Pete's Manifold: Slow and steady!

Yesterday, I got the first cut made. Today, I got the start of runners #2 and 3 mostly done. 

A lovely package came, too. In it was more laser cut flange goodness!

Those are the entry flanges that conform to the T3 twin scroll "standard" from Garrett. I have yet to fit them up to see how exact they are, and as with anything like this, there will need to be some adjusting for everything to fit perfectly together, but they honestly look darn close. Chris, who does this for me does excellent work. If you need flanges done, hit me up and I'll give you his contact info!

So, here's what happened with the pieces I cut yesterday:

I found some really useful hose clamps at Pep Boys when I was shopping for Chrysler crap:

 They are made by Ideal, and yes, they aren't as cheap as normal hose clamps, but, when you don't have to use a tool to tighten them up, they sure are more convenient to use.

I started cutting the straight pipe for the runners:

 The angles look funny because nothing is sitting correctly since I haven't cut he straight section from #3 to fit onto the runner from #2. This is a nice, low angle merge that will flow well and create very little turbulence. Now cutting and shaping that straight leg to fit is going to be monstrously hard to do with the tools I have, but, I will certainly make it happen.

I am going to finish mocking up the #2 and 3 merge and upturn before I handle #1 and 4. Notice the pairing of 2-3 and 1-4. This is the correct way to merge a twin scroll setup, with exhaust pulses 180* off, basically out of phase. When coupled with a twin- or divided-scroll housing on a turbo, this allows for a much more efficient system that will spool faster and allow wilder cam profiles since there is a significant and beneficial increase in the pressure ratio between the intake side and exhaust side of the engine. This is very important since the turbine wheel forms a huge restriction. Nearly anything that can be done to increase the pressure ratio by lowering the exhaust pressure is a very good thing since it allows the engine to breath in more clean, compressed air/fuel mixture, much like a properly built and tuned header. Hmmmmm . . . I wonder where those ideas came from? heh