A persistant exhaust leak
A persistant exhaust leak Ok, so here's the deal. Put new fel-pro gaskets on my car, and for the most part they did take care of my exhaust leak, but when it heats up to ful running temp. the leak comes right back, then goes away BUT it won't do it everytime! 
Torqued all the bolts down to 25 ft. lbs. The drivers side bolt closest to the front clip is just a loose turn, so i'm thinking the head is stripped. What is your guys opinion, i'm at a loss...do you think putting a heli-coil in or retapping that heads thread will take care of my problem? 
Any ideas? 
Pulling up to a stop light with an exhaust leak is quite an embarassment haha.
Torqued all the bolts down to 25 ft. lbs. The drivers side bolt closest to the front clip is just a loose turn, so i'm thinking the head is stripped. What is your guys opinion, i'm at a loss...do you think putting a heli-coil in or retapping that heads thread will take care of my problem? Any ideas? Pulling up to a stop light with an exhaust leak is quite an embarassment haha. 
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jul 2005
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See if you can pull the stripped bolt out and replace it with a stud. There may be enough thread left in the head to do this. Can you tell where it's leaking from?? If it is from around where the bolt is stripped, maybe you could use some high temp silicone on the gasket to keep it from leaking. (something O2 safe, of course) Also, if you have to pull the header off, check the flange surface for flatness. You may have one that is warped for some reason.
Fix the bolt hole (heli-coil or drill + re-tap bigger) and buy some Percy's Seal-4-Good gaskets. Summit sells them for like $30 and they are the nicest gasket's I've ever seen.
I have them on my car with Kooks headers and you can tell just from looking at them that those bitches aren't leaking any time soon. They are dead-soft aluminum and conform to fit as you tighten them down.
I have them on my car with Kooks headers and you can tell just from looking at them that those bitches aren't leaking any time soon. They are dead-soft aluminum and conform to fit as you tighten them down.
Originally Posted by Gearhead1
See if you can pull the stripped bolt out and replace it with a stud. There may be enough thread left in the head to do this. Can you tell where it's leaking from?? If it is from around where the bolt is stripped, maybe you could use some high temp silicone on the gasket to keep it from leaking. (something O2 safe, of course) Also, if you have to pull the header off, check the flange surface for flatness. You may have one that is warped for some reason.
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Buy some stock GM gaskets and coat them in Permatex's Ultra Copper. You could loose half your header bolts and would still seal. Works great on collector slip fits and turbo downpipes too.
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