Don't suppose anyone knows how well the standard Zetec manifold flows compared to aftermarket ones?

Or more to the point, how much power will I be missing out on if I use this instead of an expensive one

This sort of thing -


[Edited on 24/3/14 by Skirrow]

Should say it's a standard 2.0l blacktop with ZX9R carbs and megajolt

And the manifold is actually like this one -

I considered this route, as it looked a nice easy (and cheap) way of getting the car on the road. Its got to be a massive compromise based on trying to squeeze the engine in to a small space (even the mondeos engine bay isnt huge) and the fact that bhp figures were largely unimportant for the sort of cars the xetec was fitted to.

If its to get you on thru IVA/on road with the view of replacing when time and money allows then go for it.

In the end I picked up a 2nd hand unused DIY manifold kit (check out ebay, circa £99) which Ive been making up myself. Much larger primarys and a more direct exit route. Even if its far from perfect, Im hoping it will be nice compromise between using the OE one, and spending a fair amount on a custom one.

Pics of mine:
http://loggyboy.com/images/Raw/Exhaust/

Cheers, car is already IVAed but I'm mid-way through converting from Pinto to Zetec and just found out that it'll be a few weeks to wait for the correct stainless one.

Trouble is the stainless one is an over the rail job and the cheap option above would be through the side panel so if I change later I'll have a big hole in the side to fill in.

Struggling to find ant info on the net that gives a rough idea of how much hp is gained with a stainless one. I know the standard one will likely be less, but if it's only 3-4hp I can live with it. If it's 10-15 then I'll hang around a few weeks!

Is this the sort of thing you went for? 421 ZETEC RWD DIY EXHAUST MANIFOLD KIT TO SUIT KIT CAR 45mm PRIMARIES 57mm TAIL

[Edited on 24/3/14 by Skirrow]

Friend of mine used the boggo manifold on his blacktop and saw around 160-170 max on it. So actually not too bad to start with. He did cut off the flange and welded on a single down pipe to create a bit more room as it was tight in his oval hot rod.

Cheers! Was only expecting 160ish anyway so might just give it a ago, at least for this summer

In fairness to the Blacktop one its way better than the Mondeo Silvertop one which was only of any use as a cast iron doorstop.

But compared to a proper 4 into 1 its small diameter, tight bends and short lengths will do nothing for the potential of the engine. No point putting lots of air in through your ZX9R carbs then strangling it when it tries to get the gasses out.

Is the ST170 one any good? It'll need a bit of chopping about to suit RWD obviously, and it'll be through the side panel, but it should be good for more power than you're after

Ford Focus ST170 - Exhaust Manifold 2001-2004

Good thing about the performance shorty manifolds is the flange is in exactly the same place as the standard one so you can fit the standard one to get you up and running and upgrade later if you want.

When I did mine I got a manifold like the one you have pictured off Ebay fairly cheap and I got an engineering place to make up a matching mating flange to fabricate the down pipe from but in hindsight I would actually have been cheaper just buying a standard Focus manifold and cutting the flange off of that because they are on Ebay all the time for £20 ish.

quote:

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Originally posted by me!
Is the ST170 one any good? It'll need a bit of chopping about to suit RWD obviously, and it'll be through the side panel, but it should be good for more power than you're after

Ford Focus ST170 - Exhaust Manifold 2001-2004

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I have used this on my 1.8 Silvertop, plenty of space under the bonnet, had a downpipe mad by Martin Keenan (Mk Engineering) the I welded the two together.

I think this will be as good as most of the off the shelf manifolds as they have usually been made for looks over performance I also run the ZX 9 carbs on megajolt

Cheers fellas,

Austin man, do you mean you have used the standard focus one? Like in my second photo of the full engine?