55' Pontiac Exhaust ?

55' Starchief, 185 HP, single exhaust. A little help with getting Dual Manifolds. What year, type is best ? Want to go with a stock Pontiac Manifold, not aftermarket. Thanks

 

How are you going to get 55 feet of exhaust pipe into one Pontiac?

Sorry, couldn't resist ...

 

I believe the 1955 and 1956 Pontiacs use the same exhaust manifolds but the 56 has dual exhaust and uses a really strange looking left front pipe to complete the exhaust.If you can find one of those,the rest should be relatively easy for a competent shop to fabricate.

 

From the factory the drivers side had a special elbow , same manifolds single or dual exhaust. I was told by Kanter their dual exhaust did not require the elbow . I think Ames has the elbow if you want to try and use it and have some custom exhaust made locally. It may not even need it if the pipes can be bent correctly.

 

So try to remove Elbow from drivers side Manifold ?

 

No; if your car came with a single system, you need to ADD the special elbow to the LH manifold. Pontiac used it from '56-'58 on cars with factory duals. Next problem will be getting around the under the seat heater core.

 

The x-frame will have to be opened up also to run the pipes thru on the drivers side.

 

Not going to be as easy as a Chev Single to Duel Conversion. Thanks for replies .

 

I think the elbow is about $70-80 plus a custom exhaust cost..Nothings ever as easy on a Pontiac than a Chevy..

Here's what the factory duals including the elbow looks like

http://www.pontiacsafari.com/MPC/Pages/page_0176.jpg

Check out the rest of the Pontiac Safari site. Lots of good 55-57 Pontiac info

 

I made my own dual exhaust using a j shaped pipe on the drivers side. The dual exhaust kit from Kanter does the same thing.

 

I have a 55 Pontiac engine in my 53 Chieftain, connected to a 59 bellhousing and 66 4 speed. I removed the underseat heater so I could run a duel exhaust, and I planned to cut a hole through the frame just like the other side for the pipes to go through, I found a elbow on ebay for $83 new, but I really want to put headers on it! Does anyone know who still makes headers that will work on a 55 Pontiac engine?

 

To the best of my knowledge NO ONE makes them, if someone did, there would be a set on my '57!

 

I have headers on mine, but I relocated the engine up higher and to the passenger side. I have an older set of 3 tube headers - cyclone or blackjack. Hedman 3 tube headers are still being made. There about as good as the ram air manifolds on GTO's, of course 4 tube headers would be better.

Just about anything will work on the passenger side, it's the driver side around the
steering gearbox and I also relocated the master cylinder up to the firewall with a hanging pedel assembly wall where the defrost heater core was.

In the stock location with the original engine the upper control arms are real close also. Before the headers I used an early set of a-body exhaust manifolds and had a rear exit on the driver side instead of the front exit. This was also with the engine raised and off to the right.

 

'57-up you can use any Pontiac header on, bolts up. 55-56 you could make later ones work but the outlets on the head are a little different.

The problem in the 55-57 cars is there is very little room to pass the steering - it can be done, but you need a super tight manifold that then has to come back out to go around the starter - and then go under the master. One off a 301 for a late (77-81) application may work.

You can, however, alter the steering. A GM Sagninaw 805 box bolts up to the linkage and one of the existing holes - drill two new holes and run some tubing through them and you can mount it. Then you can put some U-joints in the shaft to move it around.

This stuff is why my '57 Pontiac has sat idle all this time - a lot of re-engineering to get it going, to the point where one of these days the clunker '75 Trans-Am I have is probably going to donate it's subframe to the '57 to solve all this stuff - and normally I'm against cutting original frames.

 

I used to have a pair of factory built headers for the '55-'56 engines (the guy that sold them to me said they were V6 headers, due to the three tube design), but they must have been made for a Pontiac installation in an old Ford or something, because there was no way that the driver side header would have cleared the Pontiac steering gear.

 

I do have a later model power steering on mine using the stock power steering pump, but it seems a little loose and it had been just rebuilt! I have also relocated the brake system to a power disc brake set up with hanging pedals from a 68 Chevy pickup so I would be able to use a 4 speed standard transmission. I got a 55 radiator and had it flushed and it fit with some brackets I had to make. I used the original mounting holes for the six that allowed me to use a stock from motor mount and the rear one I had to make up a bracket for them to mount to the 59 bellhousing.