'96 & '97 Manifold to Front Pipe

[Thawk97]

In the process of collecting what I need to return my '96 GTS back to factory. One particular component has been a bit mysterious up to this point. On '98 and newer Gen IIs, the manifold is connected to the front pipe using a V-Band clamp. But, on the '96 & '97 cars, which used the older cast iron manifolds, my understanding is that the front pipe had a flange/collar on it which bolted up to the manifold using some extended bolts through springs. Additionally, inside, there wan't a normal flat gasket, but a special "knuckle/flange" gasket - something like graphite rounded ring with a collar on it that may have allowed that joint not to be perfectly square (and possibly even flex some).

My question for the group is if anyone has pics & part numbers for this stuff -

1) The springs/bolts/nuts (not sure if the back side is a flag nut or not)
2) The gasket. I originally had looked up the gasket part# and came up with 04763586 which is wrong. That's a flat gasket which I believe is only for the '98+ cars (ill-spent $20 by me already).

Not even my 1996 GTS Service manual has correct pics for the front section of the exhaust here which had me all confused and it's taken me a bit to understand/confirm what was originally used there since most of the Gen IIs were different than the first couple years (which may or may not be different from the Gen 1 setup - not sure).

PS - not the first time my service manual has been wrong but it sure is confusing & annoying when that happens. Also wish it listed part numbers.

[RTTTTed]

Greg Weflen is planning on buying my newer tubing manifolds and may be selling his cast iron stuff ... He may be able to help you. He's in Western Canada

I believe that JonB (www.partsRack.com) could get you the actual parts at a discount as well as knowing your answers.

[Bugman Jeff]

I replaced the manifold to pipe gaskets in my '97 GTS just last fall. Both the original gaskets I took out and the new gaskets I put in were a plain flat gaskets. On my car, there is just a bolt that goes through the flange, no spring. On the back side of the manifold, there is a nut with an ear on it to keep it from spinning. IIRC, my car was built in April of '97 if it matters, and for what it's worth, the picture in my '97 service manual matches what was on the car.

[Thawk97]

I replaced the manifold to pipe gaskets in my '97 GTS just last fall. Both the original gaskets I took out and the new gaskets I put in were a plain flat gaskets. On my car, there is just a bolt that goes through the flange, no spring. On the back side of the manifold, there is a nut with an ear on it to keep it from spinning. IIRC, my car was built in April of '97 if it matters, and for what it's worth, the picture in my '97 service manual matches what was on the car.

Very interesting - thanks for the info.

[Thawk97]

Does anyone have a picture of the end of a '96 or '97 front pipe where it would bolt up to the manifold? Trying to figure out if/how it was different from the '95s and '98s. It's easy to find pics of the different manifolds, but really hard to find that front pipe connection

My local ViperTech and I are struggling to figure out what was original on the '96 cars.