Exhaust Work - Part 2 - 06/07/2015

Time to finish this up!



So I drilled and drilled, tapped and tapped, cleaned and cleaned on the '73 manifold. Then shone a light in it to investigate what was wrong: turns out someone broke a bolt in the first downpipe mount and drilled and tapped it for a 5/16" bolt (poorly). The 3/8" hole that I had drilled out was suffering the same fate when I noticed that there was light inside the manifold when I shone it outside... where the forward bolt hole is, there's a crack and a missing chunk. So rather than waste time trying to finish cleaning it only to have the thing leak and I get to do it again, I pulled the '74 motor's manifold - it came right off and is in good shape.



Manifold is in. I started a few bolts to get it into place, then applied anti-seize to the 2 end bolts and started them, then slid the gasket in between the manifold and head, then anti-seize on every other bolt and tightened it all down. Pretty easy. I definitely need to replace the valve cover gaskets and clean up the top end...



Had to fight 2 different bolts to get them in, but anti-seize and tightening everything down and it's beautiful.

Test drive! Drove 15 miles, got it warm, no leaks! Probably picked up 5-10HP from having 2.5" exhaust rather than the 2" exhaust with crappy bends in it that was touching the engine and body. It's nice and quiet too, no backfiring or funny noises. I do notice a lifter tick now that wasn't obvious before, on the passenger side. But I'm tired and hurting today, so no more work for now.

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Last updated June 7th, 2015