Hey guys, so i got my exhaust welded and sealed up today. Had a Cat manifold leak, got impatient, cut it off, screwed myself, spent some money to fix it anyways, the guy said i still have a leak at my manifolds. I could always hear this ticking and actually a few days ago thought that it would be the manifold so i retorqued them (had new heads installed) helped a little but i guess its still leaking. the guy said there probably warped, he said he wouldnt worry about it, but my ocd wont let me do that.
My question is what are my options?...
I know JBA is FTW on this but little pricey and it was impossible for me to remove the old headers when i did the heads so thats not really an option right now...
can i unbolt them and throw in a second gasket?...can i throw some rtv hightemp gasket sealer at it? what do you guys think?

 

put in some pacesetters.

 

i didnt find any for the 3.0

 

If its just a slight leak, I'd get a new gasket and liberally coat both sides with Permatex Ultra Copper. Make sure you let it sit for at least 24 hrs before firing up the engine.

 

i actually have a can of that from when i was messing with my lawn mowers carb. sweet. yea its not loud but if you kneel down next to the tire you can hear it, or if you have the windows up and take off you can hear it clearly ticking away.

 

Fix it.

Mine started out quiet and very normal... but now, driving around in it is comparable to driving around in a dump truck. Loud. Though the main problem is that stupid donut gasket that seals the y-pipe to the manifold.

Here's a better suggestion... a guy I know that has built many, many small block Chevy's over the years says to not run gaskets on the manifolds... he says they all will leak at one point or another. Take the manifolds off, have the flange machined flat, and then bolt them on without gaskets.

Or just leave it alone and see what happens. It might not get any louder. Maybe it'll just fix itself.

 

yea thats what the shop said to do. said you could remove them and have them plained. but i really had a hard time trying to get them off when i did the heads. theres just no room to work with plus the rust. I can take another look and try again but i have the hardest time with rust.

and yea that gasket right after the y connection is where i was having problems. do not cut before that flange expecting to be able to easily fit pipe there and fix it. thats where i went wrong and spent a couple hundred to have it fixed.

 

Pacesetter headers price seems within reason. Are they decent and where can i get some with egr.

 

which ever route u choose get copper gaskets they are the best and don't burn up. They are a little more money but last the longest.

 

the headers i got are coming with some new gaskets for in between the heads and the manifold. not sure about the ball flange tho, if that has a gasket.