VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Intake/Exhaust Manifold Questions for 48 Fleetline

Both questions are for a 1948 Fleetline, 216 CI, stock.

Does anyone know how the intake and exhaust manifolds looked when the cars rolled out of the factory? I removed the assembly for cleaning/painting as both were starting to show a little surface rust and I want to make them look as close to factory correct as possible. Currently, the intake was painted silver and the exhaust was painted white.

My other question is to find out how the heat riser manifold spring and anti-rattle springs were installed. Those are both missing on my manifold. Could someone direct me to a picture of diagram of how they are installed? The car starts up and runs good without them being attached, so I do not know if not having them installed is critical or not. The actual manifold valve is in place, just the springs are missing. Thanks in advance.

Tony

Both manifolds were painted with the engine as a complete assembly so they would be engine color, dark blue-gray.

The engine was assembled at the engine plant and painted. The manifolds were attached and the bell housing. This means the exhaust and intake and all the attaching parts were painted gray as well as all the exposed edges of all the engine gaskets. By the time the car was driven off the assembly line, driven onto the transport truck and unloaded at the dealership the paint had burnt off the ehaust manifold and it turned to rust. This is the way I prefer to have mine as that is how I remember them as being. Some prefer t paint the exhaust manifold with high temp silver, gray or black paint....looks artifical to me but/???
The heat riser sping attachment is pictured in the shop manual They DID NOT come from the factory with the anti-rattle spring. Sometimes you would get a heat riser that would flutter a bit and make some noise but this was rare.
The main thing is if the spring is not used the heat riser must be in the position that blocks the heat from the intake manifold. This would be with the flat surface of the weight tilted about 30 degrees. If the flat surface is horizontal or close to it you have heat under the carburetor at all times....not good. With the heat "shut-off" the engine may spit and sputter during warm up - worse in cold weather. Other than that it dosen't hurt anything.

Gene,

Thanks for that information. Very helpful! I had painted most of the engine last spring in VHT gray paint that was more dark then light gray, so I think I'll be satisfied that it looks factory correct for the most part. Now, I can use the leftover paint on the manifolds.Funny that all the color pictures I could find of '48 Chevs all have the manifolds painted in different shades of black, cast gray, silver, white, etc... Never saw any painted gray at all. Regarding the heat riser, it is in fact, closes at about the 30 degree angle that you mentioned, so I'll go ahead and order the heat riser spring from Chevs of the 40's and install it. If it becomes a problem, I can easily remove it. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. It is really appreciated.

Tony

Tony, I'm pretty sure the spring that you order from Chevy's of the 40s will come with an installation diagram. This was very helpful as I tried to get mine on right. Hopefully your damper is loose and open and closes easily. If it is not then ask for advise on getting it freed up.

I used Eastwoods manifold paint (I chose dark grey) for painting my manifolds. The paint will withstand the heat and chemicals (gas) when applied correctly. The key to getting the paint to bond is following the heating recommendations after the paint is applied. I set the paint on mine in an oven at various temperatures for about an hour. I have also had good results with POR 15 for this application. Both require heating the manifolds to bond the paint after it is applied. You will get a lot of smoke from doing this, I have also used a gas grill for this.
Good luck, Mike

Tony, You may need a little advice on reinstalling the manifolds. I tried to install mine already piggy backed together, and they didn't align right on the head. I should have tightened them both to the head first then tightened them to each other. You do need to replace the gaskets, put anti- seize on the bolts and carefully tighten everything.

Hopefully, someone with more experience might also comment.
Good luck, Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the tips! I just received all the gaskets, header pipe and manifold thermostat spring, along with some other odds and ends from Chev's of the 40's today. My damper is not bound up and moves up and down rather nicely. I did receive a diagram with my order showing me how it is installed. I will be painting the manifolds with a VHT gray paint that I used on the rest of my engine so it will match. I will take your advice when installing the manifold by lining up everything on the engine first, THEN tighten things down. So I'll be good to go by this weekend and barring any complications, have it all buttoned up and finished by this time next week. BTW, I use anti-seize on critical parts like this just in case I have to disassemble later. Thanks again for the advice.

Take care,

Tony