Technical Ardun aluminum exhaust manifold.

I have an original aluminum left side exhaust manifold for an Ardun i'm putting together. This one gives much better clearance for steering than the more regular straight down type manifold which will colide head on with most side steer columns.
Question is of course, will it melt? I know for a fact that aluminum exhast was used in the 60's for some of the crazy HP cars, and yes i know about the boat manifolds but they are water cooled.
Anyone with a real life experience or a good idea about it?
This exact design has also been found in cast iron. But will we be ok if of course keeping fuel to air ratio correct and correct ignition?
Any ideas is very velcome. thanks!

 

There is some good discussion on aluminum exhaust here.

http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/aluminum-manifolds-who-knew.988803/

 

I talked to a guy who runs a set of the Pontiac SD repops and he said the mfg reccomends you ceramic coat the inside and they will not soften as the ceramic redirects the heat , but I would get a pyrometer mounted to see what the heat is like at the port before running them , I heard guys say the temp should be lower since they run the exhaust thru the water jacket and that pulls a lot of the heat out . compaired to a wedge design head which the path is real short thru the water jacket .

 

First time that I have ever seen an Ardun aluminum exhaust manifold. And I've been around a looooooong time! Thanks OHV.

 

Not gonna happen with the Ardun. I think the coating inside idea is good, but if you think about it, the whole head is made of aluminum and how many times have you heard of an exhaust port melting? Maybe the concentration of all four ports, and lack of water jackets may be enough to melt it though? Maybe that's why you have the only one in existence?

 

Do you think the aluminum ARDUN manifold was for truck use or Hot Rod use later on? Bob

 

keep forgetting the ardun is the OHV replacement ...

 

I wouldn't risk a super rare part. With the best of intentions and care, it still won't last as long as a cast iron manifold.

How about using it as a prototype and copy it to make a tube header?

 

How about the real Ardun heads he's using it on? Should he put them in a showcase also, and buy some repros to use on the car?

 

Sounds like it will stay on the shelf. If anyone have a cast iron version of this please let me know, thanks.

 

From what I always heard, the Pontiac manifolds melted when they ran the on the long speedway tracks for extended periods of time. Never heard of one melting on the road. Never seen one either that was melted. We ran the cast iron manifolds, they were heavy and held a bunch heat.

Joe

 

That is a neat piece, I have never seen one.

 

I know a guy running a set of the Pontiac SD reproduction aluminum exhaust manifolds on a street car. They are ceramic coated, and seem to hold up okay.

 

I would have the aluminum recast in iron, shouldn't break the bank.

 

Will this engine be going in a hot rod or a dump truck? If the former, build yourself some headers instead. The original Ardun manifolds are not a performance design. Why bother building an Ardun if you're just going to use the crummy log-style manifolds?

 

exhaust temps run from 800 to 1200 F, the melting point of aluminum is just over 1200F cast iron melts at over 2000F. yes you could probably get by with it if you ceramic coated it on the inside. That is first aluminum exhaust manifold I have ever seen, other than marine manifolds with a water jacket.