Two 1969 Exhaust Related Questions

[Bill Stephens]

When I bought my 1969 350, it had headers. I'm putting stock manifolds on. The headers had spark plug heat shields that I don't think are stock/necessary for the stock manifolds. Is this right? I don't want to leave them off if they're necessary, but they are a pain to deal with.

My second question is how does the heat riser valve work? I know what it does, and it seems like I can just sand blast and clean it up and it will work fine, but a new one is only $35.00 and I'm not sure whether it's worth the trouble to restore them.

Thanks for your help.

[William C.]

Re: Two 1969 Exhaust Related Questions

There are stock sparkplug heat shields used on the OEM configuration and they MUST be used with the stock manifolds to prevent the exhaust heat from cooking the spark plug wire boots.

[John H.]

Re: Two 1969 Exhaust Related Questions

If you intend to have the car judged, the weight arm on the heat riser valve will be checked for freedom of movement and return to the closed position when cold. Functionally, it needs to operate properly so it doesn't restrict the flow of exhaust gases; some guys just wire them open for normal driving and snip the wire for judging.