Spitfire 1500 Exhaust Manifold woes

[blubayou]

Hi all,

The 1500 style cast manifold on my MK1V is blowing at the joint to the 2 into 1 steel tubes.

This is mainly because the cast face is simply not flat.

I'm considering junking the manifold & replacing it with the club Bell manifold, hopefully this will then be a permanent fix.

The real question is can I mate this to the stock system which is fairly new?

[Clive]

Yes, but I have a feeling an adapter piece is required ( unless you have a "sports,/extra loud" exhaust. But enquire at the club shop)

That joint is a pain. I solved it by filing both mating faces flat, retailing the manifold 10mm and using big cap head bolts that could be really tightened up. That is/was on my Toledo, where here is no 4 branch available. But a 4 branch is a good idea...

[blubayou]

Thanks Clive,

As a last attempt I've fitted another downpipe I had with a new gasket, the fit in terms of chassis clearance is much better, the old one was extremely tight to the bellhousing.

Just nipped up the third bolt, start to tighten a bit, 1 good , 2 good, 3 good, then a bit more, 1 good, 2 good, 3.....it's getting looser. One pulled thread.

I'm ordering the tubular manifold now. I'll let you know how I get on.

[blubayou]

Well my TSSC manifold came last week. Took nine weeks, but I believe they're ordered in batches so I'm probably unlucky.

Firstly it looks nicely finished, is a one piece system and of standard diameter, just what I wanted.

Most of all if fits very nicely. A little bit springy getting it on to the head, but it drops straight in and clears the chassis & belhousing neatly.

However, to answer my own question, it does not mate straight on to a stock 1500 exhaust. It does come with a short extension which brings it out right between the centre rails so you can easily modify the system accordingly.