How to make your own Turbo Manifold
This write up is for folks to follow along with the fabrication of a Turbo Manifold and see how its done. This is a "Log" type, the most simplest example, and probably the not the best performer, but its a great place to start, its easy enough anyone can pull this off, and is a great confidence builder. You CAN do it.
First you will need to aquire a few items. This is my plan, you can use it as a guide and modify it to fit your needs...
1. Stock Early model Quad 4 Tubular Manifold to harvest Steel flange from 40.00 shipped
2. Two Butt Weld Tee's and Two Butt Weld Elbows, 1-1/2" Schedule 40 2.5" Bend radius. 53.00 shipped
3. T3 Steel Turbo flange from Ebay 17.00 Shipped
4. Other items I will fill this in later with the specific details.
You will also need to gather some tools. I have some tools to do this job that I really like. Some tools people have, but they may not like them or recommend them, but these tools are excellent choices, and good price, so please concider my recommendations.
1. Ryobi 4" Angle Grinder- 39.00 Home Depot. Comes with a nice plastic case, 1 grinding disc, 1 sanding disc, and one wire brush disc. This is an awsome tool and the most used in this project. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh8/R-100529101/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
2. Buy about 6, 4" Cut off Wheels for the grinder. These will serve as your main cutting tool. They are very fast at cutting steel, way faster than any sawzall,etc. The blade are only about 1.80 each.
3. You *might* need a sawzall. I found the cut off wheels where not deep enough to allow me to cut the flange off of the pipes. But after I used the sawzall to make that initial cut off, I strictly used the angle grinder thereafter. I donno if I could justify buying the sawzall for just this cut. but if you want to, here is the one I used, again, another great tool and good cost. http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Power-Tools-Saws-Reciprocating-Saws/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh8Zas92/R-100547490/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Okay, lets get down to it....
Step 1- We need to harvest the Flange off of the donor manifold. I used the sawzall for this purpose and made a rough cut. The idea here was to separate the peice I wanted, but in doing so, i wanted to leave as much material attached to the flange as possible. This way I could fine tune the lenth later once it was more workable.
Step 2- Now that the flange has been released, you will notice some unique features of the pipe stubs. Notice that they take an oval shaped opening on the flange and reduce it down to a pure circular shape. It does this in about 1" of pipe distance from the face of the flange. Also notice that right after this reduction finishes, the #3 pipe begins to make a turn. This turn is going to dictate where we cut our flange. We want to cut off all of that curve we can, but we dont want to cut so much off that we are into that transition area. I trimmed these pipes down using the angle grinder with the cut-off wheel. I did not take the time at this point to make a perfectly straight cut on these pipes, again I just did another "rough" cut. I'll dial this in perfect in later steps.After wards I switched to the Sanding disc on the grinder and prepped all the pipes, and basically tried to remove all the rust I could get to on the whole flange. Here is the result.
Step 3- Now it is time to take some measurements. I layed the two weld T's end to end in about the position they will reside in. I then measured the distance from center of one to center of the other. On this particular size T's, the distance measured was 4-9/16". I then measured the distance center to center of the ENGINE side of the exhaust flange between ports 2 and 3. This way I get the measurement for True port center, not the distance on my rough cut pipe ends, because they my be in their transitions still, and not truely centered on the ports. I found the flange measured 4" exactly. So I will need to cut off 9/16" from one of the weld T's.
Step 4- I did so by marking my piece, then clamping it in a bench vice. Then I cut it using the Angle Grinder and a Cut off wheel. When done, I put the bevel back on the pipe with the grinder wheel, and finally, cleaned the inside of the pipe cut with a regular half-round hand file. I repeated this process to fit all pipes to the centers of each flange port center. I also marked my pipes with silver and black sharpe's just to keep organized.
Step 5- Once you have completed the process of measuring, and cutting all peices to lenth, you should be left with this. Here is is time to tack weld the pieces together so it can be moved around now as a unit.
Step 6- Using a Mig Welder, tack each pipe joint on each side. This will help to stabalize the pieces from moving when you do the full weld.
Step 7- After tacking in place, recheck your pieces for proper alighment to be sure nothing shifted. If you like it, go ahead and run the the full bead around each joint. You should be left with this when done.
Step 8- Now that we're all welded up, its time to go back and get the flange pipes all leveled out. Do this by placing the manifold onto the flange pipes and checking for gaps between any of th erunners and the manifold. The idea here is to grind away at the high pipes so that when your done, your manifolds runners are all laying completley flat onto the pipes. Welding should not be filling in gaps, it is only to join two peices together. If you have faps, you need to do whatever it takes to make these pieces set flush with each other, otherwise you will have a big problem later when it comes time to weld.
Step 9- TIme to apply your tack welds to each end of the manifold. Since the pipes on the manifold are noticabley thinner guage metal, take the time to measure the size and turn your welder down accordingly. You dont want to be blowing holes in your work piece. I measured about .065" thickness. After doing so, again check your fitment to make sure nothing moved. If your happy, move onto the next step. If not, cut the welds off and try again.
Step 10- Time to do the full weld! Before doing so, you MUST bolt the flange to a heat sink of some kind. An old spare head works great. You could also use a peice of 1/2" plate which has been drilled and tapped. The point is, you HAVE to do something. Do not bother trying to weld the flange until you can keep it stabalized. This is because once you heat up the weld joints and they are fused together, they are about 3000*F. They immediately begin to cool and contract. So, if there is nothing bolted down, the flange surface will be free to twist and bow during the cooldown process. You can actuallyf feel this happening if your holding two parts in your hand. Once you are done with your complete welds, leave the manifold bolted to the head until it is cool to the touch.
Step 11- After the manifold has cooled, removed it from the head. Then place a straight edge across the flange face. If done correctly, you should see no gaps under the striaghtedge anywhere. If so, your good to go. If not, you will need to resurface the flange in order to make a proper seal.
First you will need to aquire a few items. This is my plan, you can use it as a guide and modify it to fit your needs...
1. Stock Early model Quad 4 Tubular Manifold to harvest Steel flange from 40.00 shipped
2. Two Butt Weld Tee's and Two Butt Weld Elbows, 1-1/2" Schedule 40 2.5" Bend radius. 53.00 shipped
3. T3 Steel Turbo flange from Ebay 17.00 Shipped
4. Other items I will fill this in later with the specific details.
You will also need to gather some tools. I have some tools to do this job that I really like. Some tools people have, but they may not like them or recommend them, but these tools are excellent choices, and good price, so please concider my recommendations.
1. Ryobi 4" Angle Grinder- 39.00 Home Depot. Comes with a nice plastic case, 1 grinding disc, 1 sanding disc, and one wire brush disc. This is an awsome tool and the most used in this project. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh8/R-100529101/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
2. Buy about 6, 4" Cut off Wheels for the grinder. These will serve as your main cutting tool. They are very fast at cutting steel, way faster than any sawzall,etc. The blade are only about 1.80 each.
3. You *might* need a sawzall. I found the cut off wheels where not deep enough to allow me to cut the flange off of the pipes. But after I used the sawzall to make that initial cut off, I strictly used the angle grinder thereafter. I donno if I could justify buying the sawzall for just this cut. but if you want to, here is the one I used, again, another great tool and good cost. http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Power-Tools-Saws-Reciprocating-Saws/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh8Zas92/R-100547490/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Okay, lets get down to it....
Step 1- We need to harvest the Flange off of the donor manifold. I used the sawzall for this purpose and made a rough cut. The idea here was to separate the peice I wanted, but in doing so, i wanted to leave as much material attached to the flange as possible. This way I could fine tune the lenth later once it was more workable.
Step 2- Now that the flange has been released, you will notice some unique features of the pipe stubs. Notice that they take an oval shaped opening on the flange and reduce it down to a pure circular shape. It does this in about 1" of pipe distance from the face of the flange. Also notice that right after this reduction finishes, the #3 pipe begins to make a turn. This turn is going to dictate where we cut our flange. We want to cut off all of that curve we can, but we dont want to cut so much off that we are into that transition area. I trimmed these pipes down using the angle grinder with the cut-off wheel. I did not take the time at this point to make a perfectly straight cut on these pipes, again I just did another "rough" cut. I'll dial this in perfect in later steps.After wards I switched to the Sanding disc on the grinder and prepped all the pipes, and basically tried to remove all the rust I could get to on the whole flange. Here is the result.
Step 3- Now it is time to take some measurements. I layed the two weld T's end to end in about the position they will reside in. I then measured the distance from center of one to center of the other. On this particular size T's, the distance measured was 4-9/16". I then measured the distance center to center of the ENGINE side of the exhaust flange between ports 2 and 3. This way I get the measurement for True port center, not the distance on my rough cut pipe ends, because they my be in their transitions still, and not truely centered on the ports. I found the flange measured 4" exactly. So I will need to cut off 9/16" from one of the weld T's.
Step 4- I did so by marking my piece, then clamping it in a bench vice. Then I cut it using the Angle Grinder and a Cut off wheel. When done, I put the bevel back on the pipe with the grinder wheel, and finally, cleaned the inside of the pipe cut with a regular half-round hand file. I repeated this process to fit all pipes to the centers of each flange port center. I also marked my pipes with silver and black sharpe's just to keep organized.
Step 5- Once you have completed the process of measuring, and cutting all peices to lenth, you should be left with this. Here is is time to tack weld the pieces together so it can be moved around now as a unit.
Step 6- Using a Mig Welder, tack each pipe joint on each side. This will help to stabalize the pieces from moving when you do the full weld.
Step 7- After tacking in place, recheck your pieces for proper alighment to be sure nothing shifted. If you like it, go ahead and run the the full bead around each joint. You should be left with this when done.
Step 8- Now that we're all welded up, its time to go back and get the flange pipes all leveled out. Do this by placing the manifold onto the flange pipes and checking for gaps between any of th erunners and the manifold. The idea here is to grind away at the high pipes so that when your done, your manifolds runners are all laying completley flat onto the pipes. Welding should not be filling in gaps, it is only to join two peices together. If you have faps, you need to do whatever it takes to make these pieces set flush with each other, otherwise you will have a big problem later when it comes time to weld.
Step 9- TIme to apply your tack welds to each end of the manifold. Since the pipes on the manifold are noticabley thinner guage metal, take the time to measure the size and turn your welder down accordingly. You dont want to be blowing holes in your work piece. I measured about .065" thickness. After doing so, again check your fitment to make sure nothing moved. If your happy, move onto the next step. If not, cut the welds off and try again.
Step 10- Time to do the full weld! Before doing so, you MUST bolt the flange to a heat sink of some kind. An old spare head works great. You could also use a peice of 1/2" plate which has been drilled and tapped. The point is, you HAVE to do something. Do not bother trying to weld the flange until you can keep it stabalized. This is because once you heat up the weld joints and they are fused together, they are about 3000*F. They immediately begin to cool and contract. So, if there is nothing bolted down, the flange surface will be free to twist and bow during the cooldown process. You can actuallyf feel this happening if your holding two parts in your hand. Once you are done with your complete welds, leave the manifold bolted to the head until it is cool to the touch.
Step 11- After the manifold has cooled, removed it from the head. Then place a straight edge across the flange face. If done correctly, you should see no gaps under the striaghtedge anywhere. If so, your good to go. If not, you will need to resurface the flange in order to make a proper seal.
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