Who makes the best 'race' manifold/exhaust for the 4-pot

[M Blur]

Assuming I go for a rather nice forged garry Kemp 910 and John Welch Stage4 turbo kit - I'll need a cracking tubular manifold, aggressive downpipe with perhaps an semi-external wastegate pipe and free flowing exhaust + 1 can.

who makes the best pipework for the 4 bangers..?

[karmavore]

No one makes the best or worst.

The only off the shelf option is an OEM design

Look here for details

[esprits4de]

I had mine at a very reknown mnaufacturer of ss exhaust systems, and aked him for such. His answer : ""ss becomes too stiff at the temperatures from the 4pot and will simply shear off ( there was a post on a decat pipe some time ago ) Lotus used a poured metal version because of the heat resistance ! Looks funky (SS manifold ) but you will need to afix the turbo with other means than the manifold !

[M Blur]

most race systems are midl steel for weight and cost so they can be replaced cheaply - then wrapped ro ceramic coated - I wouldn't use an OEM system for guttering in all honesty - q was whether anyone had tried and good exhaust builders who also make race systems.

The outlet is a simple double right angle - one can - easy peasy but the shape etc can stilbe played with and a racing can/baffles differes to a std one + imrpitance of keeping noise to acceptable limits so a packable can is best for this.

I have my pref up here in Scotland but was checking whether any race patterns had already been made up.

[Jonathan]

Have a word in Lotus' ear ?

I doubt I'll develop mine anywhere near yours apart from decat and a lighter box - I was tempted with a stainless system from Larini again (single exit).

Pat Pong (sure thats his name) has done a tubular mod on his S4 iirc on here, other than that you could almost prefab one yourself based on any noise restriction you need to have in place.

[CNH]

Check with Marcus from Germany or P.U.K http://freudhoefer.de/lotus/esprit/

I heard he was working on one but I recall the early experiments with the headers did not turn out well and they cracked.

[M Blur]

Thanks - will also check with John Welch and Gary re any patterns they've tried - there's not as much space as folks would think to put a banana in there - reckon best gains on down pipe tho that doesn't look too bad. Got a guy up here who makes race systems so wil go to him if no one else ventures forth.

Really to warrant the spec I'm going to Jonathan you'd want to go racing but no reason we can't discuss that down the line once you get the car together but appreciate we're coming from different angles. My car wont look like any Esprit before it by the time I'm finished..

Cheers

Jon

[Jonathan]

My car wont look like any Esprit before it by the time I'm finished..

[M Blur]

Looked at Marcus' 'X180R' system - looks a nice bit of kit and in keepingwiht the spec I'm briging together - will keep that on my list...

Edited August 11, 2006 by M Blur

[esprithk]

Looked at Marcus' 'X180R' system - looks a nice bit of kit and in keepingwiht the spec I'm briging together - will keep that on my list...

yes, that's what I ordered from Marcus, too (I ordered the full set)

(restoration project is not yet completed, so I cannot give comments about the pipe yet)