From bolts to clamps

[CanoeSniffer]

Getting rid of my early Chim manifolds and Y Piece and changing to the later clamp style- anything I need to know? Any gaskets involved, is there a good source for the V band clamps, is any jiggery pokery going to be required?

[Steve_D]

Racetech and perhaps others sell the clamps for about £25.
You just need to make sure all the mounting faces are clean. Fit the clamp ring and tighten a little then tap all around the clamp with a mallet, tighten some more...repeat. Do both clamps at the same time also making sure the down pipe is pointing the right way.

Please position the clamp bolts underneath they look so much better.

Steve

[bobfather]

Be careful not to use the clamp nuts to pull it together, they strip threads easily. Once you have it aligned and clamps in place, use a hammer to tap around the clamp ring while you're tightening. If you keep a turning force on the nut while you're tapping the clamp you'll find that it beds down quite easily and quickly

[Belle427]

I’ve just removed mine as the fitment isn’t perfect so slight blowing was present on the drivers side particularly and was annoying me.
I used some of this to seal up the joints as the exhaust paste tends to harden and fall out, only time will tell if it lasts but it is a very high quality product.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Permatex-RTV-Silicone-U...

I just wondered why you moved away from the flanged exhaust as this seems a better idea to me.

[v8sss]

Hi Mike,

I had the early bolt type manifolds on my V8S and never had any issues. The clamp type on my Griff were a total PITA in that they were impossible to line up and get a satisfactory seal. Last year I ditched them altogether and swapped to the ACT ones with the sports CATS, this was expensive but has eliminated the crappy originals and Y piece... also sounds awesome

Cheers,

Christian.

[angus337]

I'm not a fan of the V clamps either, and always struggle to get a good seal, each year when I swap over the Y piece.
They do look good with the Clive F YP though.

Next job is to get a set of the ACT manifolds. I cant really justify the cost of the Cats though, so planning to get a local fabricator to make up a couple of cheap ebay sports cats to fit. Should be good enough for the one day a year I'll need them fitted.

[Jon100p]

So what’s wrong with a bolted flange?

I’m guessing the change to clamps was for cost reduction and not an improved design. Also the clamp perhaps allows more misalignment to be accommodated so they didn’t need to be so accurate when fabricating manifolds and Y pieces.

Anyone know the reason they changed?

[CanoeSniffer]

I agree that the bolted flange is a better idea in principle, it’s the availability of replacement and aftermarket parts that has inspired the change.