Pinto Car Club of America

My 1973 1600 developed a crack during this winter.   It makes noise when first started and closes up after it warms up. 
The crack goes 180 degrees around.  It is in the middle between cylinders 1 & 2 away from the head.   I think winter slush being splashed on the hot manifold did it.   

Questions.... 

1)  Since I am not a welder... I was planning to remove the manifold then drill a hole at each end of the crack and grind a 'V' groove into the crack.   I was going to ask a pro to weld it.  Someone told me that welding to old manifolds never holds because of contaminents.   So should I search for another manifold or get it welded? 
2)  Are there any headers available for a 1600?   I cannot find any.   A small tubed header might help gas mileage since I do mostly freeway driving. 

Starliner,I have two answers to you qustions......
1) the manifold can be welded,the welder needs to use All-State 8-60 rod.  Prep the area by lightly grinding. The manifold shoud be preheated on a clean gas grill to about 600 degrees F. Maintain preheat temp. while welding Run short beads,fill crater before breaking arc,peen weldment immediately. remove slag after each pass,restrike arc on deposited weld. Cool down manifold very slowly,on the grill dropping the temp over about an hour or two.2) And if all that fails I might have a manifold hanging around for about  $150.00. Good luck!   Pinto1600

Pinto 1600,
Thanks for the great information. 

I may contact you about buying a manifold when I get back to the states.  Less down time and less chance for the problem to re-occur.  I prefer to do everything right one time instaed of twice. 

Or Starline you can buy my 1600 header pipe's for $50.00 + ship. Hey are you over in China again. Fred   :amazed:   :)

Is the header new?   What is the tubing size? 

Hi Starliner, pipe's are 1-5/16" I.D.. They are slightly used been stored sine 1978, no dent's. Auto had 63,900 mi. since new or to give you better idea when it was last driven, it had a 4 track muntz stereo in glove box and 2 tapes laying on floor. Fred   :hypno:   :)