ram air III d and IV round port A body exhaust manifold availability dates?
 

everywhere i check on line they show out of stock or unavailable etc, i know this has been going on for sometime due to covid, supply chain issues etc. I bought a set of repro round port first gen f body manifolds early this spring and the vendor said he did not expect those to ever be made again.

Has anyone talked to Ames or Butler or Ram air and gotten a solid delivery date for the a body sets? part numbers are N179HP AND N179HC
Thanks in advance

I dont know availability. I do remember Jim's metal shed in Plum borough, Pa.back in mid 70s. Having round port exhaust manifolds even for 69 F as well as tri power intakes. (He is in Tenn.now),when he left he ,well here goes junked all of the them. We just talked about this on phone. There were more than a few. Yep.

Small world, I grew up in Plum Borough. :cool:

Call Paul,last time I talked to him he was hoping to be able to ship exhaust the end of September.After working with a foundry I would take with a grain of salt.Getting info direct from him will be the most accurate at the time.Tom

I talked to a guy at RARE a few weeks ago. He said the reason they're behind is they had a deal with a foundry to produce their manifolds. The foundry kept dragging their feet saying next month and then next month, etc. 6 months later the foundry said they weren't going to do them so they had to start looking for another foundry that would do it. They finally found one thats saying the end of Aug. Rare is hoping to start shipping out manifolds in October because they have to to do the machining on them once they get them from the foundry. Rare said that's a best case scenario with their fingers crossed. That's the story anyways. I'm waiting on some oversized d ports for my 70.

....could use a Passenger HO Roundport RA II-IV manifold. is there such a thing as a 2-bolt flange Pass O manifold?

I've been waiting now for 11 months. I called Paul a few times here an there and got the same story but did not know about the first foundry. I could have ordered a set from Ames at the time but read that his are better quality.

I got my long branch manifolds from Paul @Rare just about a year ago. This was after waiting over 1 1/2 years for a set of round port long branch manifolds that never happened. Ended up having to buy D-port heads because I couldn't find exhaust manifolds. Kind of ridiculous. We are not getting any younger. The round port long branch never happened that I know of. It's been 5+ years now. It's a real shame that exhaust manifolds end up being the huge bottleneck that changes or cancels so many Pontiac builds. Yes, you can always have a set of custom headers made, but for a street car, the great Pontiac manifolds have many advantages.

Although Paul is a nice guy, the couple weeks and months quickly turn into years and often the parts never happen. Unless you can deal with that, your forced to look for other options.

I have a set of round port long branches. They happened. Just not sure of time frame. I was told there was one set left when
I bought this set at Carlisle this spring

A body round port manifolds, correct?

F-body ones I understand were never made. "Foundry issues" since 2015 I keep hearing.

I am
Seeking a pair of d port and a pair of round ports a body manifolds yes
The manifolds in the picture above are f body round port long branches purchased by me in 2022. I do not know when they were cast

I still have a round port engine sitting in my garage. I got a pretty good deal on it, but at the time was not aware of the manifold issues. Same thing, I called Paul many times, but to no avail. To be clear, I was looking for the ones made especially to put the motor in a pre-'68 car. I finally found a guy that had a pair of the regular '68 and up round port manifolds, so I grabbed them. Now, I've got my eye out for a '68 and up project to put it all in (as sooon as I get our '67 together). Good luck with your search.

Hehehe, sell me the Passenger side.

So the F body round ports were never made...ever?

I waited many months for RARE 2.5” A body round port manifolds, was really looking forward to using them. Got a few different stories like “Got the right sides in waiting on the foundry for the left sides” etc. I’m sure Paul is a good guy but I got tired of waiting so now I have a pair of 1 5/8 headers for my project. All good.


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I guess I got lucky or maybe got in before the manifold drought. I ordered a set of round port A body manifolds with 2.5" outlets from Ames last October and got them immediately.

Maybe I am wrong, but I had understood that the first gen F-body manifolds were the long branch ones;
The 67 Firebird RAI used the same manifold used on the 1967 full sized;
The second gen Firebird used the style manifolds used on 1967+ GTO's;
As a matter of fact, the 1970 Firebird and GTO used the exact same casting.

Although I am unclear on the minute differences between the two castings, those long branch round port exhaust manifolds would be applicable to 1968.5 RAII & 1969 RAIV.

Uhh no
 

Original 67 GTO HO/RA manifolds are a set of one year exhaust manifolds.
The LH '67 manifold positions the LH side outlet slightly further back than later A-body HO/RA manifolds.

Original 70 Firebird/GTO RAIII manifolds are one year manifolds, not just a casting number deal.

Thank you for the correction, but for yet more clarity;

Please note what I said:
I never said they were the exact same castings;
I didn't think that this minutia needed to be covered since the long branch manifolds on an F-body was the root of the query to which I was attempting to help answer.

spoke to a contact yesterday, said they are having trouble getting foundry time for a body manifolds both styles. In addition the original machinist they had used has passed. His family is trying to get up to speed but there will be some learning curve, as it was told to me.
Spoke to Ames yesterday as well, and they said the list is at least 38 pairs long. i think for d ports, and the round port list is not even started as they have no clear time frame they may be available.
Maybe Norwalk will turn up some information, it seems the market is still there for Pontiac hi performance cast iron manifolds

No wonder that Doug's is so busy making headers for the round port engine.

Glad i got my Round Ports last summer even though the car was not ready until June this year

I have a pair of long branch roundport and the short roundport exhaust manfolds available , going to Norwalk contact me if interested

That doesnt sound like they will have the manifolds from the foundry by the end of august and have them to us by october like I was told a few weeks ago.

any new from norwalk? was there many for sale in the swap meet?

Heard this AM, at least one pair of oversize '73-74 roundports sold

I'd buy someone's used oversized 70 A body D -port manifolds in good shape. If someone finds some at a swap meet let me know.

I talked to Paul last week and he is saying December currently for the round port Over-Sized F-body manifolds. He's at the mercy of the foundry from what I am hearing so time will tell.

They told us next month on round port long branch manifolds for 5+ years we finally gave up calling to even ask.

Just talked to RARE,,,he said the foundry is pouring them for the D ports as we speak. Where I only ordered mine maybe 7 weeks ago i probably wont see any for a couple of months but people at the beginning of the list could see some in a few weeks. Theyve got a bunch of lefts in stock and having a bunch of rights being poured. I aslo ordered 3" down pipes and the 3" X pipe to connect to my 2.5" mufflers and tailpipes. Fingers crossed.

Yep, I was in that group. Decided I wouldn't live long enough to enjoy them. If Edelbrock, Speedmaster, and others who make heads wanted to greatly increase their sales, they would provide round port exhaust manifolds. Larger company like this could get manifolds in the market in 6 months, start to finish. It takes some clout and $$$ up front to get a foundry interested in limited run stuff. But they will do it. Look at what Tom and his associates pulled off with the bathtub intake replica. Much more complex casting than an exhaust manifold. Iron replacement manifolds are available for almost any American engine you can imagine. Although the Pontiac manifolds are much better than most, they are not castings for the next space shuttle. As iron castings go, can they really be compared to an engine block or cylinder head? Foundries all over the country are pouring them every day.

of interest:'' the parts place'' on EBAY and i would assume others say they have d port ram air manifolds for 68+ A bodies and 70 and up f bodys in stock

/\ as long as you don't mind core shift, err things lining up like they should, yeah, I'm sure they have it.

They do make some really neat stuff;
It's really too bad that so much of their stuff is of such low quality.

have to take your word for it, I bought some t 37 emblems from them and they were good. kind of apples to traffic cones comparison but, i find it hard to believe more than one place is casting and machining these, and most pontiac parts Ames, Classic, Year one, RARE, in such relatively low demand, i think most of us have been led to believe there was a large difference in quality between parts from certain vendors, not necessarily manufacturers.
Now parts place maybe hording the ''seconds'' and they other shops pay up for the better quality units, i guess that is a possibility, i cant speak to that.

I bid on a set of long branch manifolds round port. Bid them to $850 didn’t make the reserve and got bid higher. Auction ends and I get a second chance offer so somebody has got some shill bidders just another reason not to trust eBay it’s a scam even if eBay doing it or not the platform is being used to do it.

how long ago was that? do you remember the final price?

I wanted the rare castings because I think theyre the only ones offering the oversized.

Same story I got. We must have ordered at the same time. I was told to expect delivery in Oct.

Glad I got mine in 2020.

I have a set on my 77, IF I had known I was going to be doing another trans am I would have bought 2 pair!

Talked to RARE today,,,exhaust manifolds are expected from the foundry soon.

the machining is going to be the hold up as i was told. All the fixtures are held up in an estate (deceased)

He's been saying the same things to me for nearly a year. Also, after my dyno testing comparing headers to my current 2.3125" repo RA manifolds, I'm cancelling my order.

Driver side on ebay for $100. I need the Pass side O-port and flange.

He didn't mention anything about machining delays,,,said orders should start going out by the end of the month or November. IDK.

I'm ready for some pictures (several, please, Lord!!!) Of satisfied customers!!!

I've met Paul from RARE. I'm sure this whole ordeal has been agonizing. I hope he can fill all the orders needed, and se)l many more in the future!!!

I’d like to order a pair of these but with all the issues I’ll probably just stick with my logs. I think someone here said the juice ain’t worth the squeeze anyway if you have a stock 389 or 400. Too bad someone couldn’t get the tri-Ys figured out without ripping people off since that would be good competition for the HO manifolds.

RARE round port oversized. I have mine!
 

pics. lv posting pics lol

these are the RARE oversized round ports. very happy with them. with this thread sure glad I got em 3 years ago. (waited a bit even then). also got the 3" downpipes from them as in the pic. they didnt work out though. the bend was to steep and they hit the floor once i installed the engine. RARE kindly allowed a return on those though.

I have pics of the bored out to oversize collector area but got a new computer and have to find em.

again, I like the manifolds! I do wish I would have anted up for the ceramic coating now. oh well. think they were $675 for the pair back then.

engine been in, exhaust installed, car drivin, i start it regularly so plenty of hot/cool cycles on em.

What was the car thst the 3" hit the floor?

72 Clone
 

as in my signature. 72 Trans Am clone.

I could have cut the downpipe and pointed it down a bit and rewelded and made it work but decided not to fool with it. you can kind of see in this frame pic the way the bend is curved up a bit to much.

I didnt regret not going 3". I have 2 1/2" system and its plenty big. about as big as possible around the tailpipe to splitters seems to me.

see the body shop for my infamous thread "floor/torque box/frame rail"