[rj68RS]

Was out for a spin last night with my boys and we scraped the pass side collector on a speed bump pretty good. Wah-lah... now I have a leak at the 4/6 port. Used the embossed copper gaskets when I put the headers on which I have used before with success but not this time, tried to re-tighten the bolts up but no luck. I guess the embossed gaskets are one time only compression. Just ordered some Remflex headers and collector gaskets which I've also had good luck with on big block motors.

Down the road I plan to re-do the exhaust with 3" pipe + Magnaflows and I'll go with ball collectors vs. 3 bolt collectors to eliminate another potential leak point.

Speed bumps should be outlawed

[DjD]

RJ - the way you created the exhaust leak may not be fixable with just a gasket replacement. The impact most likely damaged the flange ever so slightly at the leak. I'm not familar with the gaskets you ordered but have had great success with with the Earls Gaskets. They are an aluminum frame with replacable thick compression seal inserts at each tube.

[Fred Ficarra]

And copper can be brought back to life. Heat it with a propane torch. Or over a gas stove. My Honda had a copper head gasket back in the '60's. I rebuilt it so many times I lost count. (broken valves) But the head gasket was never in need of replacement.
Now, when it comes to those damn copper header flange gaskets, they leaked from the instant I first started up. They are landfill.

[TJS69]

You may have to cut the flange, so the 4/6 tubes are independent from the 2 and 8 pipes. It sounds like your 4/6 pipes were pushed up, resulting in a slight bend at the ports and the full length flange is not allowing them to return to their original position ! Also, I have had great results with Percy's dead soft aluminum gaskets.

[ace's68]

The best gaskets fro headers imho are actually exhaust manifold gaskets.

[yellow heap]

REMFLEX gaskets are the best sealing I've tried-if they don't seal it the header needs major work

[rj68RS]

I pulled the header off last night and using two straight edges and a dial caliper it appears to be straight and no actual damage to the header itself. The flange is straight, all the bolt holes, and port holes line up on their perspective planes so I think I'm good to go.

The copper gasket however has a crack at the top right between the 4/6 ports that was not there when I first installed them. I should have my Remflex's today so I'll get them installed ASAP and be back on the road but this time avoiding parking lots with speed bumps.

[tonycamaro]

Double gasket it. It works all the time.

[SY1]

Originally Posted by ace's68

The best gaskets fro headers imho are actually exhaust manifold gaskets.

I'll second this. You guys keep on spending all kinds of $$$ on the expensive flavor of the month exotic gaskets. I'll keep using good old Fel-pro standard embossed SBC exhaust manifold gaskets and save my $$$ for where it'll go to better use. Never ever had a single one leak. I also don't suffer from all the complaints I hear all the time about header bolts loosening up. I just make sure my flange surfaces are true and haven't been over torqued to where the flange is bent, after initial run in recheck the torque on the nuts (I use exhaust studs and reduced diameter nuts with larger tube headers) and never worry about them again.

Also like Dennis said you may have to cut the flange bar to seperate the tubes after the damage they suffered. I've seen this done before and it works, it will NOT weaken the header or cause it to crack at the collector like some will tell you. In fact I've modified a few sets of SBC headers to completely eliminate the ugly bar so I end up with 3 seperate flanges that bolt to the heads. It looks a whole lot better than the ugly bar that's really only necessary IMO for jigging up the header tubes during the manufacture.

[Fred Ficarra]

Well Dave, either the vendors or Fel Pro figured out the same thing. The price for those good gaskets is now over $10.00 EACH! I have two pair on order. Ouch.

[NHBandit]

I'll add my name to the fan club for using the stock embossed manifold gaskets with headers. Never had a problem with them including using them on 180 degree headers on a Nascar Pro-Stock circle track racecar. If you're not familiar with those the left side header crosses over the top of the bellhousing and exits on the right side of the car. Very long & heavy and the cheapo gaskets that come with the overhaul gasket set have never failed. How many of you guys throw those away and then go buy the fancy "header gaskets" that don't work ?

[SY1]

Fred the copper gaskets like SCE offers run about $45-60 a pair. That's a decent price if they work. But we see a lot of posts by guys complaining about header leaks despite the fact they run the copper gaskets. For only $7.95 for a complete set of the stock Fel-Pro gasket I'll know I will never have one fail. But I seriously think a lot of guys won't consider these because they associate them with stock steel manifolds or they've gotten caught up in the romance of using more exotic parts simply because they feel they've got to work better because they cost more. The more expensive gaskets may work great and the header leaks many complain about may actually be attributed to some of the other issues they aren't addressing. But I'll never know because I've never had a reason to change from the old Fel-pros.

I know it's only about $40 bucks I'm saving, but that's $40 none the less. I also think the first thing some guys might be doing is going out and buying another set of the $50 gaskets and if the leak wasn't the fault of the gasket now they're out $100. It starts adding up. Sad thing is I think some guys first move when they have header leaks is to throw money at the gaskets and buy the most expensive ones they can get figuring they are buying a better product. If they don't address the issue that caused the leak they've wasted their cash. If it does stop the leak they've still wasted their cash because they could've solved it for under 8 bucks.

[ace's68]

Originally Posted by SY1

I'll second this. You guys keep on spending all kinds of $$$ on the expensive flavor of the month exotic gaskets. I'll keep using good old Fel-pro standard embossed SBC exhaust manifold gaskets and save my $$$ for where it'll go to better use. Never ever had a single one leak. I also don't suffer from all the complaints I hear all the time about header bolts loosening up. I just make sure my flange surfaces are true and haven't been over torqued to where the flange is bent, after initial run in recheck the torque on the nuts (I use exhaust studs and reduced diameter nuts with larger tube headers) and never worry about them again.

Also like Dennis said you may have to cut the flange bar to seperate the tubes after the damage they suffered. I've seen this done before and it works, it will NOT weaken the header or cause it to crack at the collector like some will tell you. In fact I've modified a few sets of SBC headers to completely eliminate the ugly bar so I end up with 3 seperate flanges that bolt to the heads. It looks a whole lot better than the ugly bar that's really only necessary IMO for jigging up the header tubes during the manufacture.

That's exactly what I'm thinking...
It's like wearing trendy clothing that doesn't look good, you want to pay $100.00 for a piece of cotton by Ed-Hardy that everyone is going to laugh at in a decade like we do now with 90's and especially 80's styling.
People shouldn't be such tools these days, go with what works!
Not saying the copper gaskets don't work, but my headers don't leak and probably wont, I use the otc exh manifold gaskets, I don't see a need for copper, even on a hard core race engine, maybe in an endurance motor like nascar, formula 1 or on motorcycles...

[camaroman7d]

Originally Posted by ace's68

That's exactly what I'm thinking...
It's like wearing trendy clothing that doesn't look good, you want to pay $100.00 for a piece of cotton by Ed-Hardy that everyone is going to laugh at in a decade like we do now with 90's and especially 80's styling.
People shouldn't be such tools these days, go with what works!
Not saying the copper gaskets don't work, but my headers don't leak and probably wont, I use the otc exh manifold gaskets, I don't see a need for copper, even on a hard core race engine, maybe in an endurance motor like nascar, formula 1 or on motorcycles...

I'm sure people are laughing at you guys for buying the stock gaskets and wasting that money. There are a lot of guys that run high temp silicone for header gaskets, and yes it does work, does not burn or melt. Yep, I have used it before as well, works great.

It's not about being "trendy" that's what Pro-Touring is for. It's about using a product that works. I have used Percy's Dead soft aluminum gaskets for years and re-use them several times. How many times do you get to re-use your stock manifold gaskets? Not knocking your choice I just don't see the point of trying to down talk other member because they use a different product.

[spideynut]

Not really on the same subject but.. kind of ? I was having insane valve cover leaks with my new moroso 4in tall tin cans and "cork" gasket. I normally run cork and Offenhouser (sp?) But my new fancy roller rocker "looked" like they wouldnt fit. Long story short Offens do fit. So we swaped out the flavor of the month blue powder coated Mororso's for the old realiable covers and good ol cork with no leaks at all!!! I ordered $50 felpro super corbide metal inserted silocne injected ebossed gaskets last night like an idiot. Spent over 70bux with shipping etc.. Guess what im trying to say is I have some new unused 50 dollar gaskets for sale!!