Bottom of intake manifold

[bkxmnr 0]

Hello all! Recently purchased a stock 1968 302 4 bbl intake manifold for my ‘69 coupe. I just discovered a crack in the cover on the bottom side of the manifold. Does that make the manifold bad? What is the cover for? Thanks for any light you can shed. 

[Brian Conway 264]

Doesn't make the manifold bad.  Does make the 'lower oil baffle' bad.  The purpose for the baffle is two-fold.  Provide an insulated area below the carb. pad from hot air and hot oil splash.  Brian 

[bkxmnr 0]

Should I be worried that the manifold might be cracked underneath? How would I test it?

[Brian Conway 264]

What I see in the picture (mid-left) is a drain/vent and not a troublesome 'crack'.  

[shelbyshelby 52]

In case you want to clean under there. The area under the pan generally gets baked oil caked in there and pretty nasty. The hardware that looks like rivits twist out. I get them out by using a putty knife and peck with a hammer between the rivet head and pan. 

[maxum96 32]

On 7/9/2022 at 6:40 PM, bkxmnr said:

Should I be worried that the manifold might be cracked underneath? How would I test it?

As Brian already said, that's not a crack but a drain slot.  That's just a heat shield to keep the hot oil off the bottom of the intake under the carb.  As mentioned already, you can pop out those twist rivets and c clean out the gunk inside there if you so desire.  If you choose not to, it won't hurt your engine or performance at all.