Cast Iron Exhaust Manifold sealing issues 429CJ

i thought i would share some images from a 429CJ  i repaired the exhaust leaks on last week...








one can see the blue belt sander paper i glued to a piece of 3/4" plywood.. if i had thought about it earlier i would have screwed some 2x4s to the back and verified it was flat with a straight edge.. as it was.. the weight of the manifold required me to prop the center up on the towel to really get the center 2 ports.... it also took 3 of us to support the off center weight of the manifold and 2 to push down on the back then back and forth to get through the crud...  the other manifold was worst but i forgot to take pictures..




the flat surface i hit with my 4" angle grinder with a flap disc... just because it was so ugly..

the angled surface i worked with my 1/4" electric die grinder with a 1/2" tree shaped carbide tool.. i have a tons of experience with that tool messing around in ports and other locations.

i test fit the exhaust flange rings... what's strange is i was able to use a  felpro 60201 exhaust flange ring on one manifold and the stepped version 60218 on the other.. that was because of who ever created the exhaust pipes... not the manifolds..


to avoid aggravation while trying to get the exhaust manifolds in... i broke out the rubber bands..



OH... and on the 429CJ and 429SCJ motors... standard exhaust gaskets won't fit.. the port openings are too short.. you have to use the fel pro performance 1420 or even the 1421 but those are shown with ported heads...

for those who spotted it.. one of the flange holes is heli coiled..

i used the dorman #03135 for the exhaust flange studs    7/16 -14 studs with the hex and it worked out fine.. it came with 11/16 hex size brass nuts...