Interesting,,I didnt know about peening. Thanks

I tried to do it as best I could since the manifold was out of the car. Doing it in the car has to be a headache. I think getting the area super clean is very important,,no rust or dirt...bare metal. So far what I have done after letting it cure was to put the manifold in my bbq. I was using charcoal, raised it up off the grill a bit and kept the cover open about 2 inches so it didnt get overly hot. I left it in until the next day so it cooled slowly. What I noticed was the area above the v groove was slightly raised like a vein on an arm. It still seemed very hard and set in place. Some time after I did the same bbq routine...all I can say is so far so good. I'm impressed. I cant wait to get the engine installed , but that will be the true test.

I'm guessing it won't last, once you get it temperature cycling, but I hope it does and will be amazed if so. I don't know that I'd even mess with welding it if it doesn't hold unless I couldn't find another good manifold for $20-30 in a junkyard. Welding cast is tough, there are guys that can do it (I had a guy oxyacetylene gas weld some ALUMINUM valve covers once and they held up for years till I got rid of the car), but you need to find a welder that knows what he is doing welding cast iron. I've never had a cracked exhaust manifold, ever. Can I guess that maybe the head is aluminum? If so, those differential coefficients of expansion tend to do bad things to head gaskets and the weaker side of the connected dissimilar metals. My wife's 2003 Camry just ate a head gasket and I'm not too happy about it. Only 220k miles...NOT what I expect from a Toyota. Seems to be a more commonly occurring problem across the board lately. Somebody needs to get of their arsses and find a gasket material/design or modified block/head interconnection that WORKS reliably long term.

These manifolds are from 1980-81 and very rare. The metal used was poor and basically they all crack or will eventually crack(passenger side only). Unfortunately because they are hard to come by, they are around $300+. Cast iron heads. Some welders heat them up and fix them with success but that depends on the guy. They also braze them. I'm hoping not to replace any gaskets once this engine is back in. With too much boost these head gaskets can blow. Also,,,the real good gaskets are very expensive and possibly have to be custom ordered.

Brazing with the right material might work, I would have to look up temps but off the top seems workable. How 'bout just giving up and putting a set of headers on it, and getting some xtra flow in the bargain? ;-) $300.....HOLY CRAP.

Ha! It is a turbo manifold that has an inlet from the drivers side and and outlet to the turbocharger (factory turbo v8). So a header isnt available. A member of a turbo trans am forum did get a header to work with all new piping..he sells a kit...maybe if my car was in better condition I would think about spending the money. It's a big job.

I didnt get to put the engine back in the car yet. Hopefully this spring...so stay tuned. :)

So i just got the engine running,,,its hard to see but it looks like it is flaking off the manifold. I guess I have to have it brazed or welded

@@MarcsRandomVids I drilled it to where it was like Swiss cheese so it could bond, but it flaked off.

I still didn't install the engine yet.

I just started it today,,it seems the jb is flaking off

@@MarcsRandomVids Maybe you can get a long screwdriver, or something to scrape it with, to see if it actually "is" flaking. If so, it didn't cost much to try. Thanks for the up-date.

@@joequillun7790 I will try that once I have it running for a longer period of time