Which Exhaust Manifold Should I Buy

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I need to have the passenger side exhaust manifold changed on my truck. Everyone is saying stainless, but I just don't see this truck being worth SS manifolds. The truck itself is quite rusty, and the engine has >200K on it.

I have the following options:
SKP
Ultra-Power
ATP
Dorman (seems to currently be sold out?)

Obviously new studs and donut gasket.

Is any one of them better than the rest? Or are they all junk that will crack in a year or two?
 
How long do you plan on keeping the truck?
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Any of those cheap manifolds will probably be just fine for the remaining life of the truck. Some of them even include the studs and gasket too
 
Well it only gets a few thousand miles a year. It does have sentimental value, so I'll keep it longer than I probably should. But as long as it can keep towing my jeeps around and doesn't break completely in half from rust, I'll keep it.
 
Tube headers are prone to leaks. The metal moves too much 'cuz of heat cycling How bad is the manifold? Could it be brazed?
 
Just say NO to Dorman parts. I've used ATP once before on an Envoy and it seemed to work for for at least a year.
 
Originally Posted by rubberchicken
What about a used factory part from a wrecking yard ?
That might be a difficult part to remove from a car in the yard. Good practice though.
 
Originally Posted by andyd
Tube headers are prone to leaks. The metal moves too much 'cuz of heat cycling ...


Only if they are installed wrong.

The Ford Motorsport ones on my 5.0 in my Ranger have been on for 18 years. No cracks, rust, or anything
 
They see too many salt spray, there's not going to be any good manifolds in the junkyard. Plus, I'm not doing the work myself. It's going to a mechanic.

With the exception of the 70,000 mile 2005 F-250 I saw in the junkyard. New intake and exhaust manifolds! I wish I had the time to pull it to put the whole thing in mine.
 
Originally Posted by Miller88
With the exception of the 70,000 mile 2005 F-250 I saw in the junkyard. New intake and exhaust manifolds! I wish I had the time to pull it to put the whole thing in mine.
Trucks in the yard I used to go to were almost always picked clean. Especially the cargo vans.
 
Edit: 2001. A 2005 would be a different engine.

The only reason this one hadn't been touched is it was super rusty. Cab and bed colapsed. Must have only been a plow truck.
 
Dorman and ATP seem to be the same when I was looking at them for a 2000 5.4. Dorman makes nothing, they buy from the same supplier as every other aftermarket seller for this sort of thing and the exhaust manifolds are okay, ditto the ATP. Even if they are made in China its no big deal, its only a pig iron casting with very little grinding to finish it.
Don't throw you money away on SS headers for this thing but do buy or fab some inner fender liner extensions, they will prevent the new ones from rotting. BTW I put those on 6 years ago and they are still fine.

You can get poly sheet on ebay cheap enough and cut your own, affix to existing liner with Christmas trees. these are for an old F150 but you get the idea what your making, these may fit with a little cutting.

https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Accessories-Guard-Ford-F-150/dp/B000J38SAC
 
Dorman and ATP are junk you put on to sell it. Get OEM off eBay. Just did my 01 f150 5.4 a couple months ago. Got Dorman studs, don't want a broken stainless stud in the motor. Got a Dorman manifold that was cracked new and the ports are smaller anyway. Returned it and got OEM. No donut gasket on mine.

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We have a mobile broken bolt extractor business in our area. Ford keeps him busy. Not cheap but he's good. I just gave him a call rather than buy the tools and stress over it.
 
Good advice he gave. Look at the holes on the manifold. You will see only 2 (iirc) are smaller and the others are larger to allow for movement with heat and cooling cycles. Make sure they are tightened with the stud centered and not just hanging off all of the holes. Also make sure all exhaust hangers are there and in good shape. He believed this is one reason the small studs break off. Apparently Ford diesels are terrible. Sometimes all the studs snap off.
 
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OE are not great either, they rot out and crack also, six of one half a dozen of the other. OE doesn't seem to last any longer, just sayin.
Why not SS studs?
 
No point in arguing about it, I have put a few of these on over the years using aftermarket parts with the Ford SS stud kit per the TSB and never had a failure or comeback.
I did use copper nuts and that helps for future repairs. SS is softer than a regular stud and easier to drill if you have to for some reason.

My point is if the OE part is rubbish why take a second bite of the apple. Its like the ATP intake for GM 3800 and Dorman oil pans for that engine are better than OE, they may be crap but just not a crappy as the OE, at least the egr tube doesn't burn through because they used a steel sleeve and the pan doesn't rot and fits properly.
 
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