header install q's
09-23-2007, 10:38 PM
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header install q's Me and a buddy spent 7 hours installing a set of BBK shorty headers onto his LT1 trans am. After we had everything buttoned down and fired it up I an exhaust leak on both sides. I upgraded and used the MR Gasket copper header gaskets and torqued them down as tight as I dared to go on those cheesy little bolts that BBK supplied me with. I was wondering if anyone out there has had this problem and has any input on what my next plan of attack should be for clearing up this exhaust problem.
09-24-2007, 11:51 AM
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I don't think there is any way I could have overtorqued them with a 3/8 box end wrench which happens to be the only thing that fits in there and also I noticed that there are two extra bolt holoes on each side and BBK supplied enough bolts to go in all of the holes am I supposed to utilize 8 bolts per side when factory only had 6???
09-24-2007, 06:53 PM
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well we put in the other 4 bolts and it seemed to help some, but it still leaks. What is kinda strange is after the engine warms up, it seemed to quiet down a bit. There isn't, like, some sort of wear in time or anything like that is there? The coating has burned off, so there is a little time on them but.... I don't know. Guess we'll just keep F'en with it.
09-25-2007, 10:57 AM
#7
Originally Posted by BLK,97,T/A,M-6
you may have them to tight, causing gaps to form between the header flange/gasket/head.
There should be torque specs on their website. thats where i would start.
There should be torque specs on their website. thats where i would start.
My BBKs sealed fine, i used the percys carbon fiber gaskets and they were just great, i have used the copper gaskets on my older 3rd gens and some lead a c hair but others seal fine. If you do leak a bit on my older f cars then it doesnt bother me due to the cam in the car being louder than the leak, but that is because the leak is verry verry small.
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09-27-2007, 10:26 AM
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ok well here is the deal, I backed off my headers and retorqued, changed the gasket in the drivers side cat, I had to cut 1 inch off of my y pipe because i did not cut enough off the first time and it was putting a lot of tension on my exhaust system. I still have a leak on the passengers side where I nedd to weld the pipe together because BBK supplied me with a POS band clamp and it needs to clamp on a bend so that wouldn't work anyways. The only problem I think I have now is it feels like I have lost power and it seems to misfire under load. I am going to change my wires in case I damaged one during the install but other than that does anyone have any input as to why it would run like **** now. Would the lasck of backpressure to one side make a difference???