Fit = good Flow = same- (no attempt to improve as all Olds enthusiasts run headers (well almost all) :bglasses: Finish= better...hey, they're new and not rusted yet. Cost= Expensive. I think you'd be better off buying a used set, send them to Greg Gessler, and let him blueprint them back to "stock" specs. :laugh: :laugh: :Brow:
W/Z started in 1969 Noel, before you go out and spend major $$$ on W/Z manifolds, you should know that they did not come on 1968 cars. They started in 1969's. You may have to change your taillights, rear bumper, decklid, remove the vent windows in the doors, hood, grilles, front bumper, headlamps, and probably 20 other minor things to pass your car off as a 69 (oh yeah, paint job, spoiler, JC Whitney hood scoop, etc. etc.) to run 69 manifolds on a 68 car (or vice versa). Think that happened to someone with a NOVA (mighty mouse?) a few years back in F.A.S.T. :rant: :laugh:
I'd tell you, but then we'd have to kill you. Rather than mislead you, I'll have to verify. I know I have a RH one in the garage (spoken for for my 68 W30, not sure about the LH one). I'll take a pic and post here as soon as I get a chance. May be the same as the 65-67 400's. I'll have to see if I can dig out that info. You might try 442.com or post a question in Realoldspower. Main difference between the earlier ones and W/Z is the internal divider between the center ports that isolate those cylinders into individual chambers. To visualize the 65-68, just think of a piece of firewood with some holes in it. They suck. Not as bad as a 350, though, as the 442/Hurst had a unique RH dual exhaust manifold without any crossover provisions. All 350's had that and sucked. Mondello performance manual has a nice chart that shows all the Olds big block exhaust manifold usages and casting codes. Unfortunately mine is packed away in a box, somewhere.
Without getting specific(since I don't know 100% exactly what they came on) they could have come on: Wagons with big block and duals 442s big block Cutlasses w/dual exhaust 69s had a heat riser flap in one manifold---after that they still had the bosses cast into them where the heat riser flap shaft would have been mounted(but with no flaps installed). Patton
Hey Dave :bglasses: Dave good news! I was reading The W Machine Restoration Guide today And it states that early 68,s had the 67 style manifolds and late 68,s had the late ones :TU: Do you think this could be right
are you talking the resto book by T. Patrick Sullivan that is chock full of errors? According to Greg Rollin's 442 By The Numbers (second edition) the 68 H/O (this is the car you are asking about for the manifolds correct?) had the same manifolds as the 68 442 and 68 W-30. left side is X, casting # 389269. right side is Y, casting # 398706 hope this helps
for those interested here is a list of errors that I compiled. sorry about all the pop ups on the website. it's a free site and I can afford that resto guide book errors
Not bad......... In general, I like that book, but I agree, is full of errors. Thanks for the summary, Chris. Only questionable one in my mind is still that 69 disc brakes thing. I could swear you could get manual disk brakes on 69 W30 and W31, but can't prove it. I recall there was no way to operate the 67-68 dual piston discs without a power boost, so everything from 68 back with the big cam had to have manual drums. I gave up on the correct number of production built 68 Ramrods. Seems like there's more every year. At the time, I knew there were only the first 50 built in January (none offered to the public for sale), then the balance of the 500 in March-April (mine was in that group) and maybe some at the end of the model year to use up parts. Didn't think it was another 200+, though. No good records kept at Olds on this and Helen Earley can't help here on the US sold cars, but Canada kept track of all of them that were exported into Canada. Would like to see the buiild dates of them sometime and see if there were many built in May, June, and July. Dr Decal, Mark Cornea, sure sells a lot of the Ramrod decals. :laugh: :laugh:
