Thread: TD5 Exhaust Manifold from China

yeah....all good points...bit ITS SHINY!

I bought one of these shiny exhaust headers for my '03 Disco and installed it about four weeks ago. Cost about $400 from an internet auction site.

Firstly, while the welding on the outside might look lovely, on the inside mine was a "dog's breakfast". The joints had not been cut or lined up properly and there were significant 'lips' where the pipes butted up against each other and the welds were very rough. It took all of Sunday morning with the dremel to try and reduce the size of the lips and smooth out what welds I could reach until my care factor was less than the pain in my fingers.

After lunch came the installation drama. I discovered after I took off the original exhaust header that on the side of the head under the header is a port that leads into the water jacket of the head (thanks to the RAVE manual). This is sealed with a bung that screws into the head and the o-ring on this bung was leaking coolant down the side of the head. This can be undone with an allen key, however it is a 12mm one so I had to make a special trip to buy one this size. Once I had it out (stopped all of the coolant leaking out with a champagne cork) and replaced the o-ring with a generic one from a kit I bought at a supermarket I found that when I tried to screw it back in, it sat about 2mm proud of the surface of the head. This is not a problem with the genuine header but the chinese stainless header comes with a base plate that is meant to sit flush the entire length of the header so there was no way it could be installed without modification.

About 1.5x hours later I had used the angle grinder to good effect and cut a depression in the header base plate that could accommodate the water jacket bung. It was about this time that I realised that the new header could not be installed with the A/C compressor still bolted in its position so this was moved out of the way. Once the new header was in position, I realised that the A/C compressor bolt hole closest to the exhaust header was actually making contact with the header preventing the re-installation of the A/C compressor bolts - they couldn't line up with their respective holes. I thought about just grinding away a curved section in the middle of the bolt bracket on the compressor but even then the bolt would not have fit! Oh well, nothing to do but to cut the whole bolt sleeve off the A/C compressor to allow the header to remain in place and just hope that the 3x remaining bolts were enough to secure the A/C compressor!!!

Once everything was finally back together, it was started and we noticed a terrible noise at idle. This worked out to be the exhaust flange knocking on the transmission bell housing (?) (after-market exhaust) suggesting that the position of the exhaust was slightly different with the new header as it did not touch with the original header. Additionally, there was a funny and noticeable 'whine' at about 2,500rpm. However, both the wife and I felt that the 'seat of the pants' test suggested an improvement in acceleration.

To sum up, slightly better throttle response but we now have a whine at 2,500rpm, the exhaust has to be tied away from the bell housing with a metal cable tie and there is only 3x bolts securing the A/C compressor! All was OK for a week . . .

About 3 weeks ago, a terrible racket started coming from the engine bay at around 2000+rpm. I thought the bearings in the turbo had gone. A trip to the independent today has revealed a defunct MAF (explains the poor performance lately which the new header was supposed to help with) and he tells me the turbo is in fact fine and the terrible racket is from a crack in the new exhaust header

So, reader beware, these may look all pretty and shiny on your computer screen and in theory be a lovely idea, however the reality is that in the end you may regret your purchase - just spend the extra and get the real ones that Alisport or Land Rover Tuning sells.

Sheldon

PS. So far the A/C compressor is still where I left it