Stock Manifold cracked and blowing white steam from exhaust???


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By Daniel Jessup - 16 Years Ago
about a year ago I sold a 55 "A" intake manifold to a fella that needed one for a stock Tbird, etc. Well, about 2 months ago, he notified me that the intake was cracked. I had it magnafluxed, not thinking that it had to be maganfluxed on the interior near the coolant openings...because I understood only later on that the exhaust was blowing white smoke.

1. Has anyone ever heard of any stock, cast iron, Y block intake cracking from the inside? (no cracks extending to any outer edges, and I cannot see anything on the interior - really don't want to pay again to have it magnafluxed)

2. Would a cracked intake such as the one described be able to have a magnafluxing?

I ended up giving the fella his money back...some people thought I was crazy. He had the thing about 9 months. Lord only knows what could have happened since I sold it to him. I had never run the intake myself and had received it in a swap deal with several parts...

Considering running this on my blown set up I am working on currently.

By crenwelge - 16 Years Ago
Water in the combustion chamber will of course blow white smoke, but there are lots of ways for water to get in. I would have a hard time believing the cracked manifold story, but I have given people their money back in similar situations and then later wonder why I did it. What kind of manifold does he have now? Did he go from a 2 to 4 barrel or a teapot to a later 4 bbl.
By shakey pete - 16 Years Ago
should have got him to pressure test his cooling sytem with the plugs out sounds more like a head gasket problem or a cracked head  just my thought  shakey peteWinkWink
By Daniel Jessup - 16 Years Ago
He maintains that he found another teapot manifold and that the Tbird is running fine...

I was just curious if anyone had ever run across this problem at all

Jessup

By pegleg - 16 Years Ago
Dan,

    Never. Howver after 54 years it's hard to tell what internal corosion has done to the water crossover. Look there. Also check to see if you can find damage from where it was dropped. Iron castings can crack from a hard hit. If it was simply overtighted or tightened down on gasket particles it would be hard to find. 

By mctim64 - 16 Years Ago
It's near imposable to "Mag" for cracks on the inside of a manifold, easier to pressure test.  It seems odd to me that the water could get to the intake runners. Is there a lot of corrosion in the water manifold?  I know as an eBay seller myself that if you want to keep your 100% rating you need to bend over backwards to keep customers happy, but nine months? you're a better man than I am. Wink
By John Mummert - 16 Years Ago
The 55 pick-up 2 bbl intakes crack between the 2 carb openings, but this is easy to see. I have a 54 EBU intake that has a 5" crack across the bottom. I have seen a 57 ECZ-B intake cracked on top behind the carb pad. Very hard to check internally thou.

I made a plate to fit over the stat housing with air fitting to check a manifold I thought might be cracked. Kept seeing what looked like water stains in #2 cylinder. It checked okay. I think it was just race gas settling on the top ring when the engine was shut down. Race gas can be very corrosive.

If you decide to pressure check regulate pressure down to 30-40 PSI.    It is safer to pressure test with water than air.

By Daniel Jessup - 16 Years Ago
Fellas, thanks for the insight, and John - thanks for chiming in. My Y block on the test stand is just about operational. I have a few teapots lying around to rebuild with a good kit from Daytona Parts Co. For my own curiosity, it would not be too difficult to just hook up the intake myself and run it on a test stand. Later on, the previous buyer did say that he didn't get any white smoke until it warmed up - maybe a pressure test wouldn't show the leak anywhere...so...I leaning towards a "real word" test for the manifold. I need a good exercise in patience anyway - time to rebuild a teapot and make it operational!Cool