well i am working on my parents 85 and have been looking here for a while but this my first post. When we bought bought the car it came with a carbed 350 with a four bolt main. so the seller says. well we new about the exhaust leak when we bought it and new it should be a easy fix. so we find out it is missing the rear bolt for the number eight cylinder and it blew out the gasket so we take of the passinger side mani' and pluged the egr and cleaned it up. wel upon reinstallation we found out that the rear bolt does not fit the head and that this is an older motor. so what do we do?

we figured we would go with headers eventually but where do we find ones to fit the car and motor? or find a stock mani but will it fit the Y-pipe? or at the most chage the heads? we dont have alot of money and this car is just their cruzer

thanks Adam

 

the flanges look alright for the motor but will these fit the car

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/chevy...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Those will not work. They are the same SBC flange design, but will not fit car. Hedman makes a good inexpensive set. They have a shorty set that will fit and can be gotten in emission and non-emission versions. They have a y-pipe that will fit either version and is 82-92 Camaro Firebird specific. Part #17470 is the y-pipe. They sell the headers in painted (which will come off and look like rusty steel) and coated versions. They also sell a package part set that comes with the y-pipe. Headman.com Also try Hooker. SLP makes a nice set that I believe is now on clearance but pricey (however they are VERY nice and worth it to me) as well as others. The 350 youll want a 1 3/4 primary if you intend on getting HP out of it. On a 305 a 1 5/8 is plenty. The Headmns are the latter and the SLPs are the larger. If its a small block chevy 350, I dont see why the flange doesnt line up. They are pretty standard. Some heads have one end with 2 holes because some, I think it was trucks, had manifolds on the drivers side with an extra bolt for an accessory. Which is the #1 cylinder and being the heads are universal, I assume the heads are a stock GM casting and the one on the right was originally on the left. Which would make sense why it has an offst bolt hole on the #8 cylinder. In any case, headers are not going to solve this problem. If you had gotten the correct manifolds for those heads (which you would need to know the make and year vehicle those heads were originally on) you would need to swap sides with the heads. Other than that IDK. Hope this info helps get you in a direction to research.

 

The cast manifolds are pretty beefy. If you use a header gasket with good quality, high heat silicone on both sides and lock washers the the bolts you can get in, you should be ok. It is really common for these manifold bolts to work themselves loose, so use a lockwasher and periodically retighten these bolts. I've had to do this a couple of times before with ok results. MAKE SURE the exhaust port surface and the manifold surface are extremely clean for a good seal and let the silicone set up for awhile before starting the car.