Reproduction 472 Intake Manifold

[ZLP955]

What details of a reproduction 472 aluminum intake manifold for a 69 Z can be used to identify it from an original, apart from removing the heat shield to check for a date code?

[Mike S]

 I believe the original aluminum intakes had the "W" snowflake for Winters Industries.


Mike

[lynnbilodeau]

Guess I am out of the loop.
Didn't even know the 472 was being repopped.

[69Z28-RS]

you and me both Lynn!   (without the Winter's W snowflake, it wouldn't be much of a reproduction.. may as well have one of the old Edelbrock C3Bs..)..  if I'm remembering the correct manifold that 'replicated the 2472 high rise look and function' pretty well back in the late sixties and early seventies!

[ZLP955]

Well to be clear, I have a spare 472 manifold that I was going to put up for sale, and a fellow Camaro owner told me it was a repro. He wouldn't elaborate on why, so I suspected he was trying to pick it up for a lower price. But he said a well-known Camaro parts vendor commissioned a quantity of these some years ago.
So I did some research, and found a number of threads that suggested these manifolds have been reproduced - a couple of such examples:
http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=136797 (see reply #10)
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/camaro-snowflake-intake-manifold.716989/ (reply #22)
Hardly definitive though, especially as the manifold in the TC thread does appear to have the snowflake foundry mark.

[69Z28-RS]

ZLP....  I think your friend 'fellow Camaro owner'...  is fruit full....      ...  and the two posts you cite are as well... but reading the 'expert Camaro OEM stuff' on HAMB was interesting..  and funny! 

I'd pay as much attention to all that as I would the next 10 Camaros that pull up with Z28 emblems...     ..  probably none of them would be original! 

[ZLP955]

^ I never said he was a friend!
I have received a PM stating that they have been reproduced in the past, so I am still interested in hearing from anyone else who knows of this.

[lynnbilodeau]

I definitely would not put much stock in post #10 on the Camaro site link.

That isn't a reproduction.  Just because it has the oil fill tube, doesn't make it a repop.

I have removed oil fill tubes from several 427 intakes.   All you need to do is knock out the soft plug, and knock in the tube.

This is exactly how the internet becomes the "MISINFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY".

[ZLP955]

Thanks Lynn. The oil tube hole was retained in the intake for 69, although it was relocated from the 67-68 location, and capped with a plug. The one shown in that TC thread had obviously had the plug removed for the fill tube.

Not the 472 version but you get the idea:
http://www.rickscamaros.com/1968+chevy+camaro+z28/camaro-intake-manifold-396-375hp-high-rise-cast-aluminum-1967-1968.html
http://www.rickscamaros.com/camaro-intake-manifold-396-375hp-high-rise-cast-aluminum-1968-1969.html

Perhaps the better question to kick this thread off would have been "can anyone confirm these have been reproduced?", but a trustworthy source that I have known a long time told me the same thing a few days ago. I just want to be 100% sure about this before I list the intake for sale, as I do not want to be caught out and describe it as original, if it may not be.

[69Z28-RS]

I am certain that at least one of the Big Block aluminum intakes HAS been reproduced (for the L78 as you posted and perhaps for the LS6 engine)... but I've never seen/heard of the 2472 being reproduced.

[z28z11]

you and me both Lynn!   (without the Winter's W snowflake, it wouldn't be much of a reproduction.. may as well have one of the old Edelbrock C3Bs..)..  if I'm remembering the correct manifold that 'replicated the 2472 high rise look and function' pretty well back in the late sixties and early seventies!

You're real close, Gary - C3BX, nearly identical to the 67-69 Z intakes. Had one on my '57 283 Bel Air from '70-'73, great intake when paired with a Holley for just about any small block combo.

Regards,
Steve

[ZLP955]

but I've never seen/heard of the 2472 being reproduced.

Gary I appreciate your thoughts, and I too have not previously heard anything on this subject. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen.
The advice I have received is that the run of repros was commissioned in the 90's, so it's no surprise there are no vendors currently offering one, nor that there is no real info out there - this was well before the internet was in common use.
I suspect there will not be any clear resolution on this thread, and with hindsight, I probably should not have initiated it.
So I would respectfully request that none of us adds further to it with opinions or speculation, only if someone knows specifically if it did, or didn't, happen. Thanks!

[68camaroz28]

Well to be clear, I have a spare 472 manifold that I was going to put up for sale, and a fellow Camaro owner told me it was a repro. He wouldn't elaborate on why, so I suspected he was trying to pick it up for a lower price. But he said a well-known Camaro parts vendor commissioned a quantity of these some years ago.
So I did some research, and found a number of threads that suggested these manifolds have been reproduced - a couple of such examples:
http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=136797 (see reply #10)
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/camaro-snowflake-intake-manifold.716989/ (reply #22)
Hardly definitive though, especially as the manifold in the TC thread does appear to have the snowflake foundry mark.

Tim, post a couple pictures of your intake for us to review. I as others have never heard of any 472 intakes being reproduced as that would be quite an expensive venture and why if it happened one run. Legal issues maybe?

[ZLP955]

I will do that Chick, would be good to get a review of it's originality, or otherwise.
I agree that it'd be an expensive undertaking, but the 2 links I posted earlier (Ricks Camaro) show that it has been done for other relatively low-production intakes, the 68 Z/28 and 68-69 L78. Maybe not likely to have been any legal issues in copying the originals, especially as those current repros also have the snowflake.
Who knows? Hopefully mine checks out OK. Pictures to follow in a couple of days.

[ZLP955]

Photos of the intake. If the general feeling is that it's an original, how much do the t-stat housing bolt thread repairs hurt value?