These manifolds are date matching to the block -LH is 278, RH 259 for a block and heads date of 287 & 288. The owner wants to save them, but they have been fixed at least once before. I have the other broken ear - does anyone fix these or is it Thornton time?

 

In my world these would be on the shelf and on to repos or better used manifolds.
I have been fairly good Joe and I'm staying close to home this year.

 

Those things are rough... I wouldn't try to fix those if the car is going to be driven at all. Put them in a box to feel good about having them, and get repros or nicer used.

 

Are gaskets required? They seem to be making matters worse in this case looking at the photos.

 

I have a set of W/Z manifolds with a broken ear like that. I had the ear welded back on to the manifold and they worked great with gaskets. The ones you have are pretty far gone. Even if you had the manifold ear repaired the gasket surface is shot. If you try to repair them and use them definitely use a gasket. There's no way you could get those to seal without a gasket.

 

While they can be repaired, I don't think its worth the effort. The repairs will be noticeable or a lot of work will be necessary to clean em up.

 

Joe, I have a nice original Z, but is dated 345. Probably to late for for what you need.

 

Thanks! I will ask David if he wants to go the date coding thing, but I would much rather do a original manifold like yours. Will send a PM this afternoon.

 

Well, fairly good is great compared to the alternative. We'll be thinking of you and Henry at the Nats this year.

 

I have a very nice W manifold but the two lower exhaust bolts are broken and need drilled out. I would junk those. Will have more into those trying to get a quality fix that may or may not work than just getting another set.