Need '56 exhaust manifolds

[Garry Barnes]

Trying to help a friend find both left and right hand (#557 and #558) exhaust manifolds for a 1956. Engine is a 265/225 dual quad. Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Private emails welcome also. Where they the same for corvette as passenger car of that era? Thanks.
Garry #18531

[Joe L.]

Re: Need '56 exhaust manifolds

Gary------

These manifolds are some of the most difficult of all Corvette exhaust manifolds to obtain. They were used for later half of the model year for 1956 Corvettes (all engines) and later 1956 Chevrolet passenger cars with 225 and 240 hp engines. They were not used after the 1956 model year.

From the above, you can see that there never were really very many of these manifolds used. To make matters worse, they suffered from a thinwall casting section which made them very prone to cracking. That may be why Chevrolet replaced these pieces after the 1956 model year. In any event, the cracking problem has been the death of many of the few that ever existed.

Paul Baker of Goat Hill Classics has reproduced these manifolds. I consider the reproductions to be quite good, although I'm sure that they deviate from the originals in some minor ways. I know that he used original manifolds to develop his patterns. He improved on the originals by thickening the casting section in the weak areas, but did so internally so there is no external change.

The reproductions are available from Corvette vendors like Dr. Rebuild or Paragon or, if you dare, through Paul, directly. If it were me, these reproductions would be the ONLY way to go, and I consider any points loss to be suffered as irrelevent. Keep in mind that even if you found a set of originals that were not cracked, they would be USED and would likely suffer from obvious deterioration, to one degree or another. PLUS, after you paid BIG $$$$$ for a set of uncracked originals, how would you feel if they shortly thereafter suffered the same fate as befell many of their "brethren"? The casting weakness that caused this problem in the first place is a DESIGN problem. So, every single one of these original manifolds suffer from the propensity to crack. Paying BIG $$$$$ for something like this is, in my opinion, ABSOLUTELY FOOLISH.

[Garry Barnes]

Re: Need '56 exhaust manifolds

Joe,
I think you make some very good points on this exhaust manifold issue. I be sure to pass it on to my friend. Thanks.
Garry

[Steve Junkersfeld]

Re: Need '56 exhaust manifolds

Garry,

I have an NOS manifold on one side of my 56 and a repo on the other. To be honest, no one has ever detected it, and I can't say for sure anymore which one is which. The repo came from Zip - but was probably manufactured by Goat Hill, as they are the only ones that I am aware are making them. Steve