Ktec manifold review

[Luke_197]

So with my remap at RST booked in for next week, I was thinking what I could do to unlock those few extra horses. I decided to make a pretty major impulse buy and went for one of Ktecs manifolds.

This manifold doesn't seem to be overly popular on the forum and I've not seen many members who are using them, so I thought I would make up this review. I believe this unpopularity is due to the price difference when comparing it to the famous toyosports mani. At a third of the cost I can understand why people are going for that one.

Anyway, ordered from Ktec Friday afternoon and it arrived on Tuesday. Happy with their helpful service and advice, still can't understand why they get such a bad rep.

Quality is excellent. I'm not sure what type of steel this is but I will find out.
- Even bends with no kinks.
- Tig welds look great.
- The flexi is uprated, it's also positioned in an ideal spot for easy replacement in the unlikely event of the flexi failing.
- Less Restrictive head flange, The OE manifold has 24mm port apertures which are restrictive, this KTR manifold has 33mm ports which allow maximum air flow and gas speed.
- Pre cat delete.

Here's some photos:










My RS200


Let me know what you all think. This will be fitted on next Monday and I will be back with an update.


http://www.clio197.net/forum/showthread.php?19407-Luke_197-Progress-thread/page21

 

[Pav]

looks sweet Luke..wouldnt mind having one on my car..hope it all goes well and you will see some increase in HP...

 

[Luke_197]

looks sweet Luke..wouldnt mind having one on my car..hope it all goes well and you will see some increase in HP...

Thanks Pav, do you live close to RST? If you you are, I'm there Thursday if you fancied popping over?

 

[Pav]

afraid not..Manchester me..im going tomorrow..booked in for half 9...got my B14's fitted today so looking forward to adding some more torque and power...

 

[sevenfourate]

Thats really very nice. Thats plainly obvious. And i'll be looking forward to your thoughts. Yea....really special that Congrats !


I would just say that the Toyo flexi is uprated IMO (Compared to the standard two items) and is also in the same place as yours. I still dont see how that's easily replaceable though and no way would you be able to remove and re-weld in a new one on the car though with either manifold.

***My only "concern" is that when i get mine mapped though - i may well gain XXXX Lb'ft torque and XXX hp......BUT: thats comparing what i arrive with ie: A system running badly, with a cat removed and not ideally fuelling....to what they end up doing to mate the air/ fuel to my new exhaust system.

What would have been better in retrospect - would have been if i had the car rolling-roaded as bog standard. Then had it re-mapped and done with filter, manifold and system.

 

[Luke_197]

afraid not..Manchester me..im going tomorrow..booked in for half 9...got my B14's fitted today so looking forward to adding some more torque and power...

Will have to check your progress thread mate, can't wait to hear you thoughts on them. I love mine!

 

[LiamRS197]

Very nice indeed mate, do enjoy a bit of weld porn! I'll be interested to see how the remap goes. Hope it gives you the results that your after, as it's nice to see someone breaking the trend

 

[Pav]

not had a chance to properly test them today but will put up a review as soon as i've driven some miles..

 

[Luke_197]

Thats really very nice. Thats plainly obvious. And i'll be looking forward to your thoughts. Yea....really special that Congrats !


I would just say that the Toyo flexi is uprated IMO (Compared to the standard two items) and is also in the same place as yours. I still dont see how that's easily replaceable though and no way would you be able to remove and re-weld in a new one on the car though with either manifold.

***My only "concern" is that when i get mine mapped though - i may well gain XXXX Lb'ft torque and XXX hp......BUT: thats comparing what i arrive with ie: A system running badly, with a cat removed and not ideally fuelling....to what they end up doing to mate the air/ fuel to my new exhaust system.

What would have been better in retrospect - would have been if i had the car rolling-roaded as bog standard. Then had it re-mapped and done with filter, manifold and system.

Maybe you are right about the flexi position mate, I'm just going by what I can see. Seem like it would be easy to access.

I totally agree with your thoughts on the dynoing mate, I do wish I have had mine dynoed before hand. You have worried me and now tomorrow I will be frantically phoning Surrey rolling road trying to get my car booked in haha! If the car makes over 195bhp and gains plenty of mid range torque I will be a happy guy.

 

[Luke_197]

Very nice indeed mate, do enjoy a bit of weld porn! I'll be interested to see how the remap goes. Hope it gives you the results that your after, as it's nice to see someone breaking the trend

Thanks Liam, the welds are lovely, I love the purple effect after welding . Will be putting up the dyno print outs after the map, hopefully I won't see any unwanted flat spots either. [emoji1360]

 

[sevenfourate]

Maybe you are right about the flexi position mate, I'm just going by what I can see. Seem like it would be easy to access.

I totally agree with your thoughts on the dynoing mate, I do wish I have had mine dynoed before hand. You have worried me and now tomorrow I will be frantically phoning Surrey rolling road trying to get my car booked in haha! If the car makes over 195bhp and gains plenty of mid range torque I will be a happy guy.

You'd think it was better where it is (Flexi). NO WAY you'll ever get to the top (Underside of car) to weld either though. But that's not gonna be needed is it ..........

Have you got a system already - or is it just the mani ?

Good luck tomorrow whatever. May your car pull long. And pull hard ..........

 

[Chris]

That's a real quality looking item!!

 

[Raptor6767]

First hand experiences are the ones that count.
Looking forward to the updates.

 

[Foxspeed]

looks quality and well made - but should be for the price!

hope it bolts on some hp :book:

 

[Mattb_197]

Looks like a nice bit of kit, sometimes it's worth spending more for the better build quality. It's not always about what gives the most power.

I'd rather pay a bit more for a manifold that fits spot on then have to mess about bodge fitting and cutting bits off here and there personally.

Be interesting to see what she makes on the rollers when it's mapped! Anything over 190bhp is generally considered very good on one of these from what I've read. You might be one of the lucky few and get close to 200bhp. Fingers crossed eh!

 

[JSD]

The flexi on my ktec Mani has already started to come apart (installed nearly a year ago), I think it's a little too exposed to road dirt from where it is positioned.

 

[Luke_197]

You'd think it was better where it is (Flexi). NO WAY you'll ever get to the top (Underside of car) to weld either though. But that's not gonna be needed is it ..........

Have you got a system already - or is it just the mani ?

Good luck tomorrow whatever. May your car pull long. And pull hard ..........

I do hope so mate lol!

I do indeed, I have a Supersprint race back box, Supersprint centre section and DC pipe.

Haha thanks mate, not going to be able to make it to a dyno today though.

 

[Luke_197]

The flexi on my ktec Mani has already started to come apart (installed nearly a year ago), I think it's a little too exposed to road dirt from where it is positioned.

I have just read your write up on the Ktec mani mate.

Not what I wanted to hear lol. I'm pretty sure the flexi has a lifetime warranty so I would give Ktec a call.

 

[JSD]

I am done dealing with ktec tbh. They don't reply to my emails anymore anyway. Plus I plan to go back to the original manifold so I still have a catalyst when I fit an akrapovic.
They are not bad manifolds, but ktec soured it a bit for me. Plus it wasn't the first (or second) time they've messed up my order.
Your manifold looks loads better than mine from the pictures though, the secondaries on mine are a different length!

 

[Jimmy]

It does look very nice indeed (even though I know nothing about welding....mmm shiny metal ). Hopefully you will seem some nice gains with it after the map.

Interesting to hear the review from JSD too - you would hope over time KTEC will refine and develop it, so the newest versions are that bit better.