Header leak?

[burrpenick]

It appears to be somewhere on the drivers side toward the rear of the  car. I used the FLOWTECH gaskets that came with the headers. They did have some steel in the center, but evidently they did not seal well. Today I ordered a set of Mr Gasket ULTRA seal. I've heard good things about them before. I was able to clean up the header and block w/o taking the headers out. Any special tips to insure that this new gasket will stop the leak?

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Are the new ones copper or paper?

I've had good luck with the papers myself, i submurge them in a tub of water for a few hours, and install. Let them dry out for a few hours before running it. The water allows the paper to swell up and conform better to the two surfaces.

[cudabob496]

I've always had my best luck with Felpros.
Just make sure surfaces are clean and flat. Hopefully your header flange is not warped, but straight. Maybe start tightening first in the area that had the leak, but tighten all evenly so header flange won't warp.

[cudabob496]

Are the new ones copper or paper?

I've had good luck with the papers myself, i submurge them in a tub of water for a few hours, and install. Let them dry out for a few hours before running it. The water allows the paper to swell up and conform better to the two surfaces.

I got a yellow 72 also. What kinda wheels you got on that?

[MEK-Dangerfield]

So I guess that you heard a tapping sound? That's a header leak.   I suppose you had all the header bolts tightened enough to compress the gasket? Been there, done that.  


  Mike

[GoodysGotaCuda]

I got a yellow 72 also. What kinda wheels you got on that?

17 and 18" American Racing Torq Thrust M's

[73EStroker]

It's probably a late question to ask but ...... before you installed did you check for straightness across the flange where the pipes make contact with the cylinder head? I even did this with my TTI's and they were perfect. If the flange is warped you will chase header leaks forever if it is bad enough. Also with my son's Hedmans we retorqued the header bolts after the first start with the engine cold. This meant "shutting the engine off and going away for the night and returning in the morning" engine cold. We got a lot of twist on the bolts after that and now 5 years later no header leaks and same gaskets. Gaskets were whatever Hedman supplied.

[cudabob496]

17 and 18" American Racing Torq Thrust M's

Cool. I painted the inside of my Weld ProStars to look the same. What kinda tires do you run?

[LAA66]

Are the new ones copper or paper?

I've had good luck with the papers myself, i submurge them in a tub of water for a few hours, and install. Let them dry out for a few hours before running it. The water allows the paper to swell up and conform better to the two surfaces.

 I know there's a leak somewhere on my old Hookers. Maybe even the collectors. The bolts have been tightened several times and it keeps coming back. How about double gasketing.

[Belgium Cuda]

 I have tried most brands of headers and straightness beeeing the biggest
 reason for leakage ( all surfaces clean ofcourse) I guess there's a reason
 why TTi are expensive. Tried double gaskets aswell with sucess and don't
 underestimate the tighteningsequence.

[Topcat]

I know there's a leak somewhere on my old Hookers. Maybe even the collectors. The bolts have been tightened several times and it keeps coming back. How about double gasketing.

When I had hookers on my 340 years ago, I took that orange high temp silicone and glued two of the gaskets together for each side and pressed with weight on them. I let them dry that way making sure the edges were sealed real good all over. Then before I put them on, I soaked em in water. They were that composite paper type. Did the re torque too after they were ran.

Worked great. I don't recall them leaking again after that.
It may not win points for appearance but back then, I would do anything from having to crawl under the car if I could.

[vinb]

Fel-Pro #1413 no problems, just make sure everything is flat. use a straight edge to check the flanges..

[LAA66]

 On one set (can't remember the brand, probably cheapo's) I got so frustrated I cut the flange between #1 and #3 because it distorted the alignment of the single front pipe. It didn't look so good but it worked.