The Manifold on my E-38 is a mess so I chose to build one out of steel. The following pictures and text illustrate how I am going about this project and weather or not i succeed, wish me luck.
The First pic is of the manifold as it looked once removed from the engine. I then cleaned up all the bolt holes and built a small frame to line everything back up and to use as an assembly jig. The next couple of pictures are of the intake/exhaust flange taking shape.
Here's a couple more progress pictures.....
1-1/2'' schedule 40 weld elbows are a near perfect match for the elbows on the existing manifold.
Looking good, I will be following your progress
Dave
Wow! It looks really good! What kind of fittings are you using to make the new one from?
Where I used to work they made their pipelines from food-grade weldable 304 SS fittings. They were all pre beveled and ready to weld. I thought those would be a good choice to build a manifold from.
Blake
Hi Blake and Dave,
I'm using Domestic (Weld bend) 1-1/2'' schedule 40 long radius (2-1/4'' CLR) weld elbows. Any plumbing supply house carries them. So far the 2 intake sides are pretty much fitted out and I have been working on the exhaust ports for cylinders 2 and 3. I tried a few different layouts and the best one seems to be whats in the 2nd picture ( a combination of miter cut square tube and pipe split and welded together.
The first image shows cylinders 2 and 3's exhaust ports on the existing manifold for comparison.
The 2nd image shows how I framed those 2 exhaust ports.
Image 3 shows the exhaust flange, I put a bevel in it to accept a 2'' automotive Donut gasket, if I choose to use it.
The last picture is everything so far loosely fitted together.
I know this build is hard to follow and even harder to describe ???.
Looks like you're doing great! I would be a little concerned with the exhaust portion rusting out if using carbon steel. It's not like cast iron. But, if you keep the machine inside and keep the manifold oiled when not in use you should be ok.
Blake
You're right about steel rusting faster than cast iron, but they don't make these manifolds any more and for the amount of use this old girls going to get, I'm sure the steel manifold will last for quite some time. Leaving it out in the weather is what caused all of the problems, She has inside storage now ;D
You'll probably be ok.
Once you get the hang of this and get the bugs worked out, I see a market for making these manifolds. There are NONE available as of now. And I think the way you are going about it is a good plan.
Thanks for the encouragement Blake,
Please don't jinx me by talking about selling them, I haven't gotten thru this one yet . Cutting and fitting all the pieces is one thing. welding it all together without warping the heck out of it is a whole different story, this thing still has a long way to go.
I welded it all together, it stayed nice and flat, here;s a couple of progress pics....
NICE !!
I'm glad mine could be welded! Well done!
Hey Guys,
I had a chance to make some progress on the manifold.
Beautiful!
Dad and I with help of our welder pal patched up an intake manifold for an Allis over the summer. Welded a pipe T into it. Only problem seems to be that is has a small leak, and ices up slowly... But when new isn't available you gotta do what you can. Your manifold is looking very nice!
Excellent Work
Thanks for the compliments guys,building this thing has been a real challenge. I had a few hours today to work on it and had just enough time to put the exhaust elbows on for cylinders 1 and 4. At this point it looks pretty much done, but there's a lot of clean up and detail work still, but it's getting there.
It took a while to wrap this thing up, I had to file out all 4 attachment holes due to pulling and distortion from all the welding. The new manifold bolted up easily to the old one but took a little effort to get it to bolt up to the engine block. I used a big stationary belt sander to flatten out the mounting flange, it had a little curvature to it after all the welding.
The last thing I did was to blast it and paint it with high temp flat black. I'm sure it will burn off but a least it will look good while I assemble the motor.
Jon, I must say that manifold is truly amazing.It is something I couldnt imagine even trying to fabricate. Bill in CT.
Thanks Bill,
It was a challenging part to build and took some effort to compensate for the pulling, distortion and shrinkage caused by so many hot welds on such a small part, not an easy project. I hope the rest of the tractor isn't as much of a PITA.
Well i Finally got my motor mostly back together. After getting it un stuck it really just needed a valve job, new exhaust valves, and a set of stock rings. The bearings were all in great shape too, we even had to re use all the brass shims.
Looks great!
I've found a little time to work on my tractor, the motor cant go back in until I address to worn out suspension and heavily rusted belly/chassis pan. It took some doing to get the chassis pan out, now i have to deal with the can full of worms I've opened up.
Got the springs, hangars and chassis pan back on the machine, that was a bit of a job.
I am very impressed with your work! Fantastic