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Originally Posted by mgarblik

That's the same tooling I use on the aluminum heads destined for race engines. That tooling can cut a nice counterbore for step washers that eliminate crushing the aluminum around the head studs. Not needed of course in this application with the light clamp load. The manifold top looks great. Just can't wait for the finished product. Personally, I don't care how you finish the fastener attachment area. I can make it look the way I want after the fact. Question though: Could some of the SD guys chime in concerning painting these manifolds or leaving them as=cast aluminum? What did most people do back in the day these were raced? I have many pics of the bathtubs. Some painted, some raw aluminum. Not sure what would look best, most correct? My engine will be almost all blue. Blue SD style valve covers with stacks. No chrome. Thanks for the input.

Mike like you I have lots of pictures of bathubs plus have restored two real ones plus have handled ?? 50-60 54299/91 and 9770859 inline intakes. Both bathtubs and more than 90% of the inlines were as cast aluminum with no evidence of paint ever having been on them. IMO they look best as bare aluminum. That is just me.