L81 Exhaust Manifolds

[David J.]

I am hoping that the experts can help me answer a question regarding the L81 exhaust manifolds.

The NCRS Technical Information Manual on page 82 says that the numbers for these should be:
14037671-W (Left) and 14037672-W (Right); It also says that they are tubular stainelss steel and applied to 1980 California Corvettes (LG4) and all 1981 and 1982 Corvettes. The NCRS Corvette Specification Guide says the same thing.

I am about to replace my stock manifolds bearing numbers 14022625-W (Left) and 14022626-W (Right) with a set of refurbished manifolds with the same numbers. I checked in a publication 'Corvette Parts Interchange Manual' by Paul Herd and it lists the same numbers (2625 and 2626) that are stamped on the exisiting parts as well as on the replacement parts.

I know that what I am replacing are the original exhaust manifolds since the car has less than 50K miles and I have all of the service records back to 25K miles.

Can anyone help with this question?

Thanks....dbj

[Joe L.]

Re: L81 Exhaust Manifolds

I am hoping that the experts can help me answer a question regarding the L81 exhaust manifolds.

The NCRS Technical Information Manual on page 82 says that the numbers for these should be:
14037671-W (Left) and 14037672-W (Right); It also says that they are tubular stainelss steel and applied to 1980 California Corvettes (LG4) and all 1981 and 1982 Corvettes. The NCRS Corvette Specification Guide says the same thing.

I am about to replace my stock manifolds bearing numbers 14022625-W (Left) and 14022626-W (Right) with a set of refurbished manifolds with the same numbers. I checked in a publication 'Corvette Parts Interchange Manual' by Paul Herd and it lists the same numbers (2625 and 2626) that are stamped on the exisiting parts as well as on the replacement parts.

I know that what I am replacing are the original exhaust manifolds since the car has less than 50K miles and I have all of the service records back to 25K miles.

Can anyone help with this question?

Thanks....dbj

David-----

When someone developed the NCRS Spec Guide information they must have made the assumption that all 1980 with 305 and 1981-82 used the same manifolds. If that's what happened, they were wrong. There were actually THREE different sets of manifolds, although all were very similar in configuration.

The GM #14022625 and 14022626 are the correct manifolds for a 1981 Corvette. The 14037671 and 14037672 were the 1982-only manifolds. They were never even SERVICE for 1981.

[David J.]

Re: L81 Exhaust Manifolds

Joe:
Thanks for the reply and the information; I suppose the next thing to do is for me to suggest an amendment to the Manual for the next printing. I will wait to see if others respond to my first post.

I may never get the opportunity to have my car judged, but I still want to keep it as original as possible. I try to do as much research as possible when replacing parts that are numbered and traceable to make sure everything continues to match; at least that will give the next owner (if there is one and my wife lets me get another Vette) a fighting chance to restore this one....not a collector by any means, but who knows what will happen down the road.

Thanks again,

dbj

[Jake D.]

Re: L81 Exhaust Manifolds

David--

I owned a 1981 4 speed car. It was built in Feb of 81 at St. Louis. The manifolds on that car were indeed 14022625 and 14022626. I owned that car since new and in '92 it was awarded a Bloomington gold! I never thought that when I recorded those numbers they would be needed to verify their originality.

[David J.]

Re: L81 Exhaust Manifolds

Thanks Jake...mine will not be good enough to go to Bloomington, but I do keep all the pieces that I replace and someday I may get brave enough to take it apart for a rebuild...right now, it is a nice original driver that I enjoy driving....dbj