PLOG worth it?
 

I have a crack in my exhaust manifold, and need to order a new one. The OE replacement is $63 and a Power Log is $180. With the ceramic coating it's $300. I have a supercharged 04 with 90k miles on it, and no other mods. I know a lot of people on here have the Power Log so any input would be nice. Looking to order either asap. I don't want to do headers because it's over budget, and I can't do it myself.

Also, is this a tough part to replace? Seems easy enough but I've never done one and things can sneak up on you.

I did a plog on a 3800 N/A, piece of cake install BUT I did it with a host of other mods. It all depends on what you are looking to do.

If you just wanted to get your car running again, I assume it's your front manifold that's cracked. I believe the front manifold on a 3800 N/A and a 3800 S/C are the same and those engines are REALLY common. Call a junk yard, I bet you could get a replacement manifold for like $20 (and typically the stock ones don't fail).

If you pay 180 for a log you might as well pay 200 ish and get the ebay headers. Thats less then a ceramic log, and it isn't much worse to install.

Why not get a junkyard front manifold? Cracking isn't real common as far as I know, at least I've never had an issue between the 3 3800 cars I've had on stock manifolds. Since 3800's are a dime a dozen in junkyards, and the manifold is pretty easy to get off- I think that would be your best bet. Probably could pick one up for $20 or less.

A PLOG is nice, but IMO not really worth it unless you really are going to have a nightmare with headers (ie a 5th gen monte), especially with how cheap headers have got. Plus, some of the PLOGs have actually had an issue with cracking, just an FYI (I think it may just be the older ones though).

Even if you can't get a junkyard manifold for whatever reason, I'd probably just pick up another stocker.


Changing them isn't too hard, invest in a can of PB Blaster. The nuts will be rusty, there is no doubt of that- soak all 6 manifold-head nuts, and the 2 crossover bolts- then I'd take the 2 nuts off holding the head shield on, and the heat shield pulls off (its just clipped on the crossover side). By that time, the PB should've worked its magic on the nuts, and you can start popping them off. It is kinda cramped with the dogbones in the way- you can take them off if you want, and it'll give you a lot more swing room with the ratchet- its just a 15mm bolt/nut on each end holding them in.

Get headersssssss

Since you are boosted, I would say the PLOG isn't worth it for the price. Especially with a set of headers professionally installed.

I've got a set of PEMs from when I was N/A that I'd let go for less than that PLOG if you're interested.