The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop How rare was a factory split manifold in '51?

Was this a common option?

GM split manifold photo

GM part number 3838108

A factory option that was about as rare as hen's teeth (on a truck).

There was no factory option "split manifold" or dual exhaust option for a truck 216/235/261. My bet is that the only GM 235 dual-exhaust manifold was available on 53-55 Corvette 235 engines.

Maybe someone knows the Corvette manifold's casting code.

However, it was not uncommon for shops/services to split a manifold and graft-on another down-pipe and make a dual-exhaust manifold.

The manifold shown is for a 53-55 235 Corvette engine. The intake manifold that was used with this exhaust manifold is aluminum and had 3 side draft carburetors on it. Don

Thanks for the info. It is very surprising to me for as original as this farm truck appears to be (with only 28K miles), that someone would have put on the split manifold and dual exhaust.

Wow that's an interesting manifold ya' got there. It would certainly appear to be a factory original 2-piece casting. All of the 6-cyl Corvette manifolds I've ever seen were cast in one piece.

It looks to me like the casting number is 3836108. That is the correct casting number for the Corvette manifold.

I had a typo in my original post. The casting number is 3836108.

I'll be pulling it off shortly and post additional pictures.

The Corvette split manifold is a 1 piece exhaust manifold. They were a popular "hop up" item. I have seen an ad where they sold pretty cheaply back then. I think the article floating around about "soup that chevy" from 55 Hot Rod magazine has that ad.

Additional Photos:

manifold1

manifold 2

exhaust number

Intake number

Good memory, Greg,

Here is the page in the [i]Soup That Chev![/i] article.

Here is a link to pictures of mine. http://rides.webshots.com/album/556570834bxMHYE

They sell for more than $18 today!

NO EXPERT HERE BY NO MEANS - I HAVE NEVER SEEN A ONE PEACE
EXHOUST MANIFOLD ON A 53/54 VETTE AND I HAVE SEEN A FEW.
THEY ALL HAD CAST IRON FACTRORY HEADERS

That is a correct dual exhaust manifold for 53/54 corvette.There is one listed on ebay of a starting price of $650 .The guys that say corvette are correct,That's sweet !!!

The bottom line is you have a very desirable piece. I have the intake manifold and carburetor set up and have been searching for years for a good deal on the exhaust manifold to go with it.

Check the numbers on the engine and tranny numbers also. Make sure someone didn't swap the whole thing out with a Corvette engine and/or tranny. You might be "In The Money" with that is complete.

The first pictures show the oil distributor on the side of the block. No question that its a early low psi engine.

The block numbers show it as a '51 216.

It's tempting to raise some cash by selling the manifold, but I think it's going back on.

I have lots of pictures on the website. If you see anything else that does not look original, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

That is a real nice looking truck.

Your intake manifold, casting 3835527 is listed for a 216.

The 216 and 235 manifolds are not interchangeable because the heat box is different.

It looks like someone relocated the stud on the intake to make it work.
Also the gasket between the manifolds is very large and looks thicker on one side.

I have the same 235 53-55 vette exhaust manifold, casting # 3836108.
Wanted to use it with my 216 2x1 tattersfield intake,
couldn't because the heat box didn't line up.

Tom Langdon of www.stoveboltengineco.com offered to trade a set of Fenton headers for the vette split manifold. Seemed like a lop-sided trade to me but I am sure the offer probably still stands.

It would be nice if someone would reproduce them as I would rather have the corvette manifold instead of the fentons I presently have on the 37,one of those would be perfect since I am trying to make the 235 look like a 216 and factory casting numbers would fool most people.

I put out some feelers for one of those manifolds and they are not cheap,I think I will be buying the heat kit for the intake since they are only around 40 dollars. I found one that needed repairs for 700.00 and a mint one for 995.00,just missed one for 550.00 shipped so I will need to start putting some money away each week if I ever want to buy one and then hope they dont go up in price during the time I am saving up.