example purposes:
2x 2.5" v-band kit $110usd
Custom waterjet/CNC milled flanges typicall run from free to $100 a pop. I'll spot ya & say $100 a pop. Flanges = $200
We're up to $440usd. In raw materials for both manifolds.
Any welder/fabricator worth knows that raw material cost x3 is *generally* going to be very,very close to the quoted price. $440usd x3 = $1320.
So $1320usd worth of work suddenly equals $2500usd how?
At any rate. Your product does not seem to be bad. But at the price you are listing them at. My opinion of them changes from, "I'm glad someone is finally selling them", to "wow those manif's are POS's for the money, and are meant to separate people from their money just for monitary gain".
ps, I am not being insultive, simply stating what I think of them & should be obvious to anyone else that dabbles in any kind of exhaust / manifold / turbo manifold creation. The price / product ratio is horrible. Ya gotta recoupe some cost of down-time on the guy's car, but I honestly don't see why the price would, for any reason, everbe more than $1750usd shipped to anywhere in North America.
