1984-87 hydraulic clutch and manifold interference

[kipps]

I posted this to the LS-swapped squarebody group on Facebook. I'm double posting it here so it can be found by internet searches.

Feel free to post your own successes and failures in clearing the sm465 slave cylinder, either with manifolds or with headers.

I did a quick mock-up of a typical 1984-87 hydraulic clutch combined with various factory LS exhaust manifolds.

The first two pics show a 1998-2002 Camaro/Firebird manifold. This one fits pretty good. It's not perfect, but it's probably the best clearance you'll get between a manifold and the slave cylinder.

The second two pics show a typical truck manifold. This particular manifold is a 2010 Tahoe, but I think they're all very similar. The only way this clears, is if the slave cylinder is turned upside-down like shown. Even then, the heat shield would need to be removed to avoid interference. An upside-down slave can work, but you'd need to bleed the slave before installing it on the bellhousing. Also, the truck manifolds are typically too wide for our squarebody frames. You might be able to get by with a truck manifold on one side only; I'm not sure on that.

I tried a Trailblazer SS manifold, and there was no way that was going to clear the slave cylinder at all. I did not try a 2010 Camaro manifold in this experiment, but I'm reasonably certain that won't clear at all either.