The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 4 barrel intake question

I'm cleaning up a 1957 gm stock v8 4 barrel intake manifold.The underside of the intake has a metal baffle that i removed.The baffle was held in place by four little push pins.When i reattach the baffle onto the intake,how should i do it ? Reuse the push pins,or use some small metal screws ?I'm afraid the push pins may not hold.

What is the purpose of the metal baffle plate ? Does it keep oil from splashing all over ?

I think the baffle is a shield to keep oil from splashing onto the under-side of the manifold. The V-8 intake manifolds have carburetor heat passages in them. Oil splashing around there would soon form a heavy layer of carbon. I think the push-pins are actually rivets. I don't see why self-tapping screws with thread locker wouldn't be satisfactory to hold the shield in place. If the rivets are in pretty good shape, you could probably flatten the shank a little, then drive them back in. But, I don't know how durable that method would be.

Harvester

You will usually find a lot of crud bilt up under there. I always put same plugs back in. Anything that would hold will be fine.

The baffle did have about 1/16" to 1/8" of crud or carbon.I have it in my blasting cabinet,and it is looking really nice.I will check the plugs or rivets for tightness and decide.I'm not going to use the manifold,just getting it ready for the next guy that needs one.

Thanks,Tim

I think it's best to use some 1/4-20 screws. This is about the same size as the old rivets. Just drill and tap the holes. Clean it up and use blue loctite on them so they don't back out. That would be bad
Gary

Use some phillips panhead screws. Check the heads for clearance by setting it on top of a longblock. I have had to grind a head because of how close they are to the gasket surface.