Whats the best way to get the manifolds aligned?

I'm running a clifford intake with the water jacket underneath. After grinding parts of the water jacket and the duals to fit, there is a fair amount of play in how the exhaust manifolds can sit. I've had to raise the exhaust manifolds a bit to get a socket on some of the bottom nuts but they may be able to go higher.

Figured this would be a good time to get everything situated - I tightened the manifold nuts in a random order just to get everything in. I want to loosen them all, put the manifolds in final position, and do the standard center-out tightening pattern before I take it to the exhaust shop.

You mean up and down and side to side play, correct? I would somehow just try to make sure the exhaust ports line up with the ports on the manifold.

When I had Dutra duals and a Clifford 4500WH manifold, I had to do a lot of grinding (hacking), too. I only ever had one Dutra casting and a modified rear manifold, where the "heat stove" was cut down considerably and capped with a piece of 1/8" steel.

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'68 Dodge Dart 4dr Sedan

One way to do it, is mock the manifolds up on the head when it's off the engine, line the ports up on the manifolds and use a magic marker to trace around the runners... this will give you a pattern to go off of when you put them in place, and can move them into place and tighten as you go...

good luck,

-D.Idiot

Yes, use the gasket to "match" all the ports and then trace the manifold's positions onto the front side of the gasket, for easy reference later.
DD

Wish I would of thought about the tracing before I put everything together. Its not super hard to do, but with MPFI theres lots of stuff to take off and back on. Theres very little room between the runners as it is.

The side to side play is almost zero, its fairly tight between the runner flanges - its the up and down play that has me somewhat concerned. I can pull the exhaust manifolds, and once the hole in the outermost runner clears the stud, drop the manifold and pull it completely free even with intake still attached to motor.

The hole that came drilled in the outermost runner on each of the manifolds limits the movement. I may just level the manifold to the head then use a piece of wire to feel in the runners and make sure the ports are aligned. Wheres that boroscope when you need one.

This is what I did. On each end of the engine block is "nubs" that sit right below the cylinder head. The dutra's end flanges will hit those "nubs". I ground the end flanges to work with the "nubs" and level the manifolds.

A second alternative it to add two studs. One of your manifolds will have mounting holes on both end flanges. The other will not. Make them the same and drill and add studs to support the inner manifold flanges.

I found that I could not get a 1/2" swivel socket onto the hold down nuts. So I carefully ground around the studs until the socket would fit. Simple and the manifolds are fairly thick, so there is little chance of grinding thru.

I bought a set of 1/4" drive shallow swivel sockets just for the occasion. 1/4" drive ones are slimmer and more then adequate for the torque needed.

Just stoped by the exhaust shop. Clearance around the starter is tight, about 1/4" - I'll probably end up wrapping that section of the pipe or make a heat shield like Doc did on his dual duals write-up.

Clearance around the torsion bar is cutting it close too - about 1/2" or more but I believe my old pipes were like that too so that shouldn't hit if the engine shakes. This is with 2x2" pipes side by side.

How come you went side-by-side? I usually stack the pipes, one on top of the other in order to get more side-to-side room.
Are you running a manual trans?
DD

Would it be feasible to use a slant F Body exhaust pipe on the modified manifold? Then have a new pipe made for the driver's side for the front manifold. I'm wondering about this since the F slant pipe goes down under the motor, which might be perfect if going with duals.

Well I don't know about with Dutras, but with a stock manifold on my 63 Dart an F body exhaust pipe wont fit. Where it comes down and goes under the oil pan it will interfere with the steering linkage. There is very little room to run the pipe under the engine and clear the steering, well at least on my 63 there is very little room.

Of course, with a sawzall and a welder. most things can be made to fit.

TopHat