Will these manifolds work?

[gent00l]

I have a 3inch body lift, and I am using vortec angle plug heads on my block with the newer style center bolt valve covers. Will the manifolds from a 87 Pontiac Firebird 5.0L TBI work? I priced up a pair at a boneyard and I wanted to see if any knowledgable person here could tell me before I made the trip.

[afghanimobilerawks]

from what i understand, yes....... being as if camaro manifolds work, any f-body should....

[gent00l]

I read in the Stealth conversion manual that you need to get the newer style manifolds from 87-92 for newer heads that have the center bolt valve covers because 86 and down manifolds sit too close or rub against the valve cover causing the gaskets to melt.



I went to the bone yard today to check the manifolds out, and when I asked them to look up a set for an 82 5.0L TBI camaro, they showed me a same set that looked the exact same as the set they had shown me for the 92 5.0L TBI camaro. I didn\'t see a difference at all. Does anyone have pictures of the manifolds I need??



<font size=1>[ This message was edited by: gent00l on 2007-02-22 20:46 ]</font>

[racer1182]

82-92 will be the same you need to go newer than that



Greg

[polkaudio]

I read on another forum board that stock manifolds will not work at all.



I have a 95 S-15 with a 4.3 in California and plan to swap in a V8 soon. Exhaust is the last piece of the puzzle to solve before I start spending money. As far as California law goes, the engine must be the same year or newer from a car or light truck. So I\'m planning to set it up as a 95 1500. The manifolds for this truck appear the same as the 4.3. So my assumption was they\'d work, now I read they won\'t.



Will someone help out? And do any of you know of CARB approved headers that will work?

[krmuck]

Yep, same here. Was going to use my non AIR 92 c1500 exhaust manifolds. was told they wont work. They look like they will work to me. Wont know until i try the swap. I bought a set of Sandersons shorties just in case.

What I dont get is the truck manifolds are \"Smog Legal\" w/o AIR but the headers aint?

C.A.R.B. Sucks

[polkaudio]

This is beause header manufacturers do not spend the money to submit their product to CARB for testing and approval. Afterall most headers are for a hot rod application. And there are plenty of states for now that do not care if you change to headers. And if they have smog laws at all, those laws are very relaxed.



If Patriot and others who have headers for the S-series V8 swap spent the money to get their headers approved we wouldn\'t even have this thread to * about it.

[gent00l]

Well, I tried putting the 82-92 camaro TBI manifolds on my vortec angle plug heads with center bolt valve covers. They seem to work fine, there is a gap of about 1mm between the heat shield on the manifolds, and the valve covers. I think it should be okay.

[polkaudio]

Hey gent001, how is the clearance with the upper control arms? There was a claim by someone else stock manifolds would hit the control arms. I was looking at my truck over the weekend and the only thing I could see as a potential problem is the rear pivot of the control arm is fairly close to my JBA V6 headers.



Also, will you post pictures of this? I want to see what it looks like.



http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

[gent00l]

These aren\'t stock manifolds, they are camaro manifolds. I believe the stock manifolds have primaries that come down and hug the block a little before dumping out the back, while these camaro manifolds have a large tube that sits slightly above the exhaust ports and don\'t come near the upper control arms. The driver side dumps straight down between exhaust ports 3 and 4, while the passenger side dumps out the back angled downwards exactly like the picture in the JRT conversion book. I\'ll try and take some pictures, but I make no promises because it\'s not my garage and I\'m not the one doing the work http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

[polkaudio]

Hey gent001,



Did you ever get pictures of your exhaust manifold install?

[gent00l]

I got tired of dealing with the facts that the drivers side header dumped down right in front of where the dipstick tube would be, and right into the front differential. So I returned the manifolds and went with a pair of sanderson headers instead.



The sanderson headers fit nice, but because of the 3\" lift, I was forced to leave the engine in the standard position, and installed a shim on the drivers side mount so that the steering shaft didn\'t touch the header tubes.