I JUST BOUGHT A 50 BUICK SPECIAL, AND I WANT TO SPLIT THE MANIFOLD BUT REALLY SCARED OF WHAT IT MAY SOUND LIKE. MY DAD DID IT TO HIS 54 CHEVY INLINE SIX AND SOUNDS AWSOME,BUT NEVER HEARD A STRAIGHT EIGHT WITH IT THOUGH. HELP NEED SOME ADVICE!!!! :shifter:

some buicks came from the factory with dual carburators and split cast iron manifolds from time to time they pop up on ebay , i found a set for 175$ in NH and in good shape , i would think they would sound good , i havent got my engine running yet , good luck ,

There is a Salvage Yard in Lowell, MA (Colonial) that has quite a few old Buicks

You might be able to find somemore there.

Tom Gallagher

dont worry about the sound,believe me it is awesome.it sounds like a really well fed v8 very throaty.i split my 51 special and it was a great sound.if you can find a 41 or 42 dual it works better as the manifolds are hard to weld.my 51 had some leak problems where it was split.the 4/4 split sounds the best,ive heard one split 5/3 and it sounded ratty to me.JB

In the Shop Section:

There are Several Articles Regarding the Buick Straight Eight! :thumbsup:

I suggest You look into Them!

GOOD Fuel for Thought! and Performance! :shifter:

Regards, :beers:

Tom Gallagher

Thanks For The Info Now The Hard Part Finding Them!!! Any Clue Were To Find A Full Line Magizine For 1950 Buick Special Parts, Other Misc Parts.

I think the best place to start is at salvage yards such as Wheat-Belt Buicks (Ken Reeves) or the Buick Bonery (Ken Schmidt) and locate the 40's Vintage Dual-carb Manifold Set-Up.

Try those 2 places and see what you come-up with!

Regards, :beers:

Tom Gallagher

I understand they sound great. I still see ads in hot-rod mags for Smithy's exhaust products. My mom had a '49 Roadmaster convertible one summer when she was in high school (circa 1953), and it had "twin Smithys"; i.e. dual exhausts with Smithy mufflers. She says it sounded cool.
If you divide the exhaust manifold in the center (between cylinders 4 and 5), according to the firing order (1-6-2-5-8-3-7-4), each time the engine completed a pass through the entire firing order (2 crank revolutions), there are two times that two cylinders exhaust consecutively on the same half of the split manifold: 5-8, then 4-1, and each of these two events happens once on each half-manifold. The other four exhaust events alternate between the manifold halves.

I'm just about ready to install a new exhaust system myself and I'm going to put on a set of Smithys with custom ends made in the same configuration as the OEM Muffler Set-UP so it will be interchangeable.

It is the Ball & Socket "Set-UP" so I will spray the ends with "High Temp" Paint for easy R&R.

Regards'

Tom Gallagher

If you're new to the straight 8 game you have to check out Jyrki's buick site. He's a member here and his site is an amazing documentation of the build of his '46 roadmaster. You can hear his straight 8 with split exhaust (through custom headers) on his site. It sounds BEAUTIFUL! The clips can be found at the bottom of the October '04 entry and the April '05 entry. here's a link to his site. http://gamma.nic.fi/~marlin/Rmaster.htm