66 FastBach

which is the best header gasket on the market theses days??? i'm putting Tri-ys on a 302.

cmanf

i have always been a felpro man myself.

Slimd

I use these made by Percy's with tri-y's, they do not leak. Just make sure you re-torque them after you run it the first few times.
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...10002_17148_-1

fast66

I've heard good things about these.

http://www.remflex.com/

They are thicker than standard and have much better compressability to close up gaps caused by warped header flanges.
Unfortunately I havent been able to try them yet, hopefully soon.

jspagna1

Felpro's the way to go. Mine have never leaked since day one. And yes the header bolts need to be checked. You also need to get locking header bolts.

JMD

I have had very good luck with solid copper gaskets, non brand speciffic..

67mustang302

Fel Pro has a newer gasket out now that's a steel core laminate with a soft facing that seals VERY well, and stays sealed, no retorqueing needed.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...p;autoview=sku

That's the one I use, and I'm very impressed with it.

fast66

In addition, its very important to remember that the cheapo headers tend to have flanges that warp either when originally welded, or after they are first heated from use. High quality Header tend to have thicker flanges and dont warp, or they are surpace machined to ensure a nice flat mounting flange.

To get around a repeatedly leaking header, an old trick was to use a double layer of fibre type gaskets soaked in water.

67mustang302

+1

I filed my flanges even before I installed my headers on the new engine. Haven't had any leaks......yet.

fast66

I just remembered something else that comes in handy.
Try to get the header gaskets that have the hooks on the outer two bolts if you intend to change the gaskets with the engine still in the bay.
You can have your headers bolted loosely in place with the outer two bolts, and simply drop the gasket down into place. It gets positioned by the bolts, and the rest of the bolt holes line up.
If your engine bay in anything like mine, I have VERY little clearance between the pipes and the shock tower, so pulling the header way from the head to like up gaskets it very difficult, and all the bending over the fender does your back no favours.

One other thing - to get a little more clearance, unbolt your engine mounts (from the block not the through rod) and jack the eingine up a little. it will give a little more room the pull the headers away from the head.
Cheers