Original or Aftermarket Exhaust Manifolds?
 

Hey Everyone,

I have the original Ram Air II exhaust manifolds for my car but like most of the originals, they have been repaired. I was told by a very reputable restorer to put the originals in a box and buy the aftermarkets to put on my car. He suggest to grind off the part numbers so you cannot say they are wrong. What do you guys think???

Thank You,

I just did the same with my RA III Judge BUT I did not grind off the repo numbers.Tom

Tom,

I would be putting a set of RA IVs on a RAII therefore the numbers on one side would need to be changed. What do you think?

in my case there was no way to pass them off for 40 some year old originials.New look NEW!Tom

Are you planning on driving or just show? If show I might consider the originals but if driving I would for sure go with the repops. I believe the repops from RARE are a lot stronger than originals as they don't crack if you get water on them when they are hot, this is just what Ive been told.

Why not just find a nice set of unrepaired originals? I see plenty of nice sets of original RAIVs for sale and if you wanted a set of RAIIs I have seen them. As a matter of fact I know where there is a super clean set that have been hanging on a garage wall for years I cant speak for if they are available but could always ask. The person that has them got them and a set of RAII heads from me back in the 80s he has in the past and I believe still is using the heads on a race motor but never used the manifolds he always used headers.

my opiinion, the RARE brand roundports don't have the correct look for high point resto on a '68 or '69 roundport GTO, real easy to spot as they were cast off the later SD design manifolds.

Am not sure about the appearance of the Classics of OH version, been a while since I examined one. Memory serves right they got the casting number correct for the lh one, as it is same casting number as '69 RAIV. The passenger side RAII manifold has its own casting number & originally had the flapper & heat wind up spring.

Goatwhore... I am not sure what I will do with this when completed. But I do not want to put the originals on it if they are just going to crack again.

RedGto366... I would really like to talk to the guy that has the manifolds. I will pm you my info.

Ol Pinion... Thank you for the information. I will take a better look at the differences.

Not a problem, like I said I cant speak for if they are for sale but I know they are sitting there. And I actually just informed him of a RAII longbranch RH manifold that I saw on line a month ago which he ended up purchasing and when he received it he told me he believed it to be an NOS part. Ever since the 80s since I found those heads and he ended up putting them to use we knew which head was the King of the Roundports.

i would check on cost of repair to have them re-done by a furnace welding shop that fixes cylinder heads and blocks. If they still have the flapper/spring arrangement intact.

Blast them , shot peen , then send them off.

When they get cherry red all over - any other stresses should be relieved .
Then they have to be resurfaced too.
Dress the repairs ... blast again ... shot peen again

or maybe just buy the repops and be done . lol

At one time - one of the outfits offered custom tailored casting dates.
Maybe they can do custom casting numbers too ?