Thread: header leak question

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hey very simple question im having header leaks i was just wondering if i can use the red gasket sealer on the headers? i know its good up to 650 degrees but is it ok under pressure?

my brothers 69 chevelle had headers on it with fel-pro gsks and when the motor was rebuilt with the new headers, every time before he drove the car and every time after he shut it off he would re tighten the header bolts. he did this for about a week and then the bolts finally quit tightening and he put on over 30,000 miles so far and hasn't had a gasket leak yet. the motor has around 380 hp so the headers do have some stress also.

I did not want to annoy DennyW because he has been very helpful in other matters, BUT(!) there are several kinds of gaskets. I guess (?) the gaskets he wants to double up after soaking in hot water are the all fiber type????? A circle track racer recommended the type with a perforated metal surface on one side and fiber on the other. Then there are expensive ($35/set) aluminum gaskets that run the full length of the head. I would buy the aluminum gaskets if I was sure they would seal, but for now I guess I will use a set of the fiber ones over the metalized ones for a double deal after soaking. DennyW, can you be more specific about the type gasket you recommend soaking?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

We use the red silicone as a gasket dressing on some exhaust connections on our ship. Temps are around 900 degrees under power. On gaskets we need to be easily removed, we coat them with anti-sieze.

i used assembly grease for my header gaskets on my 69 galaxie with a 390 and a set of hooker headers..... haven't had them leak in over 50k miles

I changed over to soft copper gaskets cost about $25.00 at a swap meet . had the best luck with theses.

Bothe Carquest and NAPA (and I'm sure many others too) that's like the metal filled fibre outer gaskets seen above. NAPA's are called Nitroseal and are kick ass. My old, cheap header flanges are not quite flat and it took the leak out of those, first try. They also make them for the collector end and you can use them over and over and over and over, well you get the idea. They are definitely more expensive, but well worth it in the long run. I have yet to see a set fail.

Originally posted by orange crush
I changed over to soft copper gaskets cost about $25.00 at a swap meet . had the best luck with theses.

on my street rod I figured that I would spend a little more for the convience of not having any problems sealing the block huggers with there 3/8 flange and I used copper, I did retighten them a couple of times so for so good though. On my el camino daily driver I left the cast iron header on not as efficient but used regular gasket felpro and no leaks at all. My boys was so tired of fighting his headers that he encouraged me to just go with the cast iron headers and for his truck we are looking for a set of corvette rams horns and get rid of the headers that came with the truck cheapies plus can't get acces to all the plugs. At least the try y's are quality on his other chevy 70 pu. Ed ke6bnl