L76 Exhaust Manifold

[Clark K.]

At the last Flight judging, my car took a 3 originality points deduction for the driver's side exhaust manifold. The judges told me that a previous owner had ground down all the casting "protruberances".

Therefore, I am in the market for a replacement unit that will recover those lost points. I have found a used original unit but a fellow Corvette owner told me that Paragon sells brand new ones that look like an original. I am skeptical because the 1965 JG states that reproduction manifolds typically have grinding marks on the top surface.

Does anyone know whether the ones Paragon offers will recover my lost points? I certainly don't want to spend $230 + shipping to replace my exhaust manifold with another that will not pass "muster".

Here is a link to the manifold that I am considering:
https://www.paragoncorvette.com/p-35...d-lh-2-12.aspx -Clark

[Joe L.]

Re: L76 Exhaust Manifold

At the last Flight judging, my car took a 3 originality points deduction for the driver's side exhaust manifold. The judges told me that a previous owner had ground down all the casting "protruberances".

Therefore, I am in the market for a replacement unit that will recover those lost points. I have found a used original unit but a fellow Corvette owner told me that Paragon sells brand new ones that look like an original. I am skeptical because the 1965 JG states that reproduction manifolds typically have grinding marks on the top surface.

Does anyone know whether the ones Paragon offers will recover my lost points? I certainly don't want to spend $230 + shipping to replace my exhaust manifold with another that will not pass "muster".

Here is a link to the manifold that I am considering:
https://www.paragoncorvette.com/p-35...d-lh-2-12.aspx -Clark

Clark------

I don't know just how "perfect" the Paragon manifolds are. However, it's rare that any reproduction part is going to be without some nuances of difference from the original pieces (or, at least some individual judge's opinion of how it differs from originals and for which some actual originals might not be deemed original). Personally, I feel that too many points are often deducted for nuance differences, but that's my opinion and I do not get involved in judging so who am I to say?

Your best bet might be to look for an actual original piece. Of course, finding one that's not going to suffer some condition deduction might be difficult. And, as I say, you might find some judges that will adjudge an actual original piece as "non-original" (or, in their opinion non-original configuration for a car of a certain model year built on a certain day).