I pulled the 383 out of my 69 Dart last night. To get it out I had to remove the Drivers side exhaust manifold because it wraps around the steering column. When I pulled the motor I was tilting the front up and the back down and all of a sudden water started pouring out of the next to the last bolt hole that held the exhaust manifold on. [][] Is this normal? I've always worked on Fords before so I will probably be asking a lot of questions as I restore this 69 Dart.
Thanks
Ernie

Also, someone told me the original exhaust manifolds off of my 69 Dart GTS 383 are worth some money on Ebay? Shoudl I sell and get some Hooker Ceramic Coated Headers instead?

Yep, the big blocks have one or two exhaust manifold bolts that run into the water jacket in the heads. That is why I still have the ugly factory studs holding my headers on instead of the nice new header bolts.

If you're going to sell them, sell them soon. Shipping charges at UPS are going up 10% as of 1 Jan 2005 and others are expected to follow. Headers/exhaust systems are a pain in the butt to pack and ship, that's why I still have my stock exhaust off of my SRT-4 in my garage.....[:@]

Gotta love bolts that go into the water jacket. Smallblock mopars are the same way except it's the end bolts on the exhaust manifolds.

The BB's are the same way, it's the rear bolts that go into the water jackets.

I've had water leak out of all the exhaust bolts on my last set of BB heads I had on the GTX. One nice thing about my current Edelbrock heads is they have blind holes (no water).

I've been wanting to get a set of those Edlebrock RPM heads for my Roadrunner, but I need to get the body and paint taken care of first.[:@]

I've had my E-heads on for about 2 years or so and have been very pleased with there performance. With the TTI headers and angled plugs on the heads even changing plugs is a snap. When you get around to the purchase you will like them. I even painted my heads to match the engine. Nobody even knows there on there unless you look hard enough.[sm=smiley20.gif]

[IMG]local://upfiles/11901/82024A07EC8249E3A2B364E3AE3DE4DE.jpg[/IMG]

Very nice! I know someone that has them on his Max Wedge and he just raved about the gains he got just from those heads alone.

I'm another satisfied Edelbrock head customer. I put them on the 440 in my Belvedere. The performance is great! I had one hitch with mine. I bought the heads when they first came out and had a set of vintage Doug Thorely headers ceramic coated to use with them. Because of the angled plug holes, I couldn't get #6 plug into the hole past the header tube. The fender wells from Doug's Headers solved the problem and gave me a little more Super Stock attitude under the hood. TTI came out with their under chassis headers to fit the Edelbrock heads just a few months later. Hey, fc7gtx, how do you like the TTIs? How was the fit and installation? I love your GTX. Good choice of wheels for the '70 body and color.

[IMG]local://upfiles/9946/98213FAEDA944980BC8AA80738DE001D.jpg[/IMG]