Warning: that custom intake manifold from a buddy's buddy...

Ran into a guy named Dale at a meet in Nashville who said he almost grenaded his engine with a homemade intake because the welds were blocking airflow. He showed me the stress cracks on his old one and it hit me how easy it is to trust a cheap fab job if someone talks a good game. Anyone else run into parts that looked solid but were secretly junk?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_brooke3d ago

Honestly I think people blow this stuff way out of proportion sometimes. Yeah, a bad weld can mess with airflow but most of the time it's a tiny lip you could smooth out with a die grinder in five minutes. I've seen guys run intakes that look like they were welded by a drunk monkey and they still hold up fine for years. Unless the guy is shoving 20 pounds of boost through it or it's made of some garbage pot metal, it's probably not going to just explode on you. The real issue with cheap fab jobs is usually fitment or leaks, not the whole engine grenading scenario. Sounds more like Dale wanted to sound important at a meet than give actual useful advice.

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valgibson3d ago

Bet those cheap welds are trapping moisture and rusting from the inside out.