Anyone Got Any Tips On Porting This Front Exhaust Manifold? (Page 1/1) reinhart MAY 15, 06:25 AM Once I pulled this manifold off my car it became obvious why it was running rough...darn factory restrictions. Blacktree MAY 15, 12:03 PM I would advise welding the seams (on the outside) first, before you port it. Otherwise, it might crack at the seams. reinhart MAY 15, 07:47 PM quote Originally posted by Blacktree: I would advise welding the seams (on the outside) first, before you port it. Otherwise, it might crack at the seams. It was a joke. I'd imagine this one is ready for the trash, unless someone thinks it's worth repairing. Notorio MAY 16, 12:13 AM Was it really in two complete pieces like that on the head or did it break apart during removal? That might be the worst cracked manifold the Forum has ever seen. thesameguy MAY 17, 03:06 PM Mine was failed almost that bad... little 1" section of metal was the only thing holding it together. Not what I expected in California! str8maxn MAY 17, 04:40 PM PM sent reinhart MAY 18, 05:00 AM quote Originally posted by Notorio: Was it really in two complete pieces like that on the head or did it break apart during removal? That might be the worst cracked manifold the Forum has ever seen. It was in two pieces on the head. I noticed a leak a while back but when I was removing my test pipe and installing a cat for smog and then post removal, I noticed the sound increased so I'm assuming that's when it gave up the ghost and broke in two probably from me yanking on the exhaust. I could feel the exhaust hitting my hand if I put my hand back there with the engine running so definitley knew it was a leaker before I got in there. Interestingly all of the manifold studs felt slightly loose (the three for the heat shield) but not the bolts. I wonder if the recall was botched and that allowed the manifold to move on some of the studs/bolts and not the others. The rear manifold was in great shape. Interestingly it was the one V6 manifold I've owned that had been recall replaced with the added heat shield and it was the only one to ever crack or have a catastrophic failure. I removed the recall heat shield and installed the rear window seal a while back, so it's been effectively un-recalled. One other interesting note, I noticed that 3 of the bolts I removed were 10.9 and the other 3 were unmarked. (I didn't look to see which manifold any of them came off just later on noticed that.) I believe the recall kit included 3 new bolts so I'm wondering if that was one of the changes to move to 10.9 bolts (which is a good idea) reinhart MAY 18, 05:02 AM I installed two ported manifolds and I'm definitely noticing a difference in power. Supposedly 8 HP but seat of the pants feels like a lot more. The exhaust sounds wonderful now! reinhart MAY 18, 05:13 AM One other note the manifold to crossover bolts on the rear manifold were relatively unrusty and removed easily. The front ones were rusted to heck with visible buildup. I was able to get them started out but finally both ended up stripping and I just cut them off. Another example of why the recall was garbage and the rear window seal should not have been removed.