1991 V3500 Project Heavy Hauler

[MTCK]

My right manifold showed up right away, but just got the left one today. Go figure. I threw the right one on and torqued it down to 20 ft-lbs as specified and worked on getting the front accessory brackets on. The jack stand looked like it was going to quit so I put a jack stand under the front of the motor for a little insurance.

A buddy stopped by and was looking at my handwork and said, you know you have a cracked manifold? No f-ing way. Sure enough. I pulled it off and one ear about fell off. I put a straight edge on the head and it is perfectly true. OK, must have got a bad casting. Napa had one for about $80 bucks so I picked it up the next day.

It looked identical except it was in a Napa box instead of dorman. I put it on with no gasket and made sure it was perfectly true. Torqued it down using 4 passes and was doing final torque to 20 ft-lbs when I felt the same bolt get easier. Cracked that one too. My savings from ditching the header idea are rapidly going evaporating. The driver's side went on without incident, but I won't be buying any more Chinese exhaust manifolds. I'm going to the junk yard to see if I can find a straight, crack free passenger side manifold there.