Today, I went to the local
Speed shop Ford shop and explained my problem with the header flanges. Well, I left the place with a cardboard box that should contain a kit for fixing this, i.e. two plastic bags containing reducers with triangulated flanges and gaskets that expands under heat, and I was told that loose flanges was not available, so the muffler shop should straighten out the old flanges on the headers.
When I came home and wanted to check out closelier what I got, just in case of a screw-up, I found out that I got four reducers and four gaskets, and no other parts.
This kit had a part#, Holley 10011FLT, so I googled and found:
http://www.holley.com/10011FLT.asp That's something else than what I left with, so I'm most likely returning it tomorrow.
The flanges are too thin as well. So if you are replacing anything get the installer to replace with 5/16 or 3/8" thick flange. Look at TTI stuff. Also - as mentioned- cut the exhaust pipe off just after the collector (at the weld), straighten the collector flange, bolt the components together, then weld the exhaust back together. This will relieve the stress on the exhaust and give you a troublefree system. If the collector mating surfaces are true and straight then 1 gasket is enoungh. Good Luck
Sounds damn sensible to me. I believe it's not what you really meant, but new pipes from TTI sounds sweet now. I lack welding equipment, skills, and a place to get skilled even if I had welding equipment, so I'll have to use the well-tested method of checkbook-hotrodding in this case. Still, thank you very much for the how-to!
First, use soft gaskets, and not the hard white ones. I use Ultraseals. ONe per side, not need for more, and they will slip and leak. Second, the collector is not an exhaust hanger... so if your system has one hanger at teh tail, one behind the muffler, and nothing up front, have hangers added. third, make sure your engine mounts are good, and preferably are the Schumacher saftey ones.. They dont stretch much. 4th, dont overtighten. If you're bending the flanges, your're over-torquing them. I routinely re-use my gaskets and they never blow out. But you have to reduce teh outside affects so all they do is what they were designed for...
The exhaust pipes are rusty, lack hangers up front, and in general looks like they're ready for the recycling station, so I'm considering to leave them as they are, and instead go for some new pipes, and maybe even mufflers. Yep, now it's only a couple of glasspacks on there. It was like that when I bought it. I'm sure my neighbours will appreciate mufflers on the Chally.
Of course, I'll have to have the old header flanges straightened out then anyway, so I'll have a talk with a muffler shop tomorrow (Came there five minutes past closed o'clock today)
I haven't looked closely at the engine mounts, but if the general condition of most things not changed lately is something to go by, they will probably get on my to-buy list.
I'm a bit fed up with throwing money after the Chally, and it still looks like there's a lot to replace.
So I'm somewhat reluctant to spend much money on the rusty old pipes, since they should be replaced with new pipes that includes mufflers.
The pipes have been like that as long as i've had it, so now I'm thinking that they can damn well stay like that until I can have some replacement pipes from TTI, or other good pipes.
I have to admit, I'm still a little pee'd off after a badly connected wire jumped off the coil on friday, making me an obstacle on a mainfare, and the battery died in downtown Oslo on saturday, one cell had collapsed.
The engine harness looks shady, some or another previous owner liked the quick and cheap method, may
the toilet troll haunt him.
So the engine harness will have to be replaced too.
cut off the flanges and take em to your local lasershop. Have them cut a couple out of 8 mm thick material. Use the lock washers on the nut side...
what happened to your backfire problems? ...or was this the problem?
Sounds like a very sensible idea, definetively a high lastabillity factor present there. The only problem is, when the flanges are cut off, the Chally isn't going anywhere without them, and it's my only driver at the moment. So I'll have to try to get some flanges made beforehand. Maybe I can buy a 3" copper gasket to use as a template?
That is, if I decide to repair these old pipes after all. First I'll have to check out what the muffler shop charges for it's various services.
About the popping noises up front, they disappeared when I retorqued the intake bolts, and made some new plug wires. One cap didn't sit on the plug, and another wire was a bit burnt.
Still got some bogging every now and then.
Instead of elaborating on that in this thread and going off-topic, I'll post in the other thread.
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=46097.0
