Yeah, I think you may be right one must be without as 3 inches is a fair old whack.
As already said before the manifolds on the top conversion are massive, tubular and aftermarket.
The bottom ones im sure are Northstar manifolds and a lot slimmer.
I dont know a lot about GM V8's but im sure that the LS1/LS2 is a pain in the arse to wire up, where as the Northstar is an easier engine to use for a conversion
Those shown, as said, are the exact part designed for the ls1 specific to the omega chassis and would have been part of the production run, had it gone ahead.
As you say thats an ls1 lump, and we know the northstar is wider, so can you explane how any northstar compnonents would be involved in the Gm omega v8 project?
The diy manifolds shown in the top pic are so because the genuine part was not available, therefor had to use construction methods available to him, giving the result shown. Non of this however has any baring on tne space avaiable, which is governrd by the width of the omega chassis, the use of a steering box and its fixed position on the omega model range and the size of the engine used.
Result, not enough space.
There are however production manifolds availabl that are far more efficient with the space used, but even these would need modification on the rear cylinders, and dont join the cat section at the same position causing other minor agros as well. All in all, given possible flow restrictions on top of everything else, 1 i can see why the diy builder went the route he did, good job imo! And 2, non of the above has any baring on the main issue, the position of the steering box re manifold outlet!