I am working on a this truck which has a 352 in it. I pulled the exhaust manifolds off and the metal around the front port is worn away. Also the cylinder head surface has some low spots in it as well.
What I want to do is take the heads and manifolds into a machine shop and have them weld the manifolds as needed and then machine the mating surfaces of all the parts.
Has anyone had any experience with this situation?? Any recommendations on which brand and\or type of exhaust manifold gaskets to use??
The truck has blown out 3 sets of standard Fel-Pro gaskets. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Todd

 

At one time,and I,m sure it is still done,you could bring your manifolds to an automotive machine shop roe resurfacing just like a head,block or flywheel.Depending on the brand/type of machines they have,and depending on the position of the outlet as it sometimes does not allow the manifold to lay flat on its face,the machinist should be able to chuck it up in the head or block resurfacer and square up the gasket surfaces.I've seen them use a "table" that had a large cup stone mounted flush with the table top and all you had to do was drag the manifold back and forth across the rotating stone until everything was cleaned up,but most shops don't have that machine anymore. As for gaskets,I recommend VICTOR Header Gaskets!They are made of an alumized graphite material that squashes to conform to any surface and they dont burn out. Plus they are available for your engine family {332,352,360,390}.If you can't find VICTOR brand,go to NAPA as there gaskets are repackaged by VICTOR.

Phillip

 

Your problem is not uncommon. Old age, rust, and leaking gaskets are the cause of this. As was previously mentioned, the machine shop can usually clean up the problem. The manifolds can be welded but at their advanced age, they are very brittle and often crack after welding, even with the proper preheating preparation. I don't know about the brands of gaskets out there but I just make sure that the bolts do not sieze in the head and keep them evenly torqued.