exhaust manifold options...
 

i havnt done much looking but im guessing there isnt much in the area of aftermarket exhaust manifolds, if there is id like if sombody can direct me towards it. otherwise i was wondering if i could port the manifold and ceramic coat it if i would see any worthy gains, thinking about extrude honing too but i kno that could be pricey. lmk what you guys think.. thanks

Ceramic coating or thermal wrap may net you a slight gain by reducing spool up time. For mine, I designed my own manifold which I'm having fabricated by a local motorcycle shop that specializes in turbo installations.

There was an aftermarket TO4 flanged manifold on eBay a few years back. I have no idea who made it, thats the only one I've ever seen.
Its not well designed though. If you compare it to the picture below you'll see this manifold has sharp right angles in the exhaust port flow vs. the stock manifolds having gradual, smooth curves.
http://www.peachparts.com//shopforum...chmentid=67829

The easiest option is to get a manifold from a 78-79 300SD without an EGR. The tubes are much larger, lacks the EGR tube to disturb flow, its bolt-in, if you use the matching intake manifold it looks as if it never had an EGR (which is how it should have been) and the turbo flange is thicker which reduces its chance of cracking (You can kind of see the crack from the lower left stud going inwards on my EGR manifold).
http://www.peachparts.com//shopforum...chmentid=67831

can the manifold turbo flange along with the exhaust ports be opened up at all? it looks like here is some area that can possibly be taken down or smoothed out more, and then on the turbo side too, than maybe a ceramic coating if both? thats what i was thinkning of doing on mine unless i can find one like the above u posted but theres not many mercedes diesels in the boneyards around here, so older stuff is hard to come by.

has anyone done any performance work with the manifold?

im gona try and find that manifold i dunno what kinda luck ill have but im gonna look gosh dangit!

do u think that ceramic coating is worth the price? either on the above posted manifold or the stock one if i cannot find that one?

I've been wanting to use JetHot, but I can't justify the price.

Keeping it a secret from us? What flange did you spec?

My stock one has a small crack that is getting bigger every time I take a look so I'm probably going to take a similar route eventually. Can't bring myself to reinstall the K14-2 on a salvaged manifold - that turbo is embarrassing!

Not hiding... :)

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/1979998-post41.html

And

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/1984844-post44.html