Wow time flies.
I bought a NOS manifold on an internet auction site shortly after this discovery was made. Here’s a few photos comparing that to the “original” one.
I was planning to use that but I also need a turbocharger and despite buying some parts, spending some time on the fuel system trying to get the car ready to potentially run, not much has happened. I took my injectors to a couple diesel shops to get them cleaned and the one that used to do tii injectors for years was bought by Diesel Forward and now won’t do it and the other guy that said he’d try had them for a couple months and couldn’t test them, it’s been a shelf for a couple of years now (It does well at that. The trunk spoiler is very effective). Not sure what to do.
I did buy one of these manifolds as well and looking at it I wasn’t sure how much meat would be left where the long studs go after boring it out to M10 but I’m glad to know it works with some adaptations. Plan is to use the Marsupial Group manifold and put the NOS one aside in case. Obviously this manifold doesn’t have provisions for the heat shield either, but that’s not a big deal. Guess I need to figure out a turbo solution that works but doesn’t cost as much as a 528e if such a thing even exists. Also would be nice if someone made the brackets that support the turbocharger itself.