That sucks but completely understand your frustration. If only I had a beater I would pull my motor and swap you, obviously with a little cash coming your way.

I'm surprised the manifold is even capable of cracking right at the spot in the pic above. I mean, the crack is right up at the start of the manifold between sets of bolts that should hold the cracked pieces together fairly rigidly, so there shouldn't be any really huge differential in mechanical stress on the two sides of that crack. I could understand if it was closer to where the turbo mounts at... but that pictured crack would seem very likely be a design fault with the item under heat stress.

it IS a design fault.. They know it will crack if you did not baby it and hell no im not gonna baby my car if I paid 20k$ im sure others think the same.

Now, Im pretty sure that the new manifolds from GTM (V3) will not only have better flow but stronger than ever. What im not so sure about is why it took them so long to finally create a new manifold.

if everyones manifolds are cracking in the same spot then id say its a design issue. if people are having cracks in random spots then it could just be crappy iron. :confused:

where the foundry that casted these manifolds gets its raw material id like to know....

hell didnt GTM mention their first batch of cast manifolds for the new kit had issues?

While I was saying that cracking cast iron turbos manifolds is pretty common... I am not saying it will not effect performance. At first it wont. But it gets worse, and it spreads, and the material gets more brittle pretty fast. Eventually you will see light through the crack.

By the time you can hear it with your head in the engine bay, it has a pretty harsh effect on performance. A lot more than you would think from how minor it looks... more than I can really understand or explain. But I have experienced it and it really does effect performance.

It can be welded by a professional who is familiar with repair welding this type of part for the environment it will see, but it is a temporary fix, and it will crack again along the edge of the weld later (from what I have seen, maybe there are people that can do it better than i have seen).

To weld something like this. I would drill a hole at the ends of the crack. Grind a V in the crack about 3/16" wide. Bolt the manifold down so it doesn't move. Preheat the manifold to about 700deg. Tig weld it with something like Ni-Rod 55. Weld only one inch of the crack at a time. After each stitch. Peen the weld with a ball-peen hammer. What is causing the cracks is unequal heating and cooling of the manifold. That turbo heats up slower then the manifold, and cools off slower then the manifold. I've welded cast iron in the past with the company I used to work for with great results.

Rusty you might have found your second job thanks to gtm...

This guy sounds like he knows what he's talking about. I'm a structural engineer in offshore industry and I have had some experience discussing weld repair with construction guys.

What are the chances of having it fixed and billed to gtm? lmao!!!!! Sometimes I crack myself up...

i see what you did there......:rolleyes:

The reimbursement line starts after the MHI refund line...:rofl2:

Just call Sam man you have nothing to lose, Don't email him because he wont bother looking at emails. I always call him if I need something and he answers all the questions I have

Just tell him you have cracked manifold and he will take care of you

Im not fan of GTM right now because its no where near the quality of FI and BF turbo kit. I have faith in GTM that their new manifold will bring some tough challenge to competitors

AAM Performance might get Rank 1 in turbo kit after they release it.. who knows.

Cracks don't fix themselves! Like Charles said, it will only get worse!

Thanks! Used to weld exotic metals at one time. :tup:

Forgot one thing. Need to wrap the manifold after welding in Kaowool to slow cool it to room temp.

Might need it. Might be out of job shortly. :shakes head: Read my post in my journal. :shakes head: