69 A.I.R. Manifold Assembly

[Erv M.]

I am need of a right side A.I.R. manifold assembly for a SB. Is there one place to go to get a correct reproduction? Are they supppose to be silver in color?

Mine is cracked in three places, can't stand hearing that exhaust leak.

[Dick W.]

Re: 69 A.I.R. Manifold Assembly

If you are talking about the A.I.R. manifold tree, Paragon has them in stock. They also have the exhaust manifold.

[Erv M.]

Re: 69 A.I.R. Manifold Assembly

In their, Paragon, catalog, page 56 part#1472 they describe it as a A.I.R. tube assembly kit which has a black finish. Mine on the car is painted silver, which color is correct? And if you replace the assembly should you buy new tubes to ensure they seal?

[Dick W.]

Re: 69 A.I.R. Manifold Assembly

Erv, they were originally black, as in the Paragon catalog. It has been my experience that the tubes in the manifolds are usually reuseable

[Erv M.]

Re: 69 A.I.R. Manifold Assembly

That answers that. I am grateful for the help I find here. My car is not perfect but with this forum's help I have made a great deal of progress to putting it back to original.

Thank you,

Erv Myers

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 A.I.R. Manifold Assembly

Erv-----

As Dick mentioned, they were definitely originally black. I have no idea where your silver ones came from. Perhaps, someone painted them with high temperature silver paint.

These AIR "tree" assemblies do crack over time. They are exposed to high heat, including exhaust gas which, under certain conditions, can revert into them. The check valves prevent such reversion from going further into the system where it could cause real damage. By the way, inspect your check valves to be sure that they are working properly. You should only be able to blow into them ONE WAY. These valves DO FAIL and when they do they can cause the destruction of upstream components, especially the pump and diverter valve.

To replace the EXTENSIONS (the short tubes that seat into the manifold AIR fittings) you would likely have to remove the manifolds. Usually, these are heavily encrusted on the inner end with combustion deposits and there's no way you can just pull them out with the manifolds in place. Sometimes, you will even find the inner end of the tubes burned off. I don't know how much of a problem this would cause, though.

1969 small blocks used AIR "tree" assemblies with "crimped" ends where the smaller end tubes fit to the larger central tube section. The Paragon reproductions that I have seen are just like the originals.

[Mark G.]