A penny for your thoughts.....heat risers?

B

BobM

Senior Member
Do the pennies press into the intake manifold or the block; any consequences if the penny drops down into block water passage?
 
They go into the block. It's not likely they would get into a water passage if you only had the intake manifold off.
Eddie
 
Bob, use the old wheatstalk pennies due to the copper content. They go in the exhaust system, not the cooling system. I haven't heard of any that have been pushed all the way in, but I suppose it could happen, according to Murphy's Law.
 
I put a couple in my dragster engine, I had it running in the driveway, reving it and you know. I just have 3 pipes about a foot long on each side. I happened to look down about 3-4 feet from the engine, on the tar drive, there was a black sooty penny. The other penny must be still going, I haven't seen it. From then on a use block plugs ( freeze plugs ). I should have used an Indian Head penny instead of Lincoln Head. Walt
 
Pennies seem to be smaller than they were back in the 50's. Put them on a solid object, give them a couple of whacks with a big hammer and they fit just fine. No big deal if you lost one down the heat riser, it won't hurt anything.

Before I put mine in 5 years ago the last ones I put in previously were at Amarrillo AFB, Texas 1955 in a `52 Ford Convertible with dual Smitty's.

BTW~Heads up for luck!

Shadetree
 
Or simply slip thin-gage shimstock over the holes --- the intake gasket will seal fine especially if you slather grease on all the surfaces. If you want the option of removing the shims, just make them long enough to extend a bit beyond the manifold edge. Then loosen the manifold bolts, and pull the shims out with a needle-nose. Re-torque bolts. No need to remove the manifold.

Jack E/NJ
 
Brendan .......................
It's, mostly, for making your dual exhaust sound better. The exhaust, mixing in the manifold, does not have the two separate tones, exiting from the rear. The car would be more efficient without the pennies, but who cares ? All cars, nowdays, have a crossover pipe, between the dual exhaust pipes. This is so one exhaust pulse will help pull the exhaust from the other side.
MIKE :)
 
ford38v8 said:
Bob, use the old wheatstalk pennies due to the copper content. They go in the exhaust system, not the cooling system. I haven't heard of any that have been pushed all the way in, but I suppose it could happen, according to Murphy's Law.
Click to expand...
Don't know what I was thinking about water and not exhaust gas!
 
Off topic, but I put a penny in the round shallow hole in front of the radiator cap on both my 37 and 38 for good luck. Taps right in for a perfect fit...
 
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