Not to hijack your thread, but I'm kind of curious about this myself. I have to replaced my turbo gasket so it occured to me, maybe I should buy a new manifold
The disparities in pricing among manifolds are amazing. Megan manifolds are like $170, there are a few in the $500 range, and quite a few in the $1k range. I don't see an significant differences although I'm sure there are workmanship issues. I dunno.