Are all of the ford exhaust manifolds as sorry as the ones on my truck? Both of mine are cracked and have to be replaced. I was just wondering if any of you have had to do this and where you got your new manifolds from? I've seen some on ebay. They range in price from $30 something to around $60 something. The higher priced ones claim to be stronger than the original OEM manifolds and want crack as easily. I would like to know where you guys recommend getting the manifolds from. I don't want to replace them but once.

 

i put on headers and noticed mine were cracked when i put the headers on i think ones from a 5.0 mustang fit they are a little less restrictive but not much they crimp pretty small for the bolts on the heads

 

Ditch the manifolds and throw on some headers! Personally I would never by a replacement exhaust manifold, headers are the way to go.

 

Yes, Definitely ditch the manifolds and go with some short headers. Cheapest solution to the problem and a little bump on power!......BTW, if you think ford exhaust manifolds are bad, you should hear the Chevy guys in the lunch room at work griping about their cracked exhaust manifolds!

 

It's kinda weird, my Bronco eats manifolds like crazy, but my old F150 never broke a-one in 225k miles. The Bronco has been thru about 5 or 6 in 250K miles. Both trucks were 302s.

 

Does the short headers have provision for the emissions hookup? Also, will they connect to the cross over pipe or will I have to do some exhaust pipe work also?

 

i personally dont like headers because it sucks finding a plug wire laying on one

 

Yes to both questions, Summit sells some good ones, just a straight across change over from stock manifolds.

 

I have the Summit shorties on my 351 and could not be more happy. They hook up to EGR rather nicely. They hook up to the factory y-pipe with no problems. I hooked mine up to the factory pipe and kept it that way a couple months before getting a custom made y-pipe that flows a lot better and really helped with performance. I have had no leaking problems, the flange is nice and thick, just make sure you use a good set of metal gaskets and not the garbage they come with. I know that some people have had problems with leaks at the collector where it meets up with the y-pipe. I put on two nuts on each bolt and hit them with red loctite. I have had no leaks. I have also had no problems with my spark plug wires, my Motorcraft wires have plenty of clearence. My other recomendation is make sure you have a piece of heat barrier over the computer as the headers cause higher underhood temperatures than manifolds.

P.S. there is no better time to get headers than when you have a leaky manifold. I had a manifold leaking and used this as my excuse with the wife for why I NEEDED to get headers.

 

Thanks very much folks. I really appreciate the helpful information. I've never been a fan of headers, but it sounds like the best solution in this case.

 

If you did go with stock exhaust manifolds. I just did the pass. side on my 92 with a 302 and my 84 tbird pass. side manifold fit perfectly. Even bolted up to the pipes fine. The drivers side looks different though. I don't think it would work.

 

Where was the crack on your passenger side exhaust manifold of your 92 F150?? Was it about four inches forward of the flange ?? And did the crack run from side to side of the vehicle on top of the exhaust manifold between the rear spark plug and the head pipe flange??

Did you pull trailers with the truck in the past and overheat the manifolds??

 

I just bought the truck in october so I don't know if the po did a lot of towing. It had 2 cracks, one down near where the exhaust pipe bolts up and the other was right in the middle. It came off in 2 pieces.

 

Both manifolds on my 90 302 and my 89 351 were cracked. They have had this problem forever.

 

Yeah, I wonder what's up with these damn things.

My '97 351W has a cracked driver's side manifold. Someone tried to replace it, but the rusted exhaust bolts stopped the jobber in the cold. One bolt was already broken off. Then someone patched the crack with some sorta white stuff.

Is there anybody who has improved the exhaust manifolds over factory? I don't want headers.