replacing CI exhaust manifold wisdom?

[lovemy67F250]

Well, the right-hand-rule gods were in my favor (plus a fair bit of PB Blaster!) - all the exhaust manifold bolts came out whole without much complaining and required no blood offerings!

So now it off to find a replacement C5TE-9431-B drivers side CI manifold for my 67 F250 with the original 352.

1) alternate manifolds: I see from similar post topic that my alternates might include the '68-'71 car & truck C8AE-9431-B with the 2.25" outlet and the '72-'74 truck manifold D2TE-9431-AA. Anything else to be on the look out for? (no AC, not 4WD, Saginaw power steering if that make any difference)

2) checking for cracks: this manifold blew out a silver dollar sized hole right above the outlet on what appears to be an old weld repair. There are several small cracks on the body around the top middle 2 mounting bosses. Any where else to be on the lookout for when inspecting used ones? ...and I wonder about the "ringing the bell" hammer test on these castings as my broken one rings quite nicely...

3) outlet spacer: mine uses the outlet spacer, I assume I'm going to need to reuse it, any suggestions on getting it off? try to pull the studs? they appear to be really rust-welded on and the PB Blaster doesn't seem to be even touching it

4) flat enough?: should I go ahead and have any used replacement milled flat just to minimized chance of future cracks? How about milling the outlet?

5) bolts: assume that putting in new grade 8 bolts will be better practice than reusing the torque/heat fatigued old ones, any cautions to add here other than tap-chasing the head threads and anti-seize?

6) anything additional wisdom other than metal gaskets so that I might not have to do this lousy job again anytime soon (I had no idea how heavy that steering box was, crimony! glad I left the hoses attached otherwise I might have dented my forehead...)

thanks!

[fordman]

i have seen manifolds on ebay for sale. i wouldn't use grade 8 bolts. i would use stainless bolts and antisieze. mill all surfaces to make sure it doesnt crack again. both the head and the manifold. and no gasket.

if you dont mill them use two gaskets per side to make sure to take up and warpage so that it won't crack or to help it from cracking.

i thought car manifolds had a different bend to the end of them and wouldn't line up with the truck exhaust pipes. because of the steering box.
the flapper thing if the old manuifold is bad cut or break off the studs if you have to so that you may reuse the flapper thing.

the 73 and up manifolds are tougher than our old ones because they have the ribs on the outside of them. heres a pic of the 73 and up type.

[peanutman]

I have seen new manifolds on the internet for fe engines. Not sure if they us made or not. Think i just googled early model ford exhaust manifolds when i was searching for 302 manifolds, which you can't find new for our trucks.

[lovemy67F250]

Thanks Fordman and Peanutman, I'm going to look pretty hard here locally in the Seattle area in order to inspect it carefully for cracks so I might not have to do this again anytime soon. Did mine fail in a "usual" spot for these castings?

[sideoilerfe]

i have seen manifolds on ebay for sale. i wouldn't use grade 8 bolts. i would use stainless bolts and antisieze. mill all surfaces to make sure it doesnt crack again. both the head and the manifold. and no gasket.

if you dont mill them use two gaskets per side to make sure to take up and warpage so that it won't crack or to help it from cracking.

i thought car manifolds had a different bend to the end of them and wouldn't line up with the truck exhaust pipes. because of the steering box.
the flapper thing if the old manuifold is bad cut or break off the studs if you have to so that you may reuse the flapper thing.

the 73 and up manifolds are tougher than our old ones because they have the ribs on the outside of them. heres a pic of the 73 and up type.

Problem with those is the exhaust flanges are smaller then the other ones. Take a gasket and put it up to the manifold and you'll see what i'm talking about.

[peanutman]

Thanks Fordman and Peanutman, I'm going to look pretty hard here locally in the Seattle area in order to inspect it carefully for cracks so I might not have to do this again anytime soon. Did mine fail in a "usual" spot for these castings?

I would think due to all the heat and force collecting there thats a usual failure spot, but iv'e never owned an fe for a long lenth of time. 302'S are bad about cracking or blowing out the bottom of the manifold.

[Redcap]

Thanks Fordman and Peanutman, I'm going to look pretty hard here locally in the Seattle area in order to inspect it carefully for cracks so I might not have to do this again anytime soon. Did mine fail in a "usual" spot for these castings?

That is almost the exact picture of what the passenger side manifold on my '67 looks like!

[lovemy67F250]

nice to know my truck is totally normal when it comes to new ways to show it's age...224K miles though is pretty good with just one +0.030" rebuild.

any clever ideas on salvaging the outlet spacer on that manifold? both studs predictably snapped off a few hours after that picture.

[fordman]

tanke a hammer and break the manifold into tpiece and save the flapper thing you are wanting to save.

[lovemy67F250]

that was great advise - and it worked flawlessly (and I have to admit, I felt kind of dumb reading it, like dah! why would I want to save the broken casting anyway...) it was very therapeutic to smash the casting down to reasonable "chunks" hanging on each threaded stud and then carefully work the studs out to salvage the spacer - they certainly weren't coming out any other way.

New/old manifold came back from the machine shop last week looking great and installed perfectly. The only real challenge was tracking down new outlet spacer studs (by the way, no flapper "thingy" on mine, just the 2" spacer to transition from the flat face of the manifold to the beveled face for the doughnut seal on the cross-over exhaust pipe).

My wife was shocked to come outside and fine the truck finally running after 2 years - I think she was wondering if it was going to just compost there beside the garage.

So now it's on to the PS pitman arm seals...