Steed Speed to Start making N54 Twin Scroll CNC Manifolds.

I am not sure if some of you may know but the company Steed Speed made the HPF E46 M3 Turbo Manifolds for some time. Their quality is top notch and well know within the turbo diesel world, MazdaSpeed, E36 turbo guys along with a few other platforms. Leen is the owner of Steed Speed and loves to provide top quality parts but only offering the manifolds. He lets his products speak for themselves and if you review them you can read all about it.

You can go back to some 2012 threads here on bimmerboost and some other forums and see Jake and Dzenno talking are about Steed Speeds manifold design and looking to purchase what was then the prototype that was never released. Now we can see were they took the manifold design from that is in sale today and provides amazing results.

I have been in contact with Leen earlier in the year asking about starting up the project for the manifold again and he more or less did not really know how the N54 market was doing so I sent him some updates. Just a few weeks ago I asked for some more updates about a manifold and again it was still on the back burner. Long story short I just happen to win a raffle for a free Manifold within his current line up, considering I don’t have any cars they would work on he decided it’s time to make the N54 manifold!!

The good news here is that every step of the way we have been in contact seeing what I want in the manifold design. I figured I would take it to some of the forum pros and what ideas people what and what we can come up with in a great manifold that will eventually be sold by the company. This design will be like a Moitv Manifold, but with the build experience and best build quality from Steed Speed.

I don’t have pricing on how much it will cost when the manifold is finished, but seeing $1000 is the most expensive manifold they have sets good tone.

I don’t know when the project will be finished but I am guessing sooner than later. He said only a few weeks before we seen the manifold being made so we are moving fast here and wants to get this out to people.

He is not going to show any internals of the manifold itself for obvious reasons, so I don’t have any cad drawings guys.

Let me know your thoughts.

Facebook link - https://www.facebook.com/leen.steed

Again? http://www.bimmerboost.com/showthrea...croll-Manifold

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Originally Posted by Sticky

Again? http://www.bimmerboost.com/showthrea...croll-Manifold

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Thats the exact thread I was talking about. They never went forward with the manifold but if u go on there page u wil see they are starting within the comments of the give away. When I have more info / pics i will update. As of now it's being designed in cad and soon the prototype will be finished.

Thought a new thought would be good for updates.

Figured i would put this here so you don't think OP is blowing smoke like his current turbos are...




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I am guessing a Motiv style manifold sub $1,000 would sell big time. Lets see if it actual happens.

This would be cool but it seems like most of these coming soon projects never get finished. Here is a challenge to Steed Speed to actually finish this one.

We were in talks with Leen about 4 months ago to see about making us a custom manifold, but we decided the Single turbo market is already too crowded, he did email me yesterday to ask if we were still interested, so this tells me, they most likely have made some progress.

hell yes. I had emailed them a few times about this over the summer but never heard back. Glad to hear progress is being made! The single market is not too crowded. This will slot in quite nicely if it follows the price point of their other manifolds =)

After looking at their website, i'm interested. I would think they would sell more or less as many mazdaspeed3 manifolds as 335i. Being that the mazda sells for $700, a sub $1000 manifold looks promising.

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Originally Posted by jyamona

hell yes. I had emailed them a few times about this over the summer but never heard back. Glad to hear progress is being made! The single market is not too crowded. This will slot in quite nicely if it follows the price point of their other manifolds =)

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From a buyer perspective a market can never be too crowded, for a sellers, its already way too crowded, there is what now, 7 single kits on the market? Not worth the time to try to nickel and dime a kit together. The only market left open for Single kits now is for lower quality cheap kits, there are various high quality kits on the market, all at good price points. Next up, are the ebay kits which I am sure will appear soon. Leens manifold will be far from low quality it will actually be one of the highest quality manifolds on the market, but they are only selling manifolds not kits.

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Originally Posted by Tony@VargasTurboTech

From a buyer perspective a market can never be too crowded, for a sellers, its already way too crowded, there is what now, 7 single kits on the market? Not worth the time to try to nickel and dime a kit together. The only market left open for Single kits now is for lower quality cheap kits, there are various high quality kits on the market, all at good price points. Next up, are the ebay kits which I am sure will appear soon. Leens manifold will be far from low quality it will actually be one of the highest quality manifolds on the market, but they are only selling manifolds not kits.

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Which is ideal, as some of us only want / need a manifold like this. I can't wait.

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Originally Posted by BlackJetE90OC

I am guessing a Motiv style manifold sub $1,000 would sell big time. Lets see if it actual happens.

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My thoughts exactly. Speaking with Leen yesterday he is very motivated to have a working prototype right away. He will be sending this off to CES Motorsport for test fitting and revisions then they will be doing a complete build around the manifold.

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Originally Posted by Tony@VargasTurboTech

From a buyer perspective a market can never be too crowded, for a sellers, its already way too crowded, there is what now, 7 single kits on the market? Not worth the time to try to nickel and dime a kit together. The only market left open for Single kits now is for lower quality cheap kits, there are various high quality kits on the market, all at good price points. Next up, are the ebay kits which I am sure will appear soon. Leens manifold will be far from low quality it will actually be one of the highest quality manifolds on the market, but they are only selling manifolds not kits.

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The thing is the current market as of now we don't have just a manifold for sale under 1k proven to work. If Motiv wanted to sell there Mani people would be lined up. I do agree the market is flooded with turbokits ranging in $6500 and up but being able to build your own ST for less then half the cost considering the most challenging part is the Manifold will already be done for you is a huge incentive for people to who don't want to blow upwards of 8k for a single already knowing they are going to be needed that extra cash for supporting mods. Having a good shop Fab a DP and other bits is going to be the easy part here.

As for a market just look at the people waiting for Shaudfab manifold, they are lined up ready to buy. Now take a company that has been doing this for years, proven on numerous platforms including BMW and its something to look forward towards. As from a sellers point of view I think with this product you are able to reach out to an audience that wants the DIY aspect of a kit that otherwise might of just gone with RB or VTT Stg2 now for relatively the same price a ST DIY option can also be considered.

Def some good points in there. I think you guys may be jumping the gun on price though. As I said we were in talks with Leen a while back to make the manifolds as an exclusive for us, we decided the single market was too crowded so we didn't pursue it. The wholesale price for the manifolds in bulk order from Leen was higher than you guys are hoping for. So I have a feeling retail is going to place it the range of other manifolds on the market.

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Originally Posted by Tony@VargasTurboTech

The wholesale price for the manifolds in bulk order from Leen was higher than you guys are hoping for.

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Lol, CNC Manifold for less than a 1K. The material alone costs at least 500$. I wish I was still dreaming too.

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Originally Posted by fastgti69

Lol, CNC Manifold for less than a 1K. The material alone costs at least 500$. I wish I was still dreaming too.

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You mean a company isn't going to make a higher quality manifold and sell it for less than than lower quality ones. The nerve of some people trying to turn a profit, don't they know DIY guys want stuff for nothing....:)

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Originally Posted by Tony@VargasTurboTech

Def some good points in there. I think you guys may be jumping the gun on price though. As I said we were in talks with Leen a while back to make the manifolds as an exclusive for us, we decided the single market was too crowded so we didn't pursue it. The wholesale price for the manifolds in bulk order from Leen was higher than you guys are hoping for. So I have a feeling retail is going to place it the range of other manifolds on the market.

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After speaking with Leen last night he wanted to point the price point at $900. I did advise him that he could ask for a lot more but his intention was getting this manifold out to the market at a better then competitive rate so it would be selling and in the hands of users. Also given the fact all of his other manifolds on the site are in the same ballpark this is not out of the question at all.

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Originally Posted by fastgti69

Lol, CNC Manifold for less than a 1K. The material alone costs at least 500$. I wish I was still dreaming too.

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All of his CNC manifolds are lower than 1k and he has been selling them for these prices for years not sure why its so hard to believe. Even when its on his vendor sites its still no more than 1k.

When it arrives its going to sell, this company with past Turbo M Reputation is a win.

It isn't any different materials / fabrication wise than this manifold, or any other he makes: http://steedspeed.com/t3_and_t4_cummins_diesel_manifold

So $700 - $790 for that. Sure, the tooling has been setup and it may have cost more when it came out to cover costs. Whatever, raise the initial price $300 - $500. Give a bit of a discount for an early adopters group by to get the word spread. People will buy this like hot cakes.

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Originally Posted by islandroad83

After speaking with Leen last night he wanted to point the price point at $900. I did advise him that he could ask for a lot more but his intention was getting this manifold out to the market at a better then competitive rate so it would be selling and in the hands of users. Also given the fact all of his other manifolds on the site are in the same ballpark this is not out of the question at all.



All of his CNC manifolds are lower than 1k and he has been selling them for these prices for years not sure why its so hard to believe. Even when its on his vendor sites its still no more than 1k.

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Yes all his manifolds are less that 1K, Let me guess someone is going to post a link to a cummins manifold, and he told me the reason why he can price the cummins there is because he sells hundreds of them per year. The N54 manifold I would expect him to sell maybe 50 a year, and that is best case scenario. If he does retail them at $900 that would be a surprise, as that was what I was quoted wholesale for a batch order. But we shall see, if he does price them there, that just tells me he had more margin in them then he claimed.

Edit: Bahahaha, before I was even done, cummins link posted

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Originally Posted by islandroad83

All of his CNC manifolds are lower than 1k and he has been selling them for these prices for years not sure why its so hard to believe. Even when its on his vendor sites its still no more than 1k.

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Very hard to believe. Those other manifolds like cummins and speed 3 are so cheap because the market is easier for those types of cars. The N54 is very finicky and needs to be addressed correctly with all o2 sensor placements, the way the flange is made. It will not look like any of the other manifolds they have on sale. I can promise you that.

Their old e46 manifold was up for 1500$ by the way, 4 years ago. Piece up a kit together yourself using prices and labor fabrication, I guarantee you'll come up to more or the same price we sell our full kit for.

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Originally Posted by Tony@VargasTurboTech

Yes all his manifolds are less that 1K, Let me guess someone is going to post a link to a cummins manifold, and he told me the reason why he can price the cummins there is because he sells hundreds of them per year. The N54 manifold I would expect him to sell maybe 50 a year, and that is best case scenario. If he does retail them at $900 that would be a surprise, as that was what I was quoted wholesale for a batch order. But we shall see, if he does price them there, that just tells me he had more margin in them then he claimed.

Edit: Bahahaha, before I was even done, cummins link posted

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Yes, hilarious. I posted it as an example. I do not know his sales numbers. Though I do think the market for these if priced well could be over 50/yr easily. And the most expensive manifold on his site is $1200. Tons of people would be happy even w/ that price point, as there is nothing similar for sale.

Proper short runner manifolds like these smash the excessively long tubed headers, as evidenced by Motive's spool and peak power. There's is with an open scroll T3 v-band too! Twinscroll T4 will be even better.

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Originally Posted by Tony@VargasTurboTech

Yes all his manifolds are less that 1K, Let me guess someone is going to post a link to a cummins manifold, and he told me the reason why he can price the cummins there is because he sells hundreds of them per year. The N54 manifold I would expect him to sell maybe 50 a year, and that is best case scenario. If he does retail them at $900 that would be a surprise, as that was what I was quoted wholesale for a batch order. But we shall see, if he does price them there, that just tells me he had more margin in them then he claimed.

Edit: Bahahaha, before I was even done, cummins link posted

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But tony just think of the opportunity. All the N54's on the road. He was chomping at the bit to make this that is why a raffle winner got the ball rolling. I think he will make 10 break even and jack the price or discontinue.

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Originally Posted by Tony@VargasTurboTech

Yes all his manifolds are less that 1K, Let me guess someone is going to post a link to a cummins manifold, and he told me the reason why he can price the cummins there is because he sells hundreds of them per year. The N54 manifold I would expect him to sell maybe 50 a year, and that is best case scenario. If he does retail them at $900 that would be a surprise, as that was what I was quoted wholesale for a batch order. But we shall see, if he does price them there, that just tells me he had more margin in them then he claimed.

Edit: Bahahaha, before I was even done, cummins link posted

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I don't think they will ever understand until they start their own shop.

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Originally Posted by fastgti69

Piece up a kit together yourself using prices and labor fabrication, I guarantee you'll come up to more or the same price we sell our full kit for.

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Just stop with that logic, and common sense...:) My favorite is watching people piece together a kit claiming they will do it for X dollars, you notice none of those people post total build cost when all is said, and done, not to mention time spent, because 95% of them look back and say I should have just bought a kit.

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Originally Posted by jyamona

Yes, hilarious. I posted it as an example. I do not know his sales numbers. Though I do think the market for these if priced well could be over 50/yr easily. And the most expensive manifold on his site is $1200. Tons of people would be happy even w/ that price point, as there is nothing similar for sale.

Proper short runner manifolds like these smash the excessively long tubed headers, as evidenced by Motive's spool and peak power. There's is with an open scroll T3 v-band too! Twinscroll T4 will be even better.

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But why can't I just put the O2's in the downpipe like other motors... I find this platform hilarious. It is a great motor but expensive to keep running right when you start to push it I can't wait for one of these budget builds to need a new motor.

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Originally Posted by Ingeniator

But why can't I just put the O2's in the downpipe like other motors... I find this platform hilarious. It is a great motor but expensive to keep running right when you start to push it I can't wait for one of these budget builds to need a new motor.

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A lot of his manifolds already have the provisions for an o2 sensor per bank, he knows what he is doing. Many turbo diesel engines are DI also, and operate similarly to ours w/ fueling. But, yea cheaper cost of entry to ST parts will lead to some hilarious failures I'm sure from the ill-equipped :) I look forward to their stories haha