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IMO, just leave the exhaust how it is. That front manifold is fairly porous cast iron and would be near impossible to strip with mechanical means - it would need to be chemically stripped to get the rust off.
The rear is tubular steel and could be stripped and painted, but IMO it's not worth the effort as it's near impossible to see when installed anyways.
No worries about the L26 aluminum intake. Your project, go the style you want. Granted, if you did the aluminum upper intake, nothing says you had to leave it the aluminum color. You could paint it OR send it for powder coating if you wanted. But, you can also be just as good with the original plastic one (less messing around and simplicity).
If you did decide to do anything with the manifolds to pretty them up, I believe there is high temp/exhaust paint. I believe that's what a friend of mine used on the headers for his '55 Chevy truck. He sand blasted the headers to clean off the old material and used properly rated paint and clear coat. And he followed what the instructions for the paint said to do for best results (as he did them once, the exhaust heat messed them up and re-did them a year later and they are still holding up very well).
Depending how much you want to put into the rebuild project, might be worth looking into actual headers. Food for thought.
Well, I read somewhere that actual headers decrease the actual performance of the 3.8, and that the DE version of the SS, had different brakes, suspension, and exhaust of the Standard SS, I don't know how true it is or isn't, a lot of BS always flying around the internet these days.
At the moment the sticking with the black plastic plenum is mostly a convienience issue as well as color scheme issue. I may do something different later.
As far as what I'm putting into it goes, I'm wanting to put as much of my own elbow grease into it as possible, rather than money, but some things I know will require someone more professional at it. Namely body, paint, and transmissions, I've never been particularly successful at any of the 3.
In certain respects, I'm trying to avoid doing work I probably want to do later!
Well, I read somewhere that actual headers decrease the actual performance of the 3.8
I dunno about losing power, but I certainly wouldn't expect any notable gains on a NA 3800. Suppose it depends what headers you're talking about too as there's a big difference between something like S&S and say TOG big dogs. IMO, part of the problem is that the majority of headers are designed around a modified, supercharged 3800. The flow needs of a 300+ whp 3800 are pretty different than a 150 whp 3800.
TBH, that's a lot of money to spend just for looks though, plus it takes away from the originality if you're concerned about this being collector / original as indicated in your original posts in this thread.
Last edited by bumpin96monte; 04-09-2019 at 06:15 AM.
Another step started on, however project goes on hold!
Well guys something has come up and put my project on hold but it should be a good thing if it comes to fruition !!
I found a piece of property, 1 acre lot, a nice fairly new LARGE shop, a house that needs renovation, and possibly a late model but non running 4 door Dodge Ram. ( the Ram being a side agreement not confirmed yet )
Its probably going to take everything I got to pull this off, even with 100% VA financing on a VA renovation loan, but I have a good feeling, and if it works out, I'll be working on my Dale car in a shop big enough for a car and an RV (small one ) and a second RV (same size) if I install another door.
If I pull it off , no more living in mobile homes, or working on cars in the grass for me !!!!!!
My offer has been accepted, my credit score is alledgedly acceptable, now its jump through hoops for 60 days and see what happens. I'm a first time buyer, Please wish me luck !
Back to the project:
I test wire wheeled the exhaust, and decided it wasn't worth the effort at least for the time being, so I just cleaned up the front exhaust manifold a little, and test spotting the rear, it looked like I would be removing a protective coating, so I didn't do anything further with that. I reinstalled the front manifold, and have stopped there since I need to jack up the car to get rear manifold back on and reconnect to tailpipes.
Oh no, not someone else leaving the trailer park. That will just leave Cleatius, Jedd, Leeann, her cats and me with my 12 dogs. Congrats to you. VA loans are no money down and usually approval rates are decent! best of luck amigo. Be nice to know you are working out of a real shop, that will be very nice.
Unfortunately that front manifold is going to go back to rusty again pretty quick once you get it running. Not much you can really do on bare cast iron, especially that close to the heads.
04-05-2019, 08:44 AM
