69 L65 air cleaner / exhaust manifold

[emdoller]

Hi

I am the second owner of a 69 convertible with an L65 engine. The car is well documented and loaded with options. PS,PB,PW, Th350, and AC.

One of the things on the car that I've wrestled with originality is the air cleaner. So today I had time to try and figure it out.

Looking at the AIM at the L65, it looks like what I have (no stove pipe). If I look at the M35 option it shows it should have a stove pipe. However, if I look at my exhaust manifold the rivet holes where the stove pipe would go have not been drilled. I checked the manifold part number and it is correct. I also compared it to repro and original ones on eBay and it matches the original. Being that I purchased it from the original owner, my belief (could be wrong) is that it is original.

Looking at the car I'm wondering if the AC option might delete the stove pipe given it would be a very tight fit.

Anyway, I'm looking for experts who can help me figure this out. Not much documentation I can find on this. FYI, it's an April 69 car if that makes a difference.

Thanks,
Ed

[MO]

It would help if you can post pics.

[emdoller]

Here's the engine bay with air cleaner and the passenger side exhaust manifold.

Ed

[KevinW]

I have never seen a smallblock with Auto trans NOT have the carb preheat parts (pass exhaust shields, stove pipe and thermac valve in snout).

In looking at your manifold picture, I can plainly see the rivet heads in the manifold.  It is common for the shields to rust off off around the rivets. 

Stovepipe removed and a "new" manual trans air cleaner base installed is my guess.  The cleaner base is a puzzle, since the 2bbl manual version would be much more rare then 2bbl auto version.  I have a couple auto 2bbl ones in the basement because no one wants them  

[emdoller]

Thank you. I thought that would be the case. Not sure at this point it's worth going through the trouble of "fixing it" as drilling out those rivets can't be fun. Also, I like the look of this air cleaner.

Couple of questions:

1) what exactly does the stove pipe do?
2) what does an original 2bbl auto air cleaner cost?

Ed

[rich69rs]

http://www.camaros.org/emissions.shtml

2nd bulleted item in the Introduction section discusses the ThermAC system which the stovepipe is part of.  The stovepipe directs warmed air from around the exhaust manual into the air cleaner if the engine compartment temp is below 100F.

Search the forum for ThermAC related posts.

Richard

[KevinW]

Ed, you just need the base with the thermac on the snout. Keep the chrome top! If you were closer, you can have one of mine, but your are West coast, I am East

[emdoller]

Thanks Kevin! Too bad I'm out west (used to live in NY). I'm likely gonna leave it as is. It doesn't get cold out here and I like the way this looks. I guess the original owner didn't want to deal with those manifold rivets or liked this look better.

Thanks for the help!

Ed