So I degreased the motor, and my mechanic friend stole my truck truck while I was out of town and replaced the hemorrageing tappet cover gasket. He pointed out that I have a crack in my exhaust manifold, and showed it to me. 

That bumps up that repair to the top of the list. So I priced one at Orieley's and it's not too bad ($250ish). Are exhaust manifolds all the same, or should I stay away from the chain store part?

Any thing to watch out for, other than cracking bolts, etc?

If you can wait, look online for sales on 3 piece manifolds. They don't add power or performance, but a lot less prone to cracking. I got a 3 piece ATS manifold for under $300 a couple years ago when XDP had a sale.

I also have a ATS 3 piece

Hmmm... 15 years old and closing the gap on 300k miles and my stock OEM exhaust manifold still looks likes it new out of the box. Cracks? what cracks? 

5 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Hmmm... 15 years old and closing the gap on 300k miles and my stock OEM exhaust manifold still looks likes it new out of the box. Cracks? what cracks? 

EGT's  

I liked my 3 piece other than it had a defect in the sealing surface and I had to have it machined when I sold it. 

I really really like my stainless. Yes they cost more, but to me it's worth it. 

The only manifolds you should be considering are stainless one piece. Had a cracked ats, not impressed.

4 hours ago, jlbayes said:

The only manifolds you should be considering are stainless one piece. Had a cracked ats, not impressed.

 

Daily driving/towing or sled pulling? What are you egts during a run? 

Going on 400k and no cracks. No sled pulling bud but some heavy towing.

11 hours ago, CTcummins24V said:

 

Daily driving/towing or sled pulling? What are you egts during a run? 

 

DD, drag racing, sled pulling. Never towed with it. Egts where as high as 1800* with it. It was fixed with braze once. And it was so hot enough times the braze displaced and settled. The stainless diesel manifold that replaced it, sees over 2k* with no signs of any issues. The only thing that annoys me is how long it takes to cool off.

jlbayes ....... any photo's of your stainless manifold ?

Like a header ?

7 minutes ago, Macarena Man said:

 

 

Like this 

Good looking manifold !

Thanks for the pic

16 hours ago, jlbayes said:

 

DD, drag racing, sled pulling. Never towed with it. Egts where as high as 1800* with it. It was fixed with braze once. And it was so hot enough times the braze displaced and settled. The stainless diesel manifold that replaced it, sees over 2k* with no signs of any issues. The only thing that annoys me is how long it takes to cool off.

Are u on stock pistons or fly cut coated 

9 hours ago, Silverdodge said:

Are u on stock pistons or fly cut coated 

 

Stock. Coatings do not last at these heat levels. I would never fly cut either. Compression is a good thing.

Edited April 6, 20178 yr by jlbayes

On 4/5/2017 at 7:36 PM, Macarena Man said:

jlbayes ....... any photo's of your stainless manifold ?

Like a header ?

 

Is there any reason to go stainless if the truck is stock?

There is no reason to change a manifold on a stock truck.

11 minutes ago, jlbayes said:

There is no reason to change a manifold on a stock truck.

 

Absolutely true. Also, most daily driver trucks don't require upgraded manifold either.

 

Now performance trucks like TFaoro or Jlbayes now your talking another story these guys are pushing a lot of boost and lot of fuel and need the engine to breathe. Even with as much as I got my normal cruising boost pressure is still well below 10 PSI so I don't flow enough to even worry about upgrading nor worry about EGT's temps. Example 65 MPH I'm 2-3 PSI of boost and 550-600*F EGT's. This doesn't require an upgraded manifold. 

Edited April 18, 20177 yr by Mopar1973Man

Fwiw I've noticed zero difference when adding manifolds to the equation. Just ease of mounting turbochargers.

10 hours ago, jlbayes said:

There is no reason to change a manifold on a stock truck.

Unless of course its cracked like mine…but I understand what you really meant :-)

Sorry yes. No reason for performance gains. ;)