63 dart exhaust manifold

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JimD

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Well I put my new intake/exhaust gaskets on , and took for a shake down cruise, when I came back, seen the exhaust manifold had cracked. I torqued to specs(10 lbs), don't know what happened. Anyway I'm looking to buy an aftermarket manifold. I see A1 auto has one for around a hundred bucks, but the Dorman is around three hundred,any difference. Will JB weld work on the crack. Thanks Jim.
 
JB Weld will not work. You need a replacement manifold (or a set of Dutra Duals!). All the aftermarket manifolds are made in China. I don't know whether the Dorman item is $200 better than the 1A Auto items. I try to jump on real Chrysler-made ones from eBay when I need them. See here for more detailed info.
 
All the aftermarket ones I've seen are awful but unless you go with headers, they're about the only game in town. Finding a good used one is another option but determining if it's good before you buy it is the hard part. If you get a replacement, search here through the many threads on this subject so you can verify you have the correct fasteners and are using the proper procedure for installing it. If you do it wrong you'll be looking for another in short order.
 
Send me a picture of where it cracked and I might trade you for one that is not. I am getting ready to cut it up for Dutra Duals. I'm just outside of Newark, DE so it's not that long of a ride.
 
slantsixdan said:
They're not "awful". They're not up to OE quality, but they're certainly acceptable.
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You must have a different source than I do. I've tried two different brands and they were both AWFUL! The first was so crude looking, it appeared a child must have cast it in a mud puddle in his back yard. I could have lived with that but it wouldn't even fit over the outer head studs without using a spreader. Also the #6 port was only 2/3 the size of the other ports so you would have to take a grinder to it to get any kind of equal flow. The second one looked lots better and actually slid over the studs but if you bolted it to the intake evenly and then sighted down the head surface, the intake and exhaust surfaces were on different planes so you would have had to resurface them. Also, when bolted together, the centerlines of the intake and exhaust ports were a good 1/8-1/4" off from stock so you would need to do some major port matching. Needless to say, I sent them back. I would either find a good used one or get headers before I would use either of the ones I've seen. Do you have a brand you can recommend?
Thanks, Mark
 
Dorman's a solid, reliable brand. Haven't looked at their slant-6 exhaust manifold in quite awhile, but last one I saw was good. I also haven't closely examined the ones from 1aauto.com (and on ebay from that same seller) but those over on slantsix.org who have used them have found them quite acceptable -- though they've required some grinding of casting flash off the outside of the runners to make for easy access to the attaching hardware.
 
slantsixdan said:
Dorman's a solid, reliable brand. Haven't looked at their slant-6 exhaust manifold in quite awhile, but last one I saw was good. I also haven't closely examined the ones from 1aauto.com (and on ebay from that same seller) but those over on slantsix.org who have used them have found them quite acceptable -- though they've required some grinding of casting flash off the outside of the runners to make for easy access to the attaching hardware.
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Thanks for the info. It's good to know there is something usable out there. I've had to clean up casting slag from factory ones so that's no big deal.
 
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