Exhaust manifold casting dates?

[Timothy B.]

In reading about exhaust manifold casting dates for C2s in various restoration books, I see in mentioned statements that the year portion of the date was frequently left off, and only included the month and day. I have been watching ebay for manifolds for my early 67 car (build date 10/66). How is one to know for example if a manifold with a casting date of H17 is August 17th, or August 1, 1967???

[Eugene B.]

Re: Exhaust manifold casting dates?

Tim,
I think that it may be true that the year is not part of the date code. I'll use my '65 as a talking point.

My car came off the line approximately March 3. The engine is stamped February 22. The driver's side exhaust manifold is coded A6 and the passenger's side is B16.

Since the exhaust manifolds were installed at Flint, MI; matching the dates to the engine (not to the car's birth date) would be proper.

If inventories were approximately the same in '66 and '67, you probably should have manifolds that pre-date the engine by a month or so.

Hope this information is helpful.

Regards,
Gene

[Timothy B.]

Re: Exhaust manifold casting dates?

Thanks Gene,

This would imply that I should be able to choose any manifolds that have the right casting dates in month and day, and disregard the years. The manifold might actually be from a different year when the usage spanned a longer timeframe, but as long as the month and day are correct I should be OK, right? Sometimes in the ebay ads it is stated what car the manifolds are off of and it might be the wrong year but the casting dates are still correct for month and day.

[Jimmy B.]

Re: Exhaust manifold casting dates?

Ric,

The manifolds on my 67 vin 14122 have cast dates as follows:

manifold 3737042 (RH) A27

3846559 (LH) B13

based on this I would assume that these 2 manifolds are dated by days of the month and do not have year designators on them.

My car is a 3rd week or so of March car, the block is cast B16.

The engine is a L79

[Jimmy B.]

Re: Exhaust manifold casting dates?

my block is cast B167 I left the year off the previous post

[Robert C.]

Re:Rough Exhaust manifold castings

You got the idea, Tim. We do not judge casting dates on exhaust manifold because they are so difficult to read. The castings are rough enough to start with.

[Mark G.]

[Eugene B.]

Re: Exhaust manifold casting dates?

Tim,
If you are looking to purchase exhaust manifolds, I suggest Jet Vette. Jim has a great selection of reasonably priced items. Probably a lot less than eBay.

Give him a call at (630) 513 5949 or Email: vettepart@aol.com.

Good luck,
Gene