dmruschell

I have recently gotten a 1956 Olds Super 88 back on the road after a 5 year hibernation. The mechanic that rebuilt the engine and got it running said that one of the exhaust pipes is starting to rot and is causing a slight exhaust leak.

The car currently has a single exhaust system, but I saw that Waldron's Exhaust makes a reproduction dual exhaust system. With the crossover pipe in the front, are the single exhaust manifolds usable with the dual exhaust system, or do they have different manifolds? I would just hate to take my old exhaust off and realize that I wasn't able to install the new exhaust. Thanks for any information you guys have!

scharpp

I am having my 55 done, a good muffler guy can do it, no other manifolds available to my knowledge, I made a block off plate for right front of right manifold, cut crossover in center behind front engine mount, I cut same 2 holes in x frame on drivers side frame as passenger side has, he will run left pipe from behind front motor mount to right side and up just below right side pipe, then cross under transmission back to left side and thru frame to back, this is the least expensive way I have found

Ozzie

The Oldsmobile Chassis Parts Book shows only one L.H. (part number 567569) and one R.H. (part number 563300) exhaust manifold for the years 1954-1956. Since factory dual exhaust was available in 1956, I assume that the factory also did the block off procedure for the crossover connection. I did a similar conversion on a '55 as mentioned by scharpp but my left side stayed totally on the left side, going from the manifold toward the back. If you can also find an exhaust shop that knows how to bend & weld stainless tubing you'll probably never have to deal with tubing leaks again in your lifetime. A bit more investigation reveals that the factory did the block off procedure thru at least 1959. The part number for the plate was 568224; and for the gasket 563689. This is the same gasket used at the exhaust pipe connection from 1949 through at least 1959.

dmruschell

Ozzie, thank you for the information! I checked on Waldron's Exhaust's website, and they offer dual exhaust conversions for 49-55 Oldsmobiles that include a block-off plate, so I can probably just have them include one when I purchase the exhaust for my 56.

56rocket88

If you use the factory dual exhaust for the 56 olds the tail pipes will be 8-10" too short. The dual exhaust option used a special rear bumper that had notches for the exhaust to attach to. There were stamped steel exhaust tips that fit over the tail pipes and ran to the rear bumper and were attached to the bumper with special hangers. The pipes were snugged up alongside the gas tank which is why the bottom edges on 56 gas tanks have the chamfered edges. this makes it very difficult, particularly on the passengers side exhaust, to fabricate something to go from the tailpipe to the rear bumper.