Headers and gaskets

[Dominic]

So I am well aware this job is going to bring a fair amount of suck to my life but it has to be done. I have a set of Doug Thorley headers on my 5.2 I have an leak and from what I can tell it's coming from the gasket on the passenger side.
So my question is is there header gaskets that are better than other? Are they brand specific example will doug thorley headers only work with doug thorely gaskets? School me....
Dom

 

[jsudar]

In my experience the single biggest thing to make headers not leak is proper, even torque on the bolts and then make sure you use locking bolts to keep it that way. Breslin makes some cool header bolts that have a small hex screw in the middle that expands the end of the bolt in the head. Stage 8 also makes some cool locking bolts for headers. Both are available from Summit Racing. The other option is to get bolts with drilled heads and safety wire them in place. That's what I finally ended up doing to keep the turbo and manifold tight on my 2.3l turbo motor-- I was burning up really expensive stainless and copper gaskets. Check with aviation places for drilled bolts and wire.

As for gaskets... I don't know what brand to get, but they almost always fail because the bolts back off. Probably any gasket will work well if you can keep the header from coming loose.

 

[Shawn]

Cheep headers sux! The flange that mounts to the head is usually thin and can warp easily. If you can, pull out the header and place a straight edge on the flange and see how bad it is warped. If it is excessive you may want to have it milled down just a bit. I use copper gaskets with all of my headers. Locktite the bolts.

 

[Bart]

What Shawn said. That's why I went with Sanderson Headers, even though their customer service is terrible. They recommend the hi temp Permatex for their gasket.

 

[Zombie]

IF the thorley headers are the same ones I looked at for my 5.9 they have a 3/8 thick flange, so they should be pretty beefy. I'd run copper and stainless header gaskets as well. I ran coppers on everything I've owned in recent years that had headers, and with a locking bolt set, I never lost a gasket. Before I started running coppers and locks, I'd blow thru header gaskets all the time. Those were also cheaper headers tho...

Just food for thought.

 

[Jay5.9L]

I had Mike leach headers on my 5.9L and never had a problem. I was sure to tighen them offten after install and then check them at every oil change there after.

Is your gasket blown out?

 

[CJ Matt]

If the gasket is blown out it would probably be loud. I had an old Firebird in high school that would blow pieces out of header gaskets, always in the same place and it was a lot louder then your average ticking from a leak. I switched to Fel-Pro gaskets because the have a steel core and never had a problem again. They are pretty cheap too. I would check the torque first though. If I remember correctly I had JBA on my 5.2L Dakota and they never leaked.

As far as I know gaskets are engine specific, not header so any brand gasket should work.

 

[1995zj]

Dom, I've got a crack in my exhaust manifold so I'll be putting on some new headers this winter. We ought to have some sort of "party" so we can both use obscene language about the same thing.

 

[waynehartwig]

My jet boat had major problems with header gaskets when I had the Olds 455 in it. The only thing I could do to get them to live was using copper RTV on both sides of the gasket.

Put it on the head, put it on the header. Bolt it all in place but don't tighten it up. Let it sit for an hour and cure THEN tighten it up. Start it, get it hot, then retorque all the bolts. Keep doing that until none of them move anymore.

I was able to fix the header gasket issue, but the engine was another issue - hence the reason she got a BBC