I don't know what the manifold in question is like, but the '90+' 940 turbo manifolds are notorious for getting hairline cracks. Finding an uncracked one is almost impossible...although it doesn't seem to make much difference, so we don't get too worried about it. Perhaps the B172 manifolds are prone to cracking to a certain extent?

How badly was it cracked Dai?

cheers

James

I only notice the crack when I took the manifold off to change it for the 1.8 manifold I had due to the downpipe problem. The crack was only a hairline crack about 3" long with just a little white staining at the edges.

I'm fairly sure it was the stress of the 2ltr lump that caused the problem tbh

Just quick thanks for the advice. Changed the exhaust front pipe today and could see where the blow had been coming from, around the bell of the front pipe which attached to the manifold - so thankfully not the manifold.