1974 Midget exhaust rattle.

[DavidApp]

Getting the engine running in my rebuilt 1974 Midget. It has recently develpoped an exhaust rattlele. The car came to me with a headder not the standard cast iron manifold.
When I looked at the headder the face that bolts up to the head was not flat so I skimmed it on my mill.
The gap between the headder down pipe and the frame there is almost none existant.

I was considering getting a second manifold gasket and adding a thin spacer between the manifolds and head to space the down pipe away from the frame..
Alternativly I could recut the face of the headder to tilt the pipe away from the frame.

Any better ideas?

 

[BobHaskell]

David, keep an eye on the header and intake manifold flanges. If their thicknesses aren't the same you'll have to machine a step into the washers that hold them to the head.

For the frame/header clearance a fellow club member with a Bugeye used a 3 lb sledge hammer and a 11/16" diameter steel rod to 'fine tune' the shape at the top of the frame and a bit of paint. Doesn't look nice, but it doesn't show.

 

[DavidApp]

Hello Bob

Thanks for the tip.
I did notice the difference in thickness and made the steped washers.

When I first worked on the header I noticed the flange face was not flat so I milled it flat in a sketchy setup on my mill. Since then I have boughr a Bridge Port mill so I feel confident I can aply a few degrees of angle to the flange.
I will look at the 3lb hammer option.

David