Cast Iron + Stupdity = Failure

[Bob-A]

Just today I realized I had a crack in the Simmons intake manifold that
I had bolted on my '31 roadster. Long story short: I was trying to save metal on the intake. By spacing it away from the exhaust. Using a thin spacer between where the manifolds bolt together. Leveling the intake/exhaust port areas where they bolt to the engine block. See the latest issue of The Restorer page 55 on how I did this. And, it worked. However, I forgot to compensate for the thichnesses of the "ears" on the two separate manufactured manifolds! The differences in the ear thicknesses caused the crack when I torqued down on the clamping washer/nut. The reason why I was doing this. Was so if I ever wanted to change exhaust manifolds. It would be better to grind the $50 part (exhaust manifold) vs the $350 intake manifold. Leaving more metal on the intake for any future changes. I also have a Simmons on my '29 roadster and have had no problems with it. I did use a new repop exhaust manifold with it. When bolted toegther there was only a minimum of differences in the spacing of the ports up against the engine block. So I didn't even bother leveling them. The manifold gasket compensating for the minute differences.

I've got feelers out to my buddies hoping I can find a welder who can fix this very stupid problem I created. It has definitely ruined my day, week, month, etc.

Bob-A