New MSP Manifold?

[jerseymods]

I had finally take the stock manifold heat shield off to see if I had any cracks on my manifold, the shield bolts were completely rusted and the heads just broke off. Stock exhaust is un-cracked and all bolts are still tight and all there but rusted. Car has about 36.7k miles on it. I wanted to replace the bolts because it seems like they have already gone through a lot of heat cycles, so i figured since I would be unbolting the mani, that this would be a good time to just change the mani completely. I know there are a few of them out there. I have seen the Thunder mani for sale here on forums for about $170. I tried to fine some info on this mani but there is much other than the GB thread being moved off the forum apparently. I know at least the best versions of this mani would be v2 or v3. I had also read that there are not really any performance gains from this mani, but im not really looking for performance gains atm. Just something that looks better than the stock callaway mani, but still functions pretty much the same.

Here is a pick of my mani now:

 

[thepope540]

Keep your stock manifold and save your money is my recommendation. I have very little experience with the thunder / ebay manifold, but I've seen problems with them time and time again - leaks and cracks are something you should expect. Then you should set some money aside for a quality manifold for when your stock one finally does fail. Find a used MAM, used steedspeed, or buy one of mine, but don't do the job multiple times. I enjoy these cars, but they can be prone to breaking anyway, I can't imagine putting a part on the car that will cause more problems than it will solve.

 

[BOOSTR]

Yeah aesthetics is not exactly a good reason to put on a POS manifold. And with only 37K you have not gone through enough heat cycles to worry about exhaust hardware failure. Put your money elsewhere for now until you have a reason to ditch a perfectly good manifold for something besides looks. Have those broken bolts extracted, put in some new ones and put back on a polished heat shield. That would be my rec.

 

[jerseymods]

Yeah aesthetics is not exactly a good reason to put on a POS manifold. And with only 37K you have not gone through enough heat cycles to worry about exhaust hardware failure. Put your money elsewhere for now until you have a reason to ditch a perfectly good manifold for something besides looks. Have those broken bolts extracted, put in some new ones and put back on a polished heat shield. That would be my rec.

I like that answer. Thank you!

 

[jerseymods]

Keep your stock manifold and save your money is my recommendation. I have very little experience with the thunder / ebay manifold, but I've seen problems with them time and time again - leaks and cracks are something you should expect. Then you should set some money aside for a quality manifold for when your stock one finally does fail. Find a used MAM, used steedspeed, or buy one of mine, but don't do the job multiple times. I enjoy these cars, but they can be prone to breaking anyway, I can't imagine putting a part on the car that will cause more problems than it will solve.

I was actually thinking about buying one of yours in the future but my msp is still very "young" lol. Thanks for the recommendation. Well appreciated!

 

[hornsfan10609]

I see no reason to remove a mani that isn't leaking.

 

[Natey]

One says eBay and was made in China with sub-par steel. The other says Callaway, as in the guys that supercharge 'vettes and turn them into 650hp Ferrari fighters. That's enough aesthetics right there.

Polish the heat shield, put it back on and be glad you saved that rare part.(bling)

 

[jerseymods]

Would these be the correct studs/bolts I need?
http://goo.gl/66w0YK

 

[ZealoustheEnder]

Would these be the correct studs/bolts I need?
http://goo.gl/66w0YK

Yes they are, but honestly I got a set of ten SS studs from Orally auto parts 8mm 1.25. I had to trim them down with a drimmel to match the amount of stud going in to the block but the set was only 17.99
The web site will not let me search the part on the site. the studs are on the shelf as Ford GM universal 10 pack 8mm 1.25 SS with nuts.

Its a big job but my friend and I did it in 3 HR let me know if you need any direction on that. Everones here to help