What Caused This? exhaust manifold question

reverendjim

reverendjim

Member
Hello All,

I decided to replace the exhaust manifold on my A because this one was was.....well UGLY and it was hard to get to the bolt that holds the distributor and impossible to get to the oiler. Turns out that these were the least of the problems. I have circled all the cracks.
What would cause a manifold to get to be in this bad of shape? They had two one piece gaskets on it and 5 gland rings, one was in the muffler. Neddless to say it leaked a little.

manifold004.jpg


manifold005.jpg


manifold005.jpg


manifold007.jpg


Regards,
James
 
Make sure your tail pipe clamp up on the frame is properly installed and not to tight so when your engine moves the pipe will also. When reinstalling ensure the intake and exhaust are in the same plane and not to tight on the manifold bolts you can brake the ears off. Good Luck!!
 
from the photo of the front it looks like the water pump was leaking. I can't really tell since the close up detail is not good. But, if the thing was over heated and the pump was spraying water on it, or if it was hot and someone though it would cool it off to do the same thing with a hose, that would crack it.
 
I'm saying the cracks around the bolts that hold the intake to the exhaust is because the manifolds weren't lined up on the block the same when tightened down.

When I replaced my exhaust manifold I left the 2 bolts loose until I tightened both to the block then noticed there was about a 25 thousands gap between the two, which I shimmed with starter shim before tightening them together. Might not be the way to do it, could had them surface ground, but it worked for me.
 
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This is exactly what Ford ment by GYP parts. Now you see why the originals lasted 85 years and parts like this fall apart in much less time.
Quality not quantity (money).
 
Thanks for the info. I picked up a new exhaust manifold and a new intake this morning and I hope to put them on tomorrow. It seemed a shame to grind a new exhaust manifold down to match an old intake so I just went ahead and got them both. I did pull the muffler to get the missing gland ring out and plan to check and see if the rats may have made themselves at home whilst it was sitting.

I do have a quick question about the intake. The old one had the recess for gland rings but the new does not, Is that normal?

Thanks,
James
 
The gland rings are not necessary. I have never used them in over 50 years of working on model A's and never had a leak or sagging manifold. I use original style gaskets, and keep the timing and fuel mixture correct, and nowadays use an Aries muffler, all of which eliminate common problems with manifold failure.
 
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