Never done this before (no header gasket)

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memike

memike

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I have seen our stock car (dirt track) builders do this and now seeing a few people do it on there daily driver, one being a 460 for truck, but it has not been fired up yet.
So
my question here is has anyone ever done this ?
And how did it work for your application?

This will give me even more clearance, and I feel like I will not be blowing out a gasket and having a leak .

Any ideas and help would be great.
Thank you for your time and help

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I think you'll end up with a big mess and leaks. But that's me. If you're worried about the clearance, I would pull that header back out and knock that corner in some on the shock tower. It's not like you ain't modded the body to get the headers through, so what's a couple more dents? I'd run some good gaskets if it was me. Just my friendly opinion.
 
....and I like your header holes, btw. Very neat job. Lots of guys just hack the hell out of everything. At least you were respectful of the old girl and did a good job.
 
I had a set of Pro Parts headers that would leak no matter what gasket was used. cleaned them up and after listening to my circle track buddy. put some ultra grey on them and let it set up a while before bolting them on ( with gaskets I'm to stubborn to try it without ). never leaked again.
 
Had a set of hooker headers on a small block that would always leak at the gasket. After 2 sets of gaskets failed I used Grey rtv without any gasket, after that they never leaked again.
 
A ton of guys at my local track only use high temp rtv to seal the headers on their racecars. I've never tried it, but it must work okay if so many people do it.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I think you'll end up with a big mess and leaks. But that's me. If you're worried about the clearance, I would pull that header back out and knock that corner in some on the shock tower. It's not like you ain't modded the body to get the headers through, so what's a couple more dents? I'd run some good gaskets if it was me. Just my friendly opinion.
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Not worried about clearance, I have all I need, I am looking to see if anyone has done this, I do not want to pull and replace if this new way is working, I have some good Reemflex caskets here, but my son and a bunch of other racers do this and not get a header leak at all all season Rusty, I watched a video where an old fellow did this to his 302 steal engine and Tti headers in his 65 mustang, no leaks in 3 years, so he did it to his 68 Chevy 350 truck.
It just amazed me. And thank you once again RustyRatRod

Mikie don't want to drive Victoriato town and back(20miles) and start hearing an exhaustleak

vitamindart said:
I had a set of Pro Parts headers that would leak no matter what gasket was used. cleaned them up and after listening to my circle track buddy. put some ultra grey on them and let it set up a while before bolting them on ( with gaskets I'm to stubborn to try it without ). never leaked again.
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Thank you, did you put the sealant on the header side or engine side or both ? Thank you for your reply.

Northern Grit said:
Had a set of hooker headers on a small block that would always leak at the gasket. After 2 sets of gaskets failed I used Grey rtv without any gasket, after that they never leaked again.
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thank you, this is what I am hearing, thank you for your reply.
 
mopowers said:
A ton of guys at my local track only use high temp rtv to seal the headers on their racecars. I've never tried it, but it must work okay if so many people do it.
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How does your header gaskets work for you ?. What gaskets are you running please, thanks again :thumbsup:
 
RustyRatRod said:
....and I like your header holes, btw. Very neat job. Lots of guys just hack the hell out of everything. At least you were respectful of the old girl and did a good job.
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Hay bud !! That means a lot to me, thank you
 
memike said:
How does your header gaskets work for you ?. What gaskets are you running please, thanks again :thumbsup:
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I've never had any luck with paper gaskets of any kind. Alternatively, I've never had any leaks with Percy's or Remflex gaskets, so I stick with those. Lately, it's been strictly Remflex on all my junk. A tad pricey, but they're worth it in my opinion.
 
mopowers said:
I've never had any luck with paper gaskets of any kind. Alternatively, I've never had any leaks with Percy's or Remflex gaskets, so I stick with those. Lately, it's been strictly Remflex on all my junk. A tad pricey, but they're worth it in my opinion.
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my thoughts exactly, I have a set here waiting. Thank you once again mowers
 
After installing my first dozen sets of headers by paying customers, and half leaked like hell, I learned that the older header flanges/welds were seldom/never flat. (Newer quality headers are better)
Since 1970 I have always checked for straight, - draw filed or weld the hills and valleys the manufacturer missed on the flange, used supplied gkts, or Mr Gskt, and the vehicle left with no leaks, and very seldom ever came back with a leak.
I have yet to use Remflex, or any form of RTV after dozens of sets , and have to guarantee my work .
As with most things, preparation is key, - mating surfaces have to be flat .

P.S. OP - I'm a circle track guy, still don't use RTV .lol
 
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Thank you, did you put the sealant on the header side or engine side or both ? Thank you for your reply.


I just put it on the header, worked for me.
 
inertia said:
After installing my first dozen sets of headers by paying customers, and half leaked like hell, I learned that the older header flanges/welds were seldom/never flat. (Newer quality headers are better)
Since 1970 I have always checked for straight, - draw filed or weld the hills and valleys the manufacturer missed on the flange, used supplied gkts, or Mr Gskt, and the vehicle left with no leaks, and very seldom ever came back with a leak.
I have yet to use Remflex, or any form of RTV after dozens of sets , and have to guarantee my work .
As with most things, preparation is key, - mating surfaces have to be flat .
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totally agree, prepared and inspect all manifolds and new headers for flatness.
Thank you sir. Well said:thumbsup:

vitamindart said:
Thank you, did you put the sealant on the header side or engine side or both ? Thank you for your reply.
Ok, got yea, so it seems that if there is a problem with a leak is the flatness of the header, so sealer on them with a gasket.

Thank you @vitamindart
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Hadn't considered it on the block, but why not. I hate collector gaskets, so I did it on my Doug's D453 collector flanges.
They're so flat I don't think you'd need anything. No leaks.
 
Never tried it myself but I would think it would work much better on quality headers VS cheap ones. The cheap ones tend to have a very poor flange on them. The manifolds never had gaskets to begin with so as long as your surfaces are straight it should be fine.
 
Even some of the more costly headers do not have a flat flange.
A flat flange will need no gasket, a hard gasket, or a thin coat of RTV. This is the proper way to get the threads on the mounting bolts to deform in the elastic range where they hold and do not back off.
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That said, many big name mass produced headers including TTI and Sanderson put a raised bead on the header. These need a soft gasket to seal. Maybe a heavy RTV would work too, I haven't tried.
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I filed and lapped these as best I could but they are what they are.

On my car's current headers, the flanges are flat and just thin coat of orange hi-temp rtv has been effective.
 
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