The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

After i removed the carbs on the 1500 I found soot around the downpipe to the manifold gasket. So it needs changing.

Will a spitfire gasket fit?

Are the refurbished manifolds of decent quality? Would it be worth changing the manifold as well?

This is a common problem with the 1500 manifold. Before reassembly, the mating surfaces need to be flat to ensure a good seal. Also, there should be a bracket between the gearbox and downpipe/centre section joint which will prevent the downpipe from moving which is the usual cause of the manifold/downpipe joint blowing. The Spitfire 1500 exhaust gasket for the manifold/downpipe joint is the same. The part number is GEG739.

spit gasket is the same.
Refurbished manifolds have nothing really done except new studs and hopefully the gasket face machined (that may be hopeful!)
I solved the issue by removing the old studs (welded a nut over first to get them nice and hot, they came out OK then but often shear)I then drilled and re-tapped to 10mm, which meant I used some cap-head bolts, these can be tightened up much more than the old studs. I also filed the faces of the manifold and downpipe flat. They were very lumpy. Took about an hour once the manifold was off.

I have not changed to bolts yet but I do use brass nuts as these do not seize on the studs and are easy to remove when you have to replace the gasket next time.

Thanks for the replies. I did an upgrade to overdrive and didn't have the bracket. You could here the exhaust hitting the underside, so that may have done the damage. In the end I modified the non-OD bracket to do the job.