Left manifolds

[David H.]

I am seeing left exhaust manifolds on '63's which appear to have an extension for the alternator on the front, others with the extension on the rear as if it were a right side manifold, and some appear as a plain ram's horn. The Judging Guide lists one part number for 1963, not a different number for an AC car as in 1964.
Do the alternator brackets on a '63 AC car mount to the block.?
Can a right side manifold be mounted on the left?

Which is correct for a non AC car?

[Richard G.]

Re: Left manifolds

Corvette's with Air had the alternator is moved to the other side of the block, from the R to the L side. The compressor is mounted where the alternator would be if it wasn't an AIR car. The compressor was mounted to a stamped steel bracket that attached to the exhaust manifold. I don't know of any 63 Corvettes with plain ram horns.

Below is a picture of a manifold with-out air and the alternator bracket.
IMG_1154.jpg

In 63 their are three sets of manifolds.
250hp and 300hp
340 hp
360hp.

No special exhaust manifolds for Air cars till 1964. Air Conditioning was only installed on the 250hp and 300hp cars.
Both have the extensions and they are not interchangeable side to side.
Easy method to tell the Right from the Left is to look at the last digit of the part number.
The Right Side it typically an even number and the Left Side an odd number.
These are the Part numbers for 63 air cars which are the same as the 250 & 300 HP car without air.
3749965 for the LS
3750556 for the RS

[Bob R.]

Re: Left manifolds

As Richard noted there are a couple of different choices for 63. you didn't note the HP of your car and that makes a difference. All 340 and 360 Hp cars had 2 1/2" exhaust manifolds. FI cars had 942 ( choke hole) on the left and 902 (no choke hole) on the right, 340 HP cars had 902 (choke hole) on the right and 901 on the left. 300 hp with manual transmission had the same as the 340. 250 hp and 300 with auto had 2" noted by Richard above.

[David H.]

Re: Left manifolds

Thanks Guys, my takeaway is that no '63 without air should have provision for an alternator bracket on the left side regardless of engine size.

[Chris D.]

Re: Left manifolds

Not sure that's the right take away. All 250 and auto trans 300 ( 2.0" exhaust) had the same left hand manifold regardless of AC status. Non AC just had the mounting boss hanging out there unused.

Same for 300 manual and 340 hp (2.5" exhaust).

FI had its own setup im not so familiar with.

Chris

[Bob R.]

[Michael G.]

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