Exaust Manifolds

kustomizingkid

kustomizingkid

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I've been tossing a lot of ideas around for my exhaust on my car. When I finally get the motor out i want to do something because it's far easier to pull the manifolds with the motor out.

I would love to go kooks, but i can't justify spending that much money on just headers. Other than kooks my list of options are as follows.

Ford Racing shorties
96-98 cobra
stock

After tossing around all the options I think I finally decided to stick with stock, with a few modifications. I was thinking that I would cut the cats off and weld straight tubing on to the manifolds. Deleting the cats should open up the flow a little bit and it will get me by until I can justify kooks. Has anyone else modified the stockers?
 
there are some from ford racing that you can try but you have to modify the steering shaft, honsetly in my personal opion kooks is the best way to go.
 
Do yourself a favor and weld flanges onto the manifolds so that you can easily unbolt stuff in the future. Unless you are going to a major power adder you don't need to toss your stockers.
 
The stock manifolds are horrible for flow, you'll never acheive maximum potential with them, cats or no cats.

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They are simply "Tee Logs" with virtually no concern for flow. The "shorties" can be used but I believe need modified as well as the modding the steering shaft joint. Long tubes require custom modification to fit. Long tubes, while best for flow, will not allow the tranny to be dropped without pulling the entire drivetrain.

Enter the 3/4 length Kooks...

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Pretty much a bolt-on deal even though the steering shaft joint may or may not require modification. Considering the confines of the application, they flow well and allow access to drop the tranny if needed.

Justification of the price is a personal opinion, but if you're already pulling the motor and modifying the exhaust, I suggest you're not saving much for the tradeoffs considering the whole is the sum of the parts.
 
I'm well aware of how crummy the stockers are, and would love to have the kooks. That being said I have a slightly limited budget so I don't think I could wswing buying the kooks right now.
 
You can get Cobra ones for cheap! Less than $100 for a set. Although my engine is an 04 and I used 03 manifolds, you can too. The 03 manifolds are plentiful on eBay and have MUCH better flow. The larger ports on the manifolds will not match the ports on your heads, but being larger its not a critical problem. Plus they are true manifolds, no cats attached. I had a custom piece made the driver's side and a cat delete for the passenger to mate it up to stock exhaust for now.

And FYI, with exhaust dropped (not removed) its very possible to remove and install the manifolds with engine in car. I had to do it. Takes a few varieties of ratchets and extensions.

edit: You will have to mod the steering shaft. But Jeremi found a MUCH better solution than I did. All he needed was a single shaft piece from Flaming River. Basically the stock knuckle gets in the way and things have to be shifted around. I will most likely "clean" mine up and do it the way he did.

edit 2: http://members.tccoa.com/392bird/birdworka1.htm <-- thats the way I did it, pretty easy but $200 in parts versus $30.
 
wasn't that black Gen 2 that runs 11's in the 1/4 mile still using the stock exhaust manifolds untill a few months ago? If so then they can't be all that bad, can they?

I like the idea of using the cobra manifolds since they are fairly cheap & do not have a cat welded to them.
 
turborich said:
wasn't that black Gen 2 that runs 11's in the 1/4 mile still using the stock exhaust manifolds untill a few months ago? If so then they can't be all that bad, can they?
Click to expand...

Forced induction can mask a lot of shortcomings. LOL
 
Hmm, maybe I will just look for cobra manifolds. I've been putting off my motor swap for various reasons and this is one of the last things I want to figure out before going ahead with it.

Unity what gasgets did you use with your cobra manifolds?
 
Yes, those will work. Will you see gains? Probably like 5 rear wheel horsepower.
 
shorties suck, sorryif that was rude do the kooks bolt right in with pipe modifacation and cat moving. o2 sens would probably be an issue ?:runaway: will i need to weld in some bungs for the pipes. yeah i said bungs. try not to lose it. :lol: :lol: is there o2 bungs for the first 02s. just wonderin
 
The answer is yes you can have your bungs, you just have to tell Bill when you order them, and you can also have them coated or uncoated. I sign up with Driller on the stockers, but if you are running on a tight budget then putting on headers, replumbing costs for pipes and of course mufflers is going to get you into some serious cash.
 
I have a welder and acess to a pipe bender so those costs arent that much of a concern, Kooks themselves are what expensive. There are a lot of little costs when it comes to swapping a motor and these add up to be quite a bit.
 
I just picked up some 01 Cobra manifolds locally for $25. The manifold dillema is done, now I just have to decide wether or not to delete egr.
 
kustomizingkid said:
I just picked up some 01 Cobra manifolds locally for $25. The manifold dillema is done, now I just have to decide wether or not to delete egr.
Click to expand...

I though the 01 manifolds were pretty much what we had? The 03+ have larger ports thus better flow. No?
 
I'll post up pics when they are in my posesion (My grandpa picked them up because they were down the street from him). They aren't headers, but they are much better than the stock Mark units. They also have bolt on flanges for both sides.

What all is involved with deleting EGR? Block of plate on the intake and block off on the manifold, and a tune to turn it off?
 
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