The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop dual exhaust manifold installation

I'm thinking about putting a dual exhaust (Fenton or William's) on my '48. It just had a straight pipe with no muffler when I got it. Are there any issues with not having the heat riser connected to the stock intake manifold? Do I need to cover the opening in the bottom of the intake manifold?

Yes, warm-up will take longer and you'll need he choke more.
No, the intake's bottom is sealed.

Patricks sells a heat kit that goes with the Fenton headers.check out his website in links section

My only advice is to bolt them together and have them milled to a common surface, otherwise your in for a bad time getting them to install and seal to the head. A lesson many of us has had to learn the hard way.

There are 2 types of heat adapters. Jim Carter has one that uses exhaust from the headers. Tom Langdon sells one that uses coolant. I don't know which one Patrick offers.

Does the Fenton or Williams dual-exhaust manifolds/headers directly attach to the intake manifold? The Fenton headers that I have do not. No need to bolt together and mill, I think?

As Cletis describes, you can heat with engine coolant-heat or heat with exhaust-gas heat. I have used both methods - both methods work fine. I now use the exhaust heat method because there is no risk of coolant leaks.

Here is the simplest exhaust heat intake manifold plate for use with Fenton headers. It just uses one line; use a brass pipe plug in the hole in the other header.

All you need is enough heat to keep the gas from condensing.

I have seen original Fentons that have a heat riser cast to the rear section. From what I understand, the reason that the repop Fentons do not have this is so that the same castings can be used on both Chevrolet and GMC engines. Having the cast on riser would require different rear header castings due to the dimension difference between the two engines.
As far as a heat plate goes, one can be fabricated easily enough. I made mine from stainless plate, and use steel 3/8" brake line to make the tubes.

Tim - I guess that is the same heat kit that Patrick's sells.

Patricks system uses exhaust gas to heat intake,comes compleat with all fittings and tubes,gaskets etc.I thought it was well worth the money.As far as the headers go I had to do some grinding here and there to get them to fit just right.A litttle patience will go along way when installing them.

What kind of dual exhaust setup do you guys run? I've seen the one in Patrick's catalog (stainless for $675) and an aluminized one somewhere else for considerably less. I don't want to spend $700 for stainless, and I'm not crazy about the way Patrick's has both exhaust tips exiting on the same side. I'd rather have the tips come out one at the left side of the rear and one at the right. I just wondered if anybody knew of a reasonably priced, pre-bent exhaust that will work with Fenton headers.

A lot of guys merely add another outlet to their existing exhaust manifold. Then they weld a plate between them with a one inch hole in it.

the easiest and cheapest way is to go to your local muffler shop, and read a magazine while the pros do it for you. I paid just over $400 for mine.