. I am now just filing down the painted surfaces of the new manifolds to get rid of all the paint, and any burrs, etc that may be on the mating surfaces.

You can see on this last photo where this manifold was leaking from..alll along that rusty line on the bottom side.  I sure wish the new manifolds said PCM Marine Engines like the old ones. 

Here ya go 
 

Quick question, should I sand those areas on the engine where the exhaust manifold gasket goes? or just wipe down good?   Also, does anyone know if there are "torque specs" for the new manifold, or just tighten down, warm up engine and check for leaks and keep tightening?

Just make sure the surfaces are clean and smooth with no chunks of the old gasket stuck to them.

Depending on which PCM literature you refer to, the torque spec varies, you can find a range of 18-24 ft lbs in one manual, so Buck's 20 ft lbs is sorta midrange. It's a pretty generic chart

If you want to make the installation easier, you need a couple of studs to help you out (no not me and Pete )

Here's a picture of the studs. These were 3/8-16 bolts 6 inches long with the head cut off. Screw 'em in and put the gasket on and slide the manifold on.  Put in some bolts and then take the studs out 

Helps keep your spark plugs in one piece if you're doing it with them installed, and is a lot easier on your arms.

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=42868&title=torque-specs" rel="nofollow - link

If you use Felpro  MS90000 gaskets, Felpro will tell you to install them shiny side out in their directions 

http://www.felpro.com/technical/tecblogs/which-direction-to-install-a-gasket.html" rel="nofollow - Felpro link

Ski Dim sells them cheap in the link below  If you look close, you can read 90000 stamped into the gasket in their picture They say shiny side in. 

Who's a guy to believe? 

Probably doesn't really matter much which way they go, but I'd believe the people who make them

http://skidim.com/gskt-exhaust-manifold-ford.html" rel="nofollow - link

You can find stainless allen head bolts or regular carbon steel like the originals.

One last thing you need is some good luck. Some people have all kinds of problems getting all the bolts out without breaking them or cutting the heads off, using torch heat etc and others find them kinda loose and have no problems.

I'd check ahead of time using reasonable force, so you'll have an idea what you're in for 

Maybe you'll get lucky like flyweed did   His were probably about 17 years newer than yours

Dan

Just make sure the surfaces are clean and smooth with no chunks of the old gasket stuck to them.

Depending on which PCM literature you refer to, the torque spec varies, you can find a range of 18-24 ft lbs in one manual, so Buck's 20 ft lbs is sorta midrange. It's a pretty generic chart

If you want to make the installation easier, you need a couple of studs to help you out (no not me and Pete )

Here's a picture of the studs. These were 3/8-16 bolts 6 inches long with the head cut off. Screw 'em in and put the gasket on and slide the manifold on.  Put in some bolts and then take the studs out 

Helps keep your spark plugs in one piece if you're doing it with them installed, and is a lot easier on your arms.

Now about something totally about looks and no functional use. I want to paint them to match the original green and I want to grind down the two raised circles where the PCM decal would go. Is there a functional reason why this is a bad idea?

I figure that they're core/casting/freeze plugs in those holes, depending on what you want to call them and if you grind the bosses flat there won't be much of anything for those plugs to seal against and they'll fall out or leak.

If you look at the same spot on the backside of your old ones, you might find what look like a couple of holes that were filled in and somewhat smoothed over

I could be all screwed up.............. or maybe not 

Oh sure...............now we have to call them freeze/frost/casting/core plugs to cover all the bases.

I figure maybe they changed suppliers over the years and/or saw enough instances of manifolds cracked right along the bottom corner and had the plugs added to maybe help with a freeze situation.

What are you using to match the original green paint?

Sorry to add another term KENO. I wasn't looking at the post and couldn't think of what they were called. Also as for paint I am going to first try a rattle can of Grabber Green engine paint. I bought it yesterday but didn't have a chance to check it to see how close the color matches. 

Try some Krylon 1932 if your Grabber Green doesn't match.

It's one version of John Deere green and matched my 76 manifolds pretty closely. It's darker than the Grabber Green.

Here's a link to an old thread with some discussion and pictures of the green manifolds and some bonus talk about the blue engine color too

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=46907&OB=DESC&PN=3&title=1977-302-pcm-engine" rel="nofollow - link

There were some different shades over the years.

Lots of missing pictures in that thread that would have been good for comparison purposes.

John Deere green on the top and Grabber green on the bottom. The John Deere green definitely wins in my book.

Curious eyes wonder what the stuff circled in yellow is in the picture below

Lower circle, either a fuel filter or electric fuel pump

Upper circle, the bronze colored thing and the tubing or wires hooked to it.

A couple of closer up pictures would be good if you're not sure 

I guess "I ain't never seen a thingy like that" , how about a picture of your thingy 

If not let me know

I think you're lost in the wrong thread here.

Tomahawk was looking for paint to match his Green PCM manifolds and Flyweed replaced his PCM's with PCM's like he wanted to do.

When PCM started putting in a canister type fuel filter in later tears, it was mounted to the stringer, forward of the fuel pump and at least a little farther from the exhaust manifold

Some later years after that had the filter farther back under the center floorboard, but still it was farther away from the manifold than yours is.

How about a picture of the oil drain hose connection even if it's surroundings aren't pretty ?

13 let loose without problem. 

2 snapped off at the head. One before I even turned it. Both were fatigued. 

One was missing and snapped off deep. That won't be fun. 

Pics of the other parts.

Oil drain.

Old and New Ballast resistor

Heads snapped off. Fatigue was not new.

Assuming that you can get the 2 bolts out that have the broken off heads, I wouldn't be afraid to leave the one that' was missing and  "snapped off deep" alone and use 7 bolts instead of 8 on that side. It should seal with no problem.

You might make for more issues by trying to get it out and have a bigger project than you want.

I also wouldn't be afraid of getting rid of the old ballast resistor and cleaning up that wiring some.  

It looks like you have a Delco internally regulated alternator and don't need some of those wires that used to go to your old voltage regulator.

Assuming that you can get the 2 bolts out that have the broken off heads, I wouldn't be afraid to leave the one that' was missing and  "snapped off deep" alone and use 7 bolts instead of 8 on that side. It should seal with no problem.

You might make for more issues by trying to get it out and have a bigger project than you want.

I also wouldn't be afraid of getting rid of the old ballast resistor and cleaning up that wiring some.  

It looks like you have a Delco internally regulated alternator and don't need some of those wires that used to go to your old voltage regulator.

My two cents

Dan

If you're gonna drill a hardened allen bolt, what kind of drill  bit material do you need?  

Should it maybe be a left hand twist bit that might turn the remains out while you're drilling it?

Am I real steady sitting/laying on the floor, drilling in that 3/8 hole so the bit goes in straight and doesn't snap off or damage the threads?

If I get the hole drilled, will I break off an EZ out in the hole?

Can I weld a nut to the remains instead of drilling? Not if it's broken in deep

If I was gonna do it "right" the head would be off the engine or a portable EDM machine might be handy.

You could look around at what some other 351w manifolds look like, say Indmar for example. They use 4 bolts per side and they don't leak.

Here's a picture or 2 of the Indmar manifolds

It's a 3 wire connector that plugged into the voltage regulator harness.

You can find it in the wiring diagram below that's pretty accurate for your 76 as it was built. (it doesn't show the neutra lsafety switch)

I think I need to let my luck recharge. I might have used it all up.

I am putting on fresh bolts and gaskets and hoses too. Thought I could reuse the hose but I ripped one up bad during disassembly.

Now on to painting. 

Assuming you mean the exhaust hose, you'll have lots of fun wrestling around the 3 inch wire reinforced stuff and getting it installed on the copper tubes and the riser with a couple of sharp bends thrown in there.

You might find it easier to take out the center section of the floor, which on my 76 involved carpet lifting and then you could access the screws holding the center section to the secondary stringers  And you never know, that might lead to a carpet job

Later years got easier with an easily removeable center section and in your pictures I might see some evidence that yours is easily removeable

It gave more vertical room to move the copper tubes around to get the hose on.

In the meantime, you could go find a friendly black bear to wrestle so you'll be in shape for the hose job  

If the green arrow in the below picture is pointing at a rubber/vinyl strip in the floor (one on each side running back to the end of the floor), then it's easy to remove without having to rip carpet up.