What year exhaust manifold is less prone to cracking that will work with my 65 valiant. There is a 66 in the junk yard at the moment, but not sure which years have the best design with ribs and such.

There's no big differences I'm aware of.

2¢

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

More casting ribs in later manifolds,so in theory, the newer the better.

well what do i look for, any pictures showing where all the ribs are, and what about choke pocket and all that, what do i need or use to make it all good

That would be it.

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'73 Scamp (the girlfriend): 225ci super/6 2BBL conversion (Almost done!)
'90 Subaru, wagon (the wife): H4-cyl 2.2L

1977 Mercedes-Benz 300D, 5cyl diesel(For sale!)

OH SO MAD, went to a few junkyards to try and find any vw's slant six or even v8 mopars, and also old vans for my buddies, like a100's 108's blah blah.

there was only the 1 66 valiant that i pulled rockers off the other day. i decided to pull the exhaust manifold, it had a bunch of ribs, so i thought "oh this is a bitchen one" didn't look cracked, took me a good 30 mins in the rain, and mud, till i finally got it off. and to my surprise! it was broken at the heat riser area, the flap fell on the floor and everything i thought they only cracked by the runners. ohwell. i pocketed the special washers, and also i snatched the choke piece, it says HOLLEY, any good?

At this late date, pretty much any exhaust manifold you pull out of the wrecking yard is going to be faulty in at least one way (cracked, warped, screwed-up heat control valve, etc.).

You can get new Chinese-made ones all day long on eBay for about $120. It's not as nice as a new genuine Chrysler one (those sometimes go across eBay, too) but it's serviceable and while you may have to spend some time deburring casting flash and enlarging too-small end stud holes, you'll still have less work making it fit and seal correctly than if you start with most of today's used manifolds.

The only manifolds available new are the '73-up type with maximum ribbing and the open-side choke well. The '60-'61, '62-'65, '66-'69, and '70-'72 choke thermostats don't fit or work correctly on these '73-up manifolds, but an Electric choke kit neatly solves that problem.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

i have seen the new ones on ebay. i figure spending that much money on a piece of crap, might as well spend little more to get the dutra setup. though it will take more money to have the exhaust shop do me up a nice system. i suppose it would be well worth it, not to have a future broken manifold again.