20/05/2026
To most of you it looks like another recent manifold to turbo gasket failure on the 1.8t . What you don’t know is this was fitted 250k+ kms ago ! It’s survived multiple racing events as well as towing tens of thousands of kms , sometimes for long periods under full boost up mountains . What’s unique about this failure is it wasnt just a split and leak like the usual case ( gasket shown in picture ) , this completely blew the gasket out the side . The remaining parts of the gasket had essentially welded themselves onto the manifold and could only be removed with a grinder ! Another item to note is 370k kms on this manifold and no cracks .
This manifold was ported long ago so no chance of heat spots and it has smooth runners to the turbo .
So when you’re doing a turbo swap and need some gaskets , remember this post !