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I know a good working factory set is the way to go but has anyone had any luck with a good set of aftermarket exhaust manifolds? The ones in my 77 Chief 360 auto need to be replaced.

I have been told that for cars driven in cold weather, headers vs cast can actually cause problems.
No idea if that is true
Didn't stop me from trying to find NOS versions of the Edelbrock shorties with the CARB approval but they are not to be found.
Edelbrock is no help, either.

IF you were really old school, in theory, you could port & polish cast iron ex manifolds, maybe clean up the motor-mating side casting a little, and then see if you could get them ceramicoated?

Maybe this is silly, we shall see if the idea gets ridiculed...

There are guys here that have them and use them because of other Power Adders [it make sense]. However for me, they always leak and are noisy. IMO, headers on a OEM motor arent needed but on a strong motor they are.

after posting this, I realized that there is nothing wrong with my stock exhaust manifolds. They are just old and crusty and my leaks are just coming from the flanges. Nothing new gaskets cant fix. HOWEVER, for another newb that comes along, if there are good aftermarket replacement exhaust manifolds (not headers) please let us know.

I have a good RH manifold with studs. The flap valve probably got scrapped.

77Chief77 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 6:51 am after posting this, I realized that there is nothing wrong with my stock exhaust manifolds. They are just old and crusty and my leaks are just coming from the flanges. Nothing new gaskets cant fix. HOWEVER, for another newb that comes along, if there are good aftermarket replacement exhaust manifolds (not headers) please let us know.

get the good copper exhaust manifold gaskets, mr gasket: MRG7174

Copper gasket # is useful, thanks.

FWIW, back in the 1980s, when we could get pre 1974 'merican V8s as pizza delivery beaters for a few $100s [I know, I know] we used to beat the daylights out of pontiacs, chevys, mopar, whatever, with cast iron manifolds so hot you could smell the iron like a blast furnace 2 hrs later when you came back out of the diner/club/bar you wound up at around 2 am, and I never saw a cast iron header crack 'on the car' but saw a lot of cheap headers crack on half-baked hot rods trying to keep up with our 4 door beaters...

I have had AMC manifolds crack, and swell from oveheating. In fact, I had to go through three passenger-side manifolds back in the day before I found an uncracked/unswollen one. I do miss those $300 big-block cars, though...