Report:New/used manifold installed and the truck already runs better. In hindsight, I think that crack may have been occurring for a while. In a perfect world, it only gets driven on the weekends during the spring summer and fall so I may have just not noticed the lacking in performance (due to the slowly progressing crack), especially when the vehicle will only go 43 mph! That and I knew I had a donut gasket going bad.
My truck would have originally had a 216 in it. When I bought it, it had a 1954 235 in it. I compared the old and new manifolds prior to installed the new one and they were, of course (same casting # sooo...) exactly the same. When we first attempted to put the manifold on, we could not get the second to last and last bolts in no matter if we were working from front to back or vice versa. We removed it and compared again only to discover a small notch ground out of the inside ear on the last exhaust flanges on each end. Looked like a "farm" modification when the engine was changed, so we did the same with a die grinder
http://s160.photobucket.com/user/st...16D7_zpsrxssgxut.jpg.html?sort=2&o=7Worked like a champ. Had it back in and back together in new time with the help of some ODSS Brothers (thank you guys!).
Getting it back on the road has motivated me to fix a few other things that have needed attention. Oh and we found out my vacuum advance is no longer working so Chris Sweet assures me that the COE will be doing wheel stands when it is replaced!
I'm just glad its running decent again.
I was taking a closer look at the cracked manifold Sunday night. I hardly touched the large cracked section and it fell right off. I didn't take a picture of it but am still wondering if there is any chance it is repairable for a spare. I definitely would like to have an extra one sitting in my parts cabinet.
