Yeah, crappy day at work. Crappy day in the barn. The first is much more common than the second, but the worst is when they happen on the same day. Def time for a few cold ones tonight.

I appreciate it. Yeah, better now than later. I'm just not sure I want to go through the trouble with the DS manifold at all. There is NO WAY the bolts will ever loosen. If the manifold ever cracks, or otherwise leaks, I'm thinking I'll just deal with it if it happens. Though by the same token, Rockauto has dorman manifolds with gaskets for $95 each. It'd be nice to have a brand new pair in there. Anyone know of a source to get decent priced OEM ones?

Though, actually, if I'm going to do two new, I might as well do SD ones and give myself more turbo options, right?

Edit: interesting - Rockauto has the sd DS manifold for just $44 bucks. No PS one listed though for a 2000 f350, though - weird.

Sorry to hear of your troubles JP. You will get it, I've had many days where I was frustrated beyond and walked away and came back.

Food for thought: just imagine how proud you will be when this is all done. There's just somthing about the satisfaction of doing it yourself. You'll get there and you have all of us to coach and cheer you on!

It's up to you JP, but as much trouble as you are having, there is NO way I'd want to deal with a leak that will eventually develop while the motor is in the truck when I could have taken care of it beforehand. I understand its being a pita, but imagine dealing with them bolts it in the truck. I'm not saying you HAVE to do it, but imo it would be time and money well spent now.

I hope you had a few cold ones last night and got to relax. Good luck bud.

The SD manifolds won't matter on turbo options. Gives you the option for cheaper bellowed up pipes though. The SD one that Rich posted on another thread were only a little over $200.

Thanks! It really does help to have people to bounce ideas (and frustration) off of! The wife just doesn't care/know.

Def had a few. Prob a few too many as I slept later than intended ;-). I do feel more motivated and ready to tackle that other manifold today though. I def should do it for the long term. Def mounting the new ones with studs, though!

Well that seems reason enough. Combined with the cheaper DS manifold, that's a few hundred in savings right there. My only hesitation is going with the dorman manifolds. I'm thinking I'll prob do it as the oem's are several hundred more. Plus if I mount with studs, replacing a cracked one hopefully won't be too bad. Anyone out there with aftermarket manifold experience? Or even better - anyone out there with a blown motor they'd like to sell the manifolds off of? :-)

Also, Bronco Graveyard has SD up-pipes with SD Collecter for like $200 - I think they refer to them as 'crossover pipes or something'. Looks like those are Dorman as well. I prob can't make my own for cheaper...

Ok, got the DS manifold cut off and all bolt remnants extracted this morning and glad I did - there was def an exhaust leak at cylinder 6.

Pics and more to come tomorrow, but for now - thanks to you guys for not letting me leave that sucker in place!

That's great JP, I was starting to feel bad for trying to talk you into removing it. I just know how much of a PITA mine were to do in the truck. Finding that exhaust leak made you feel better I'm sure but it was inevitable that you would have a leak in the near future.

someone must have a used manifold you can get for cheap...

Richard

Same here. Although I knew in my head it needed to be done, I also felt bad with the trouble he was having.

Glad you got it JP!

Don't feel bad, guys. It was died the right thing to do. Even if I didn't find a leak immediately. I know what you mean, though.

I was thinking if trying to find used manifolds, but am thinking ill prob just do brand SD manifolds and up pipes from dorman. Manifolds are just $150 for both and up pipes are only ~$200. I may come out cost neutral or ahead compared to buying obs bellows. Or save lots of time compared to bellowing my one pipes.

Still need to decide on turbo before pulling the trigger.

will the SD up pipes bolt to the OBS turbo mount?

Richard

I'm glad to hear you got it all apart JP. I'm sure you're glad now that you did it.

If you're going to replace both manifolds and plan on a different turbo, I see no reason not to use the less expensive SD parts. That would open up the possibilities for other turbos as well (D66, 38R, etc) and you could still just as easily go with an aftermarket setup. I would advise you to go for the bellowed uppipes while you're at it too, since the original design is just a leak waiting to happen.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. And yes, def bellows. DarkStar - not sure if Sd pipes would bolt straight to the obs y-pipe, but I don't plan to use the obs turbo anyway.

I know I'm going to get some backlash on this one, but I'm actually thinking of using the stock sd turbo (gtp38, right) I have sitting on the shelf - someone gave it to me for nothing. I'm well aware of the surge issues, but considering the new manifolds and up pipes I need anyway, all I need is a pedestal to make it work. Plus I believe such a pedestal makes it much easier to change/upgrade turbos later. So, I'm thinking: go with the free turbo for now, spend the money elsewhere (HPOP, sticks, sprinngs, rods, etc) and see how it works out. From what I read, if surge becomes a problem, all it does is cook the turbo, at which point I would upgrade. Anyway - don't everybody jump on me at once for even bringing up the use of an sd turbo, it it seems that it may ale sense for me here money-wise. Plus, I'll star another rebuild thread where I'll lay out all my parts plans, so feel free to give it too me, then :-)