Don Simmons Exhaust

[silverstude]

I just finished installing a pair of 2.5" down port exhaust manifolds  and the head pipes were made by Don Simmons..

Awesome quality and fit.

 

pics are with steering at left lock, right lock, then bottom and top

 

[Mike Sal]

What type of wrench did you use to tighten that inboard nut on the manifold?  I'm waiting on my pipes to arrive from Don now (stock size).  The last muffler shop cheated & used smaller nuts & bolts instead of the studs & I had to torch them off to get it apart.  

Mike Sal

[silverstude]

The three studs are case hardened 3/8X16 rod, brass nuts w/ lock washers.  If you have a lift it's fairly easy.  On your back, not so, but doable by moving the steering gear (left) out of the way for that one closest to the block and  right  for the others.  Just used an ordinary 9/16 wrench on the inboard one and a long extension socket on the other two.

Edited June 20, 2019 by silverstude

[Mike Sal]

OK, it just looked like there was limited room to swing the wrench to tighten it up.  I have the new studs & long brass nuts all ready to go as soon as the new pipes arrive.  I took the manifold off the engine to clean up the threads for the studs.  The last muffler shop really screwed the former owner of the car with the cobble mess they made.  

Mike Sal

[silverstude]

 

Harder yet was the rear 2 bolts on the exhaust manifold.  We should write a book on "The Avanti fixer-upper,  what degree of difficulty is?...?"

[Mike Sal]

Agree, those two rear bolts were a pain due to the steering box.  To compound it, the previous muffler shop had rounded off one of the center manifold bolts.  I had to cut the head off & work the manifold off enough to saw off the bolt shank to remove the manifold.  There was enough stud left to grab with vice grips to get it out of the head.  All new bolts waiting for the re-assembly.  I figured it was also a good time to replace the spark plugs too.

getting to the tension position bolts on the power steering pump will be fun too....

 

[silverstude]

 

The one thing this time, which needed a lot of contorting was reinstalling the heat shields for the spark plugs.  I had removed them to install the manifold, then forgot them until after the new one was in place..#@!**$ 

A long time ago, I cut one hole in the inner fender  to service the #7 spark plug and another to adjust the steering box.   The #5 plug could only be accessed by jacking the car up by the center pin, removing the RF wheel and sliding under from the passenger side, reaching up, etc  

 Also...a long time ago... made a couple special tools to tighten the PS pump pressure line and rear mounting nut.

 

 

[Mike Sal]

I just noticed your serial number......mine is RQA0330.  

Mike Sal

[silverstude]

Thx, how about a pic?

[Mike Sal]

I goofed around & didn't get it painted over the winter & now the guy is 6 months behind....maybe this winter.  Built September '69 but not sold until '72 to a returning vietnam vet who only kept it a couple years before selling it to a college teacher of mine.  I bought it from him 3 years ago.  

[silverstude]

Yaaaa..   similar to mine when new.   Isn't that Monterey Green Firemist paint?...  with Artichoke vinyl trim?.   Lucky for you you have the artichoke seats also.  Mine had ... wait for it.... "Tarzan Citron" seat inserts  and door panels  ( read White & Black Houndstooth cloth)  Talk about gaudy..   I'll see if I can find an old pic..

[Mike Sal]

Dan Booth told me Altman's loved to spec the colors themselves & had a very odd sense of taste in colors.  My carpet is in perfect condition (the last owner kept it covered up with shag carpet) so I just have to leave it alone.  Yes on the Monterre green.

Edited June 23, 2019 by Mike Sal

[Mike Sal]

You can still see some of the red shag that I didn't have pulled out yet along with that steering wheel wrap.  My wheel only has one tiny crack in it.

 

[Mike Sal]

FYI, I found out that you can attach the exhaust manifold to the header pipe and fish the sub-assembly down thru the top to avoid having to reach up from the bottom to get the flange lined up & nuts onto the studs.  I left the nuts a little loose to leave some wiggle room & if you hold your mouth right, it will slip down thru there with the sparkplugs & heat shields in place.