Type R Club of America

Chime in with your thoughts or ability to confirm the correct finish ( color/ plating) on a OEM USDM Type R exhaust manifold.

More specifically the upper cast iron manifold and the lower half downpipe.

From the little finish I’ve seen on the lower downpipes, it appears that possibly it left the factory zinc plated. This makes sense as was the finish of hardware used at the time. But can it withstand the heat?! I know this was the finish of factory brake calipers.

As for the upper cast manifold, I’ve only ever saw rusty ones : (

Thank you to all for your insight on this topic I haven’t seen much talk about...

To my knowledge the lower shields have always been plain aluminum and uppers coated black. I’ve seen enough engine bay pictures from back in 1998 to know what the upper cover looks like. I’m guessing on the lower one though. But I’d imagine it would follow suit with the mid pipe shield.

Edit** I’m an idiot. I thought you were referring to the cover not the manifold itself. I’ve only seen rust since it’s cast.

If there was an oem finish it didn’t last long enough to make it worth reproducing.

I had planned to go with silver Zybar on a ‘96 JDM manifold but pretty sure at this point that it’s not the right path for the supercharger.

I always thought the lower portion of the exhaust manifold on the 2 piece integra manifolds was stainless vs the top portion being cast. The last time I had a stock non type r exhaust with me, it looked like a different finish but similar to the rest of the oem itr exhaust.

Agreed Alan. Whatever, if any finish on the cast manifold didn’t last long. And as far as the downpipe agreed also that it’s stainless like the rest of the exhaust system. appears to possibly had a finish added? Or is this just years of driving finally discoloring the Metal?

I bet the bottom portion was just stainless with no finish. And top is just cast iron no finish?

Dave7CDMTYPER wrote:I bet the bottom portion was just stainless with no finish. And top is just cast iron no finish?

After a lot of research and buying several headers, I concur. The Type R specific lower header bracket that bolts to the block also is cast iron no finish.

The last minute USDM exhaust manifold was cast. The stainless was reserved for the 98-spec ITR along with the 4-1 design very similar to the Mugen option.

The rest of the exhaust was mandrel bent instead of crush, compared to other Integras.