HELP! Header gasket replacement

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cjdive

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Hi,

I have a question due to my limited exhaust knowledge.

I have a 360 (w/727) that does NOT have the original exhaust. The guy that had it before me installed some nice headers. I have no idea whether they are Heddman, Hooker or otherwise... I just know that I need to replace the header gasket.

Is it possible to get a new header gasket without knowing what brand of headers are on the car?

Additionally, how difficult is it to replace the driver-side header gasket myself? It does not look like there is a lot of room to maneuver to loosen the bolts.

Lastly, do I need to put anything on the gasket??? Like sealer/glue/ etc...pardon my ignorance. :)

Thanks for the help.
 
Any gasket will work. Spring for Perceys or a good quality part and you won't be sorry they run about 40 dollars but money well spent. put on dry.
 
you would need to know exactly what heads are on the motor as the exhaust port design/shape can vary from one to another, if the motor/heads are original to the car then getting the correct gaskets the first time shouldnt be a problem. To change one or both you would need to take all the header bolts out and see if you have enuff room to move the header flange out 1/4-1/2 inch, just enuff room to take out the old and put in the new, thats if the old one comes out cleanly, if not your gonna need some room to do some stuck on gasket scraping to get ALL the old gasket material off. You wont need any gasket glue on a new one however you will need to put a good thread sealer on the exhaust bolts when you put them back in as they go into the water jackets in the heads (on small blocks I think they do LOL)
 
front and rear bolts go into waterjackets so alitle sealer on them is a good thing,
as for gaskets if the flanges are straight and of good quality i have had good luck with MR gaskets ultra seal.
most gaskets can be replaced by taking out all of the bolts except the end ones the endbolts only need to be backed out alitle and then pull the gasket upwards and slip the new gasket in from the top and you wont need to wrestle with the headers and gaskets at the sametime as trying to find a hole for the bolt
 
if you are lucky you may just need to tighten up the bolts alitle,it happens that they back out over time
 
and as long as you have some stocktype heads dont worry about what gaskets there is basicly just smallport(273/318) and largerport heads (340/360) unless you have some W-series heads or other oddball heads
 
it helps to also loosen the collector bolts below if you have a hard time moving the header out and getting it to line up back into place. It's helpful to have a right angle 7/16ths box end wrench for some of the tougher to reach bolts. getting a socket into these bolts can be a *****!! make sure you hold the headers straight when threading the bolts back in. A crossed thread in your cylinder head can be a HUGE problem.
 
I use to use permatex black on the header at the head when I ran my w2 headers with plates that bolt to stock heads never a problem and cheap.
 
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