Turns out my inlet manifold has a termite infested heat riser. One side is full of holes from rust.

Has anyone had any experience with the new EMPI brand ones available?

It there any solid metal left near the manifold centre section?

If so I'd be tempted to buy a length of tube and weld it on. Cheap pipe bender from Supercheap and a blow torch and hey presto.

That's just my idea after hearing the word EMPI.

Just love the bias against EMPI.

While I agree SOME of there products may be inferior to the original product, I think I would be correct in pointing out that a majority of VW's would now not be on the road if it was not due to a company like EMPI.

Choose your replacement parts wisely, without blinding bias.

I have an empi one in my stock if quality wants to be checked...
One thing i did notice is that the heat risers are removable, yet the original ones were braised in i think?

The EMPI ones do have seperate heat riser tubes. From what I can see, you would set up your centre inlet manifold with the outer sections and block flange mount and bolt them in with the boots fitted etc. Then put sealer on the outside of the riser tubes, slip in each side, bolt to exhaust, and there will be no chance of the riser tube 'fighting' with the exhaust riser flanges, as it is put in loose until the sealer dries. What sealer to use. I asked a mechanic today, and he said the riser centre section of the manifold would not get hotter than 100 degrees, so any silicone engine sealant will work.

In the long future if the tube gets blocked again, you can remove the side sections of the riser tube and clean out the centre and put it back together.

I will let you all know how I go.

OK. I have fitted an EMPI 1600 TP manifold.

It comes in three pieces with the LH and RH heat risers seperate.

I had to ct 20mm off the passenger side section of the main manifold tube. I had to cut 10mm off the drivers side of the riser tube, I had to cut 45mm off the passenger side of the riser tube. Then when I finally bolted the risers in, I put some high temp RTV sealer on the riser tubes when slipping them into the centre section. The riser tubes had slotted holes on one hole to allow for any misalignment. I can se that the EMPI inlet manifold kit has to have some patience to fit, however it is the only one I could find to buy. The fact they have seperate sections and slots on the riser bolts, shows they want you to get it to fit. The riser tubes bolt to the exhaust assembly, so really, it depends on the position of the exhaust assembly whether your riser tubes will fit any way. What is OG factory? The exhaust risers, the inlet manifold risers, either, or both or neither. None of it is original except the side manifolds.

Anyway, in the end with a bit of patience, I got the EMPI manifold to fit perfectly with the OG side manifolds, and the aftermarket German made exhaust. Glad it all fitted together.

Glad to hear it all worked out. Well done
Cheers..Wayne

The inlet manifold worked out fine on the engine dyno. The coating on the drivers side where the riser bolts straight to the exhaust manifold did peel off for the first few inches though.

Not all these parts fit together like LEGO