Are they really worth the money compaired to sportex.ashley.janspeed etc
Opinions?
Cheers
Are they really worth the money compaired to sportex.ashley.janspeed etc
Opinions?
Cheers
I once went to the TLE workshops in Leeds approx 30 yrs ago to collect a manifold and system I bought off them for a NA Cosworth engine. I looked on with great interest at the craftmanship of the workers hand building their exhausts. The quality of their work was second to none and all the welds were gas welded.
The only fault I could say that some of their manifold primary sizes were far too large and it affected performance but I would think by now that problem will have been resolved.
As they say you get what you pay for. If you want a cheap mass produced manifold maybe one of the others will do the job once you have made them fit, if you want a manifold that looks the buisness and fits as it should do out of the box then go for a TLE.
I've also seen exhaust manifold builders quality like Tony Low. They are all indeed very very nice build. And very often looks impressive. But I also noted time after time, most of these manifolds builders use tubes WAY to big (and I don't want to talk about lengths I feel incorrect). For sure the can make the right diameters and lengths but seems like they have done little research comparing to the welding skills they have.
At the end, it is size and lengths that matters, not welds. For this reason I've seen much better results from very cheap "production" manifolds as from high class welded / bent pieces. See it as highly polished inlet ports look well but do not always make the most power (in this example they probably never will).
I've tried a few different exhaust on Escorts over the years. I tried an Ashley one once, but the fit was very poor. The Janspeed was nice for the money. The 105 Speed one looked very well made with good looking primary pipes. I've not tried the most expensive ones like Tony Law or Simpsons.
After all said and done, I favoured the Janspeed. Why? because I wanted reasonable quality, but not at the expense of performance. The 105 speed item lost me power through the rev range and top end! I couldn't argue with the dyno. The 4-1 design looked great, but just did not agree with the tune of my engine (its a road car). It probably would have been great with some race cams, but not for my fast road spec Pinto. The Janspeed is a 4-2-1 and suited my engine tune. The quality of its build is what I would call good - but probably nowhere near as nice as Tony Law one.
If I was doing things again, I wouldn't bother with any of them and have a bespoke one made in stainless throughout, made to the exact dimensions I need to best suit my engine's particular tune. I know this is an expensive way to go, but that way it would be perfect.
I mentioned the TL exhaust manifold we had on our Escort Cosworth had too larger primaries, no Rolling Road operator could ever eliminate a masive flat spot at 4000rpm as hard and as many times as they tried. The only one that managed to do it fitted 38mm chokes replacing the 41's in the 48 Dellortos. The engine pulled like a Diesel but was restricted at the top end. In the end we swapped the massive manifold for a 4.2.1 Ashley item which looked tiny and lost in the engine bay compared to the TLE but it worked giving better mid range power with no loss of top end.
I have tried to explain to people that big is not always the best but most car owners preffer to have a big flash manifold that impresses their mates when they open their car bonnet instead of one that gives better performance.
Very little thought is ever given to the manifold design and function, I know of many Dyno operators that have their own specific manifold to dyno the engine only then for the owner of the engine to put an entirely different one on when the engine's installed in the car.
I always try to spend money in relation to the power gain they give. Even if they can make a correct diameter / length exhaust manifold at these expensive company's, I would still not order and use cheaper manifolds giving me the same power as one impressive nice looking item.
Believe me, when you select the right diameter and length from the existing cheap manifolds, it will be difficult to find a real notable gain with spending a fortune on a purpose made manifold. I would spend my money elsewhere.
I did tried a lot of different manifold on many different kind of engines over the years and never seen a "nice looking" manifold making more power as one welded like I did myself. Looks don't matter. Lengths and diameters does.
PS: company's like Maniflow can make cheap purpose made manifolds. I've ordered on for MGB (only available with tubes way to big) and was very affordable. Maybe Ashley can do the same.
Last edited by Dyno; 08-06-2019 at 11:23.
Thanks for all the imput guys all very interesting opinions.its good to get the knowledge from you guys with the experience of trying and testing.
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