Thanks Geoff. Can you measure the size of the hole in your etype manifold please? I’d be interested.
I hit it with a wire wheel. No doubt its all cast iron. No copper… no aluminium… Looking at the plate and the manifold its clear they both have a champher to take a seal of some sort… I will go ask some local gurus and see what they say. cheers
Sorry, my manifolds are installed. Picture was from an internet photo. Hopefully someone has a loose manifold lying around that they can measure.
Thanks anyway Geoff. Do you remember if you used the same aluminium type donuts?. Cheers
Ah. I can see how that would work. Thanks for taking the time and effort. Cheers
well, went and visited my local restorer… Yep, you guessed it. He has never seen this before! His donuts have always slipped into a recess but it is clear that my car does take some type of seal… just not this one… So I have ordered a generic single row steel collapsible donut and will see. ( Standard ones are double row) Just an aside, we looked through a few of my frineds pile of manifolds and found a few that did have the recess AND a few that did not! Will advise…
Sorry for the delay in answering. I believe I used the aluminum donuts but it was 20 years ago.
Thanks… Mine has been sitting that long!!
At this point you may want to consider replacing the manifolds as SNG (no affiliation) has them new for a very good price. If your time is worth money I think it very likely you will come out ahead (clean up on these is a lot of work)… and get the correct manifold for your car that accepts the proper gasket.
Chances are a PO installed a different manifold than what the car came with.
Thanks one and all… I found the following an a website from a fellow selling some manifolds… seems to fit the facts of my problem. Doesn’t look like the aftermarket sellers sell the seals for these early manifolds so I have ordered some generics. Will post when I get them.
“This is a Rare late saloon rear exhaust manifold. It has the deep recess for the exhaust gasket o ring, same as does an XJ6. The manifolds on my other ads are the early style that take an o ring clamped between shallow recesses, so that there is a gap between manifold and flange. This will have no gap, as flange fits snugly, with gasket in the deep recess.”
This is what my MK2 manifolds look like. It’s hard to see in the pictures but there is a bevel in the mouth of the casting.
They are sealed by an asbestos looking ring with a bevelled edge that sits where the crushable gasket does.
Seal looks a lot like this:
Yes I see how that works. Thanks.
My problem now is that I have ordred the wrong exhaust from Barratt’s. It has the fitting for the later donut so when I fit it up, even with nothing there, the studs are barely long enough… so 4 options… 1. buy new manifolds to suit new exhaust, 2. Fit longer studs to existing manifolds and buy a fibre gasket, 3 buy new exhaust or 4. find a single crush ring and try it and see. Given what I have I will try option 4. If it doesnt work, then I will buy new manifolds… Probably will anyway in the long run. Will post some pics of the crush ring I will use. Thanks for all advice…such a simple thing but a horrible journey. cheers
I reckon you could just cut down the tips of the downpipes.
I’d avoid trying to remove the manifold studs as you can easily crack the manifold.
I found this place in Melbourne which might be able to help you.
Tim
Awesome!! Thanks. Will have a chat to them…
