Well, I finally ponied up the cash to get an ATS 3-piece exhaust manifold for my truck before the current one breaks the ears off. It's sitting in a box on the floor, I'm excited about it and I'd post a picture but most of you know what it looks like. I'll take a few of the installation process and end result and post those up when I'm done.
It's nice, came with the EGT probe hole drilled/tapped, it's coated and it's supposedly lined up; wednesday after work will be lots of fun.

 

Should also see a slight egt drop.

 

I'm kinda disappointed because the former owner put the guage post turbo, I never drilled the stock manifold because I knew I'd be replacing it soon; so I won't be able to see how much of an EGT drop I'll get for sure.
It'll be good to have an accurate, pre-turbo reading. didn't want to get sticks until after that. But that's disappointing to think about, because I know I shouldn't get 370's without upgrading the turbo/downpipe. And when I get a d/p, I'm going to HAVE to get a stack. Well, at least I'm addicted to BOMBing my truck instead of any given substance.

 

awesome, glad I never got around to putting the manifold on and adjusting the valve lash...head gasket is popped. so I'm having Richard at Brown's Diesel get the head surfaced, install studs and get a mild port job. Fortunately between my tax refund and supposed stimulus check, it's almost enough to cover all that!

well, at least the head will be ready for a bigger hairdryer and sticks...too bad it's getting pushed back at least a year...

 

has anyone has problems with the three peice manifold?? i have heard from a few different people that hey had them crack and have went back to stock manifold..

 

nope i haven't had a problem with mine.... they are made of high silicon ductile iron that has been shotpinged to increase strength...... and they are WAY less prone to cracking than a stock manifold.....

 

At least you caught the head gasket

 

yeah, hopefully I caught it in time, truck is still parked, don't know if the head/block is messed up yet; money's been short and the few times I've needed to use a truck, one of my dad's trucks have been available to me as long as I put fuel in and bring it back cleaner than it left(I do the maintenance on them, anyway, so it's not a big deal).

never heard of any of the 3-piece manifolds cracking...I wonder if in any of those cases there are any turbo failures; just thinking those trucks may not have been idled/cooled down sufficiently before cutoff. they're not much more expensive than the stocker from dodge and the two that we've run have both lasted longer than a stocker...

 

I finally just took my truck to the shop, so maybe tomorrow I'll find out if it's bad or not. it's been a while since the gasket popped, it's been parked the whole time and I've been spending my money on the bike I bought a while back.

 

got the truck back, it looks awesome to see head studs by the valve covers, know it's planed and rebuilt and the ATS manifold is all nice looking still. between all that and a new set of Nitto 305's I've kissed about $2,800 goodbye. I keep trying to tell myself it's all worthwhile because I'm pretty broke now...