Bent flange

[Louis]

My manifolds flange has bent inwards towards the decat, and i'm worried that bending it back will lead to it snapping. I don't really want to get a whole new manifold, but had been thinking if i heat it and bend it back, then run a few beads of weld over it I might be able to strengthen it slightly. Has anyone done a similar repair?

Annoyingly I lost one side of my cat spring kit Bloody expensive for what you get!

 

[Louis]

bump. Anyone repaired the flange before?

 

[Mr R.]

How far is it bent mate? If it's not far then knocking it back will be fine.

I take it it's gone rusty for it to bend?

 

[JamesBryan]

Got any pics of it?

 

[Louis]

How far is it bent mate? If it's not far then knocking it back will be fine.

I take it it's gone rusty for it to bend?

I think having a cheap badly fitting decat has meant too much force has been applied to that flange and it's been weakened over time.

It's bent pretty far, and i'm worried bending it back will make it snap. I'll attempt with plenty of heat. Ideally i'd take the manifold off, but that's a lot of work.

 

[Louis]

Got any pics of it?

I can get some tomorrow.

 

[Mr R.]

You'll be surprised how far you can bend it back.

A picture would help though mate.

 

[bloke]

chop the flanges off and weld a v band on instead.

 

[JamesBryan]

If it's bent quite a lot, then bending it back could probably fatigue the metal.

 

[Louis]

chop the flanges off and weld a v band on instead.

I've only got access to mig, and I have no idea what a v-band is. 😂

You'll be surprised how far you can bend it back.

A picture would help though mate.

I'm worried that it'll just bend again when i refit the spring kit.

 

[JamesBryan]

This is a v band clamp

 

[Mr R.]

This is a V band mate, one half welds to the manifold the other to the cat.

 

[JamesBryan]

Will you get a decent weld between the stainless v band and the cast iron manifold @Phase1sr?

 

[Mr R.]

Will you get a decent weld between the stainless v band and the cast iron manifold @Phase1sr?

Are we talking about a 172/182 manifold mate?

 

[Louis]

I presume the best bet for a vband is through a proper exhaust place or someone who can use TIG, rather than messing around with MIG. What sort of price would I be talking for one of those to be fitted?

 

[JamesBryan]

Are we talking about a 172/182 manifold mate?

Yeah mate.

 

[Mr R.]

Yeah mate.

They're stainless mate so will be fine. [emoji106]

 

[JamesBryan]

They're stainless mate so will be fine. [emoji106]

Are they! Didn't know that.

 

[Mr R.]

Are they! Didn't know that.

Yes mate. The flanges are mild steel that's why they rust, I've never seen a rusty 172 or 182 manifold.

 

[JamesBryan]

Yes mate. The flanges are mild steel that's why they rust, I've never seen a rusty 172 or 182 manifold.

Makes sense.

 

[bloke]

I presume the best bet for a vband is through a proper exhaust place or someone who can use TIG, rather than messing around with MIG. What sort of price would I be talking for one of those to be fitted?

will be fine with mig.

 

[Louis]

will be fine with mig.

What diameter would i require for the manifold? And doable whilst on the car?

 

[bloke]

What diameter would i require for the manifold? And doable whilst on the car?

not sure on the size sorry. can do it on the car but just a bit fiddly welding around the top, if you want you can unbolt the manifold from the head and drop it back and down, that weill give you more room around it.

 

[Niall]

Do you not need some sort of flex though? What with the springs of the fitting kit being missing in a V band?

 

[leeds2592]

Do you not need some sort of flex though? What with the springs of the fitting kit being missing in a V band?

I thought this as no matter how hard I try, I can't get a good seal on the mani to cat joint.

Toyed with the idea of having a flexi welded in place but, for obvious reasons, most places want to have the mani off to do this which means dropping the subframe = £££

 

[JP83]

No input, apart from what a thread title.

 

[JamesBryan]

I think the springs are there just to keep pressure on the nuts tbh to stop them rattling loose.

 

[bloke]

could weld a short flexi in if you wanted but seen plenty running without anything, as long as mounts are good shouldn't be much of an issue.

the pms 'ball joint' is a good set up.

 

[R3k1355]

Yea a solid manifold->cat joint is nothing new.

If you're worried about the engine pitching and putting stress on the join then you could always fit poly engine mounts?

 

[leeds2592]

could weld a short flexi in if you wanted but seen plenty running without anything, as long as mounts are good shouldn't be much of an issue.

the pms 'ball joint' is a good set up.

Yea a solid manifold->cat joint is nothing new.

If you're worried about the engine pitching and putting stress on the join then you could always fit poly engine mounts?

I've just fitted brand new febi upper gearbox and engine mounts and my dogbone is poly bushed so I assume it'd be fine.

How hard is it to weld a v band in situ without removing the manifold? I was quoted £250 to remove my manifold, weld in a flexi and put it all back together as the guy wanted to do it 'properly' and take the manifold off. Seems there should be enough room under there to do it?

 

[JamesBryan]

Should be enough room, if not just take the manifold off and drop it down a bit to give you more room. It won't come out without taking the subframe off.

 

[Louis]

How likely are you to strip something when removing the manifold? Most manifold bolts i've come across (albeit on older cars) are properly seized.

 

[JamesBryan]

You could be lazy and support the engine from underneath and remove the upper engine mount, then lower it back down.

That'd probably work too.

 

[bloke]

Never had problems with the bolts.

 

[Louis]

A pic of my flange:

You can kind of see how it's almost twisted on the bottom one. I think I'll get it on axle stands this weekend and make some sort of brace from some 3mm steel and buzz that on. Grinder will soon sort out that rust

 

[Mr R.]

Just as I thought, it's bent because of the rust.

Either do what you've just said or replace the manifold with a non rusty one. Is it a 172 mate?

 

[Louis]

Just as I thought, it's bent because of the rust.

Either do what you've just said or replace the manifold with a non rusty one. Is it a 172 mate?

182 mate.

 

[Mr R.]

182 mate.

Oh. Not easy to change the manifold then.

 

[Louis]

Had a go at repairing this today so thought i'd update.

Got it glowing with a blow torch and I carefully positioned it in the correct position using the little 'cup' to make sure the hole was the right shape and not distorted. I attacked it with a wire brush then ran over it with a few beads of weld which has now made it pretty solid. In the future I might have a go at welding some more steel to it, but for the time being this will do. Ideally it needs to be done on a ramp, but i managed it on axle stands on my back. I'll grab some picture tomorrow, but coupled with a genuine fitting kit it's finally looking decent. Fingers crossed there's no blowing when I fire it up tomorrow. (I was letting the silicone set tonight).

 

[Louis]

Well that's fucked it