Custom Manifolds for VR Buick

[impulsive]

While i have the Manifold off the vr, is there any worek that can be done to it, or possibly a new manifold?

Same same for the head?

Was thinking porting or perhaps a complete aftermarket version!

[Andrew426]

How are you with an ali mig or tig? Does the engine have any other work done to it?

[delcowizzid]

man if you could find one of the 5 of these ever made would be sweet i love the walker manifold shame it never took off requires moving the alt as well

[impulsive]

nah standard buick motor, + Auto, im guessing there is nothing that can be done, i like the of those other manifolds, but only 5 made? whats going on there? were they expensive

[Andrew426]

You can grind the intake runners out to match the gasket, but unless you do your heads as well, its not going to make any difference.

[impulsive]

anyone removed the head before? is it a daunting job? looking to replace the head gaskets as i fear it has blown. Argh, makes me think how much of a bitch putting the manifold back on will be!

[Andrew426]

Its a pretty simple job if you know what you are doing. Hell of a lot easier than on an overhead cam engine. Dont bother, unless you have clear and obvoious signs of a blown head gasket though. Its fairly uncommon on these engines, as they are iron head/iron block.

If you do it though, its a hell of a lot easier to reassemble if you remove your exhaust manifolds and y piece.

[impulsive]

was thinking more for a clean & degrease, would brown sludge underneath in a couple of the smaller sqaure holes below the manifold (intake runner?) be a sign of blown head gasket. I will provide a photo, AND maybe some headwork while its off

[Andrew426]

Nah thats pretty normal, normally a sign of shagged intake manifold gaskets. Only worth doing if you are planning head work and some roller rockers and maybe a cam. You will need a custom tune to go with that too. If you do go ahead with head work, but dont want to/cant afford a dyno tune, talk to delcowizid about gettin something based off my tune.
My rockers are only 1.65:1 but i have a bit of porting done and bigger valves in there, and I found that on the stock tune it wasnt much faster than stock, and it would start to really lean out and get pretty hot at anything over about 35%throttle. He plugged his computer into my car and added a few sensors here and there and we drove around for a few hours and sorted it out pretty well - its like a completely different car now.

I dont know about in Aus, but over here stock car guys (as in guys racing stockcars at speedways) are a really good source of used parts and info, as most of them are running 3800s and 4.1s in their racecars. Try making friends with a couple of them.

[impulsive]

i am planning on a fair bit of work to the motor, but for now trying to get the car to a decent state, thanks for your input, greatly appreciated! Will look at this further on in the future

[Troy5L]

u can cut the back elbow off the elbow and weld it shut with a plate..then cut off the top of the manifold and weld a plate and have the throttle body poking up of that plate..ive seen it done a few times and it looks good with a filter out the bonet..

[impulsive]

nice i like that idea, any pics of this anyone?

[vpcalais6]

I have one of them manifolds use are talking about I'll take a pic when I get home

[vpcalais6]

[vpcalais6]

as you can tell its not finished yet but i cant use it anyway until in off my p's so im in no hurry

[impulsive]

wow man, that looks really good, how did you manage to mount them up there? I am thinking i would like to try a custom setup 'reversing' the manifold and having a mafless OTR, can this be done?

[delcowizzid]

alternator gets in the way there is a usa manifold that would front mount nice without the alternator there or just turn the stock one round

[ephect]

that walker manifold the reason they stopped making them, was because the alternator had to be relocated, and the only easy place to put it is in the A/C's place..

there is a pic attached of twin throtts pointing upwards..

[vpcalais6]

I just got two of the standard elbows and welded them to the top plate

I am pretty sure you can just turn the stock one around and have a straight pipe to replace the elbow there is s full thread about rotating the stock manifold somewhere on here


As said above u will have to move the alternator

[vpcalais6]

Buick forward facing manifold/TB

[vk.jonno]

95 96 97 98 99 Buick Park Avenue Intake Manifold 3.8L: eBay Motors (item 310223386876 end time Jun-02-10 19:24:42 PDT)

probz completley off HAHAH

[ephect]

Hakhawk purchased one similar a while back, i think he still has pics in his VP thread somewhere here.

[benno9911]

i got a spear manifold might have a little play around with it

[wez84]

You can buy ones with just a single throttle body mount on top for next to nothing they use the on v6 sprint cars in speedway

[impulsive]

Im sure if the Alt got in the way there would be another place to mount it, maybe a few spacers for the manifold?