Hey guys. I put on the Percy's seal for good gaskets a while back when I put on the LT's. I'm guessing it was around 6 months ago and I've put around 4,000 miles on the car since then. No leaks from day one. A few days ago I could hear an exhaust leak and found it leaking around cyl's 4 and 6. Took it apart today and found this.




I checked the header flanges and filed them a little before I installed them since I bought the headers used. Also periodically checked/retightened the bolts and they were never very loose. Any idea why they would fail? Installing the LT's was enough fun without having to do the gaskets again! Driver side is fine- sealed up good. I really don't want to do this again but need the car on Monday so I'd really like to get it put back together Sunday. Should I put a little high temp RTV on them? What gaskets would you recommend that I could get at Advance/Autozone/O'Reilly's? Thanks!

 

The only ones that i would Ever recommend to Anyone you have to get online. But they Are the best. look up remflex and spend the money on the best header gaskets around. I run them on 3 cars and Never had any problems.

 

Wow! That gasket looks awful!

So far my felpros have held up but if I will try these:

http://catalog.remflex.com/CHEVROLET...ket_p/2042.htm

They apparently make header collector gaskets so I'll give these a try since mine are leaking:

http://catalog.remflex.com/COLLECTOR...ket_p/8002.htm

 

I can't find anything decent locally. They don't even have the Fel Pro 1406's. Looks like I might just have to get some online.

 

They are worth there weight in Gold! I most recently put them on the small block in my impala with cheap ebay headers. The headers were at least a 1/16" warped and they sealed Perfectly! Not a single leak what so ever.

 

The problem isn't the gasket. Put a straight edge on the header flange, a good one. Gaskets usually blow out when they aren't being clamped.

 

This.

I can't imagine a Percy letting go like that unless the flange was warped

 

I'm going to order the remflex gaskets tomorrow. I'll check the flanges again and see if they've warped any. I'm trying to not have to completely remove the header if at all possible lol. It surprised me that it would just blow out like that when it's never had a leak I could feel or hear before. Hopefully they ship quick! Driving the truck getting all of 11 mpg sucks!

 

Use that bike man!

Its not that chilly out yet, just a light jacket at night and you're good. I love spending under 10 bucks a week on gas .

 

I wish I could! Problem is I can't haul around a 4 and 14 year old on it lol. It will cost me about $20 just to drive to work and back. Last time I checked mileage on the GSXR I was averaging around 43 . The Monte Carlo averages 4-5 though lol.

 

Sidecar LOL!

 

That's awesome!

 

I've had graphite header gaskets blow out also. The Permaflex gaskets linked above appear to be graphite.

Once I went to copper gaskets my blowouts stopped completely.

I suggest you look into copper header gaskets.

 

To use copper you have to make sure both surfaces that the gaskets mates too are straight and flat, correct?

 

I've heard of lots of people having issues with copper gaskets. Depending upon the cause, any type of gasket is probably prone to failure. I don't think you're ever going to find a completely failsafe gasket. That's just my opinion, and not a particularly educated one. When I was looking for gaskets, I decided to use the Percy's, but my car has been on blocks for years. They've held up well for the 1-2 miles the car has run while on blocks.

 

I've never done anything special to the few engines I've used copper header gaskets on.

No problems here, copper gaskets are the only ones I've used without having them blow out.

 

I haven't tried the other options being discussed but I know I like the Earl's Pressure Master.

I think the material is similar to the remflex but it is inserts in an aluminum frame.

 

Well I ordered The Remflex gaskets this morning. I've got from now until Nov 2nd-5th to get the flanges perfectly straight .

 

Are those the multi-layer, dead soft aluminum gaskets in the original post?

 

Yes they're the Percy's seal for good.