Isis V3 Turbo Manifold (SCH40) "Review"

[cbh148]

Mods, please move this if I've posted in the wrong section. My apologies.

Since I could not find any reviews (or any non-commercial information for that matter) for the latest Isis manifold, I decided I'd be the guinea pig and give it a try.

A bit of backstory:
My SR swap came with a low mileage Megan bottom mount manifold and after about 8 months of street use (in my possession), it cracked around the turbo flange. I had it patched up by a professional just to get me to a drift event that weekend, not expecting it to last a week, but surprisingly it made it 4 months before finally re-cracking along those same welds (cracks were on welds AND pipe, not just one). I wasn’t surprised that it cracked since they’re so notorious for tearing up, however I must say that I had a CXRacing bottom mount manifold back when I rocked a CA18, and even though it didn’t have the little support bracket that the Megan SR20 manifold has, it never gave me a single issue. Go figure.

So at this point, my options were to find a stock SR turbo manifold (cheap), ball out with a DOC/FullRace manifold (expensive), or to try the new Isis V3 manifold (fair). I had considered the Isis V2 since a couple of my friends have them and they do seem noticeably beefier than the Megan (and most every other Taiwanese 304 stainless manifold), but I figured I’d probably crack the V2 (my friend just cracked his yesterday). Furthermore, I refuse to run a stock manifold because, even though I’m sure they’re all fine and dandy for response/durability, I just flat-out cannot stand how low-pitched the exhaust note is with the stock turbo manifold. (It’s not that it’s such a bad sound, because it isn’t. But rather, my absolute favorite sounding engine is a proper high-pitch SR, which I figure requires a tubular manifold and ideally some nice cams and external wastegate. In other words, I love the high-pitch sound so much that the low-pitch exhaust note is inherently disappointing to me. Trivial to some, but vital to me since this is a fun street car to hit drift events with, not anything serious.)

I figured I’d try the Isis V3 and see what happened because, as of this posting (June 2014), there is zero information on the interwebs about the Isis V3 manifold. Literally nothing, other than retailer pages selling them and a single guy that posted some pics of one on a wooden table since he’s a dealer. Also, my friends at Built To Win Performance hooked me up with a nice discount on it, and said they’d build me a nice custom manifold if the Isis ended up being garbage. So after showing them all the pictures and information that was out there on the V3’s, they told me that it appeared like a stout manifold. They said the welds looked good in the pictures. So I laid down the cash for it.

First (and only) impressions:
Well you know how the hamburgers on the fast food menus look so goddam beautiful, but the one you actually get usually looks like it was slept on? Well. . . that. That happened.

The welds were laughable. It was painfully obvious that what they do is slap the manifold together using typical Stevie Wonder bubblegum welds, then go over those welds with some attempts at “pretty” welds for that DOC/FullRace look. Well I don’t buy it. Er, well I did, but fortunately Enjuku let me return that booboo with the quickness, and Built To Win put that money toward building me a legit custom manifold that will have an external wastegate setup (Tial MVS) for that super sexy high-pitch SR sound I want.

Now before you hop on your angsty elitist high horse and tout “well what did you expect for a bottom mount manifold that’s literally half the price of the DOC/FullRace manifold?” – I didn’t know what to expect, but I know it’s the first Taiwanese brand manifold to be made out of WeldEl schedule 40 piping, and with a pretty much risk-free shot on my hands (since I knew I could get my money back if need be), then why the hell not? Isis has improved some of their products with revisions and whatnot, so it didn’t seem impossible for them to just randomly get a turbo manifold sorted out. However, unfortunately for us, the Isis V3 is about as sorted out as a train wreck.

Now onto the pics. Here’s most everything I snapped of this monstrosity before promptly returning it. Having not actually used this manifold, you now see why I put quotation marks in the thread title.

[EDacIouSX]

Originally Posted by cbh148

the Isis V3 is about as sorted out as a train wreck.

[vJilly]

casey i see you homie.

[WERDdabuilder]

Originally Posted by cbh148

Well you know how the hamburgers on the fast food menus look so goddam beautiful, but the one you actually get usually looks like it was slept on?

the Isis V3 is about as sorted out as a train wreck.

[cbh148]

Originally Posted by vJilly

casey i see you homie.

awwww shit, Vince up in my zilvia?! what's good playa. i might be hunting for SR lifters (aka old Maxima ve30de lifters) in the junkyard tomorrow if you're bored. pretty sure mine just pooped out.

[vJilly]

Originally Posted by cbh148

awwww shit, Vince up in my zilvia?! what's good playa. i might be hunting for SR lifters (aka old Maxima ve30de lifters) in the junkyard tomorrow if you're bored. pretty sure mine just pooped out.

this was actually nick.😡 but either way dang son that's sucks me and Vince share this jazz lol that mani looks terrible but I can't talk... getting a used mani for my ka-t 🙊

[EJ8 944]

Those welds at the collector look like molten diarrhea

[tricky_ab]

Thank you for taking the time to post up a review, and including pictures to boot. Those welds look rather terrible, and the overall quality doesn't fit the asking cost.

Originally Posted by cbh148

the Isis V3 is about as sorted out as a train wreck.

[corkscrew]

pretty disappointing review. i was really curious about this manifold and from the enjuku pics it looked pretty legit...guess not

[Trinidrift3]

posts a thread saying its a review



doesn't post a review
SICK MAN

[ZX88]

lol wow i was considering this.... wonder what enjuku has to say about this.

[delado]

They're gonna some how hop in this thread and smear the usual "we've sold over 10,000 of these with zero returns". blah blah blah. I was gonna buy this shit too. A DOC manifold will be my next purchase.

[Livinstrong]

Originally Posted by ZX88

lol wow i was considering this.... wonder what enjuku has to say about this.

I was myself, especially after reading another review of the same manifold sold by XS Power... http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=565518

It's funny; Mikester also noted about the questionable/missing welds on his manifold, too.

[Matej]

Is this made by the same Isis that is currently taking over Iraq?

[Nikzilla]

Originally Posted by Matej

Is this made by the same Isis that is currently taking over Iraq?

Probably why the welds look like diarrhea

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[simmode1]

Originally Posted by Matej

Is this made by the same Isis that is currently taking over Iraq?

I doubt it. The ones in Irag really seem to have their stuff together, comparatively.

[economix]

Well the timing of this thread is super bummer cause I have a V3 strapped to an RS3871 in my garage for about a month now. I thought the pix looked great but when I inspected the interior tight welds they were standard, no-nickel stack looking goobers. Haven't returned it yet but also haven't installed it yet except on the turbo (head's off motor). For nearly $400 I mighta got a different exhaust manifold, not that there's anything wrong with the one I have, just..thought it differently like the pix led me to believe.

[jr_ss]

You can get a Tomei for $100 more, why waste your money on a no-name colostomy bag?

[dorkidori_s13]

im curious if isis is getting these from the same people who are producing the xspower one in china...

[WERDdabuilder]

Originally Posted by jr_ss

You can get a Tomei for $100 more, why waste your money on a no-name colostomy bag?

Because in the 240sx community, 100$ = 1million.

[DoriftoPnoy]

It's hit and miss with these cheap manifolds. I have been dailying one from Megan since 2006 and it has never cracked *knock on wood lol*.

But as most people will say... Pay once, cry once. Unless you like to gamble.

[Enjuku Racing]

If you want a super high quality exhaust manifold. PLEASE BUY ONE!!

For the money the ISIS products are great. The ISIS V3 manifold is a great middle ground between the thin walled exhaust manifolds and the high end SCH40 ones. Again, it is your choice as a consumer (cost vs benefit)

If you want an awesome Hand Tiged Manifold, we offer DOC Racing, Synapse, Full Race...etc

http://www.enjukuracing.com/categori...rbo-Manifolds/

These ISIS Manifolds are mig welded SCH40. Then pulsed over with a tig to give it a nicer finish. The pulse can not reach some areas, which is why it looks like its "missing welds".

Sincerely,
Ken Harrison

[Prok0]

To sort of expand on what Ken has said,

We love to sell DOC manifolds and have a great relationship with that manufacturer (I even have one on my personal car, and we run them in BOTH of our race cars for Formula D)

The issue is, when we as sales people try to move the DOC stuff people all too often are quick to complain about the price (which for a hand tig welded, made in the US manifold is honestly a STEAL) they move to the lower cost manifolds such as Megan Racing, ISIS, etc. but somehow still expect the higher quality like DOC. If you want extremely high quality fabrication and high grade materials you have to pay for it, there is really no way around it.

Most lower cost manufacturers are working to improve fitment and quality, but they are not at the level of manufacturers like DOC. The V3 does have a much heavier gauge piping so it should be a marked improvement in longevity over the previous manifolds, but overall build quality and welding is obviously not on quite the same level of DOC, but then again the considerably lower price point reflects that (coming in at over 45% less than the DOC manifold).

Bottom line, if you want the best in quality materials and fab, go DOC, if you want a stronger manifold that will work well and carries good support and warranty from the manufacturer you can go with the ISIS V2 or V3 manifolds.

[Sileighty_85]

Originally Posted by Matej

Is this made by the same Isis that is currently taking over Iraq?

Nah XS Power and SSAC are in their own category of shittyness



I like ISIS products, I've used a a few of their products in my builds. Ive used their RB25 manifold, front mount IC core, RB25 short shifter, and V1 control arms on my S14. only issue ive had were the heim joints squeak after a year or so of use. But hey they are functional. They are a great cheap alternative to most ridiculously priced non critial items IE Greddy Style manifolds.

Not to mention great customer service if you have issues with the product

[Munki]

ewwwwwww /\

[EJ8 944]

Originally Posted by Sileighty_85

Nah XS Power and SSAC are in their own category of shittyness

But if you see this thread http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=565518, you'll see these two manifolds are nearly identical in build and quality...

[Prove It]

I've had countless ISIS products on my car. Never had a problem with one. The welds look the same on the suspension arms but never had one crack, break, ect. You get what you pay for

[Sileighty_85]

Originally Posted by EJ8 944

But if you see this thread http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=565518, you'll see these two manifolds are nearly identical in build and quality...

Regardless, I will never ever buy another XS/ SSAC product ever after my experience with them

http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=98133&page=2

[cbh148]

Originally Posted by Trinidrift3

posts a thread saying its a review



doesn't post a review
SICK MAN

go re-read the original post to see where this was already addressed, mr. SICK DUDE MAN BRO.

Originally Posted by jr_ss

You can get a Tomei for $100 more, why waste your money on a no-name colostomy bag?

Because the Tomei's seem to be just as bad as all the Taiwanese manifolds. They crack and they're made out of the typical thin mandrel bent 304 stainless steel rather than the beefy schedule 40 WeldEl piping that the Isis V3 is made of. Seems like pretty good incentive to try it to me (although, like mentioned in the original post, I'm having a custom manifold built at BuiltToWin.)

Originally Posted by dorkidori_s13

im curious if isis is getting these from the same people who are producing the xspower one in china...

Sure does look like it

[Gar9854]

Why do people keep wasting money on after market replacement manifolds? Stock manifold extrude honed has been proven time and time again.