Exhaust manifolds busted on my 55 Fairlane's 292 but considering headers so I don't have to buy heat riser valve for $85 on top of both stock manifolds. Opinions welcome. Trying to go cheap as I don't intend to keep the car. Anybody had luck with reds-headers or know a maker so it just bolts on? Thanks.
For a whole lot of reasons I'd recommend you just replace your cast iron manifolds, leaving the heat riser inoperative. It'll take the motor a little longer to run smoothly in cool weather, but your duals will last a lot longer since both sides will warm up every time you drive it. It's the "cool" side that usually rusts out first because the heat riser diverts the exhaust to the "warm" side. This allows moisture to remain in the cool side on shorter trips - or if the heat riser sticks closed - and rusts it out. Besides, you'll get no performance benefits from the headers except at high rpm under wot (wide open throttle) conditions. Otherwise the stock headers will flow plenty well, even with a mildly modified motor. Good luck!
dragonknucks aka Rocky has the Red's headers He can tell Ya,Red's has been around a long time I was in their shop back in the mid 70's when they were in the Sacramento area.
I bought a set of Reds headers shortly after Red retired and sold the business. I hope they are making better parts now, the pair I had were terrible. I had to rework them to get them on the engine, and I had work to do on the inside as well. I really should have returned them.
Gunner - Any luck finding an ol' boy that can weld those you got back together? There are some left around - just don't put the dumb heat-up valve back in there until its been gutted with a torch.
The good thing about tube headers is that they don't bust like cast iron manifolds. If you can find a set of exhaust manifolds for cheap, I'd suggest running them, but if you can afford headers they're neat. One day I'll probably run the 300 dollar ones from Reds headers. They're the swoopy ones I just think they'd look neat under the hood.
Thanks. I'm trying to go with manifolds so I don't have to modify existing exhaust. I'm going to leave the "heatup" valve off. Any problems with that other than the engine won't warm up as fast?
Unless you drive that car durring a northern Minnesota winter, it will not miss the heat riser. Gut the one you have and use it for a spacer on the long stud side.
There's quite a few dual exhaust Y-block exhaust manifolds on eBay right now and the prices seem reasonable. The other guys can give you advice as to which ones you'll need for shifter/clutch linkage clearance on your car if you decide to go this way...
Gunner, what are you looking for: single exhaust with crossover? or dual exhaust manifolds? I may have the single with crossover on a spare engine. Farmalldan
I've had Red's two tube headers for over 10 years. No bolt up problems. I did have them powder coated. TC
Hi i read your post where you broke your exhaust manifols i have a set of manifolds that i was going to use on my 55 yblock but i decided to put a 302 in it. I can let you have them for $130.00 plus shipping and ill throw in the heat riser . call for more in fo 904 945 2174 ask for Bobby Thanks Bobby
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