California v8 owners

[richiegrich]

Trying to wrap my head around what is the best option for replacing cracked exhaust manifolds on a 06 v8 4runner. I would like to avoid oem manifolds as they are destined to crack down the road. I am leaning towards the short tube doug thorleys but concerned about smog in the future. How has everyone faired against the smog gods once you popped in the doug thorleys? Pretty frustrating not being able to simply swap in a solution. Really love the v8 power and don't think I can go back to the v6 world. Any tips, recommendations appreciated

 

[Jasonredwood]

Subscribin'. My exhaust manifold is fine but im sure one day it wont be. I had researched the short tube option and decided that I'd probably just pay the bi yearly dirty smog guy to pass it.

 

[Fern]

Unfortunately there is no CARB compliant alternative. There was some talk a few years ago but nothing ever materialized. Costs $20k+ to get something approved is what I remember reading.

 

[bmorey]

Thanks for bringing this topic into a central thread! I've spent the past few months trying to find the best options, too. My '04 manifolds are getting really bad...

I dug deep in previous forum threads and read most of the data/posts but there really isn't much in the way of CA success stories. Jason Burtman mentioned in a thread that "lots of guys run the shorties in CA with no problems", but never actually saw any of those guinea pigs raising their hands to confirm that.

I spoke to a local independent mechanic in my area about the best options, and his advice was that buying any aftermarket header and welding cats to it will be a huge red flag for any smog tech during visual inspection.

In one of those threads from about 2018, a Doug Thorley Sales and Shipping Manager mentioned that they were hoping to start a testing control group of 30 CA residents that would help with CARB testing. He no longer works at DT...

I called Doug Thorley last week and spoke to customer service to touch base on the latest CARB approval. The customer service rep I spoke to mentioned that last March (2020), DT submitted the paperwork to CARB to begin the approval process. Somehow that paperwork was lost/misplaced (supposedly because of all the issues with covid). So they actually had to resubmit that paperwork this April (2021) and it's about a minimum of a year long process.

Really frustrating to say the least. But, in the interest of trying to successfully fix the ticking problem and still pass smog, I ended up finding new OEM manifolds for about the same price as buying the short tube headers. I am hoping that they'll last for a while, but I'm not naïve to the fact that they'll probably crack again in the future.

 

[randy88fj62]

I took mine off, welded it back together, then reinstalled. No issues since.

 

[Natey]

I'd say you'll probably be good in SF, land of loud Subarus, slammed Civics and hella flush Toyota 86s.

As long as it passes the sniffer test, I'm sure you can find someone who'll overlook the visual part. :gossip:

 

[bmorey]

I took mine off, welded it back together, then reinstalled. No issues since.

I will likely keep my current manifolds and fix em like you did. Or, I might find a scrapyard to buy the 2 cats from me to make some money back toward the new manifolds.

 

[bbix333]

From an air quality standpoint keeping check on SMOG is great. From a governmental enforcement standpoint SMOG is a total crock of shit and is fully subsidized by the taxpayer.

I'm in one of the "special" California counties that doesn't require smog. Move there or find a friend and set that as your address. In all seriousness I would just take em off, weld em, put them back on.

I'm running long tubes, ypipe with gibson catback... really hate the smell so I bought the cheaper gesi cats to weld into the y pipe.

 

[richiegrich]

I took mine off, welded it back together, then reinstalled. No issues since.

Did you happen to take any pics of the welds by chance? I'm assuming these things all crack in the same general area. My buddy has a welder and this might be the best option for my situation. Any tips tricks for welding them back up?

 

[Rocket3004]

From an air quality standpoint keeping check on SMOG is great. From a governmental enforcement standpoint SMOG is a total crock of shit and is fully subsidized by the taxpayer.

I'm in one of the "special" California counties that doesn't require smog. Move there or find a friend and set that as your address. In all seriousness I would just take em off, weld em, put them back on.

I'm running long tubes, ypipe with gibson catback... really hate the smell so I bought the cheaper gesi cats to weld into the y pipe.

Interesting, I didn't know there were exempt counties.


To the OP - I agree the most ideal solution would be a bolt on one that includes cats. You would have a tough time with the visual inspection but you could also swap them in/out. If DT developed that solution, it would be awesome, or even a bolt on cat that you can add to the shorties (if they were flanged)

 

[randy88fj62]

Did you happen to take any pics of the welds by chance? I'm assuming these things all crack in the same general area. My buddy has a welder and this might be the best option for my situation. Any tips tricks for welding them back up?

It's been awhile since I took that picture (over a year) so it would be rather hard to find. 509,000 miles on my V8 and only the passenger side cracked.

I used my TIG welder for the job, cleaned the area really well then preheated with map gas.

 

[richiegrich]

It's been awhile since I took that picture (over a year) so it would be rather hard to find. 509,000 miles on my V8 and only the passenger side cracked.

I used my TIG welder for the job, cleaned the area really well then preheated with map gas.

thanks for the info, gonna give it a shot when I get my other truck up and running. 509k miles is convincing me that I need to keep this runner. only gonna get harder to find the v8s

 

[randy88fj62]

thanks for the info, gonna give it a shot when I get my other truck up and running. 509k miles is convincing me that I need to keep this runner. only gonna get harder to find the v8s

Only get harder? 2009 will be the last 4Runner V8. Darn CAFE and CARB standards don't want them in the U.S.