Exhaust Manifold no gasket

[sgtjd]

Removed my heads today (351C 2V) along with the exhaust manifold and noticed that there was no gasket. I also read somewhere that alot of these engines came from the factory without an exhaust manifold gasket. Therefore, what is recommended with or without?

 

[goodnigh]

What year heads?

mike

 

[sgtjd]

My bad...no gasket for the exhaust manifold

 

[Don C]

When they were new at the factory they put graphite grease on the mating surface. Even though mine cleaned up and looked good, I decided to go with a gasket, hard to have those close tolerance fits after this many years.

 

[Wolverine]

When they were new at the factory they put graphite grease on the mating surface. Even though mine cleaned up and looked good, I decided to go with a gasket, hard to have those close tolerance fits after this many years.

Installing a gasket would do no harm, and they are cheap. I would not install exhaust manifold or headers without a gasket. They make some pretty good gaskets these days.

 

[c9zx]

Covered here. http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-exhaust-gaskets?highlight=RTV Chuck

 

[droptop73]

I use Ultra Copper and no gaskets on mine with no problems. I am running stock manifolds though.

 

[sgtjd]

These manifolds are stock.

 

[mycoses]

I use exhaust manifold gaskets on my 71. I could never understand not using exhaust gaskets since metal to metal contact is crude and uneven at best. Without gaskets you have to tighten the bolts much more than with gaskets which increases risk of stripping and breaking bolts. This is especially true with aluminum heads. I also made a gasket to use on the end of my stock exhaust manifolds which attach to the H pipe. Without a gasket here I had to crank down and tighten the H pipe to the manifold more than I was comforable. I bought some generic exhaust gasket material from Summitt and cutout a doughnut shaped gasket with a 2 in. hole to fit over the end of the exhaust manifold and extensions to fit over the 2 bolts on the end of the manifold to hold it in place. Put on the H pipe and voila! good seal with much less pressure on the bolts/nuts

 

[Wolverine]

I also made a gasket to use on the end of my stock exhaust manifolds which attach to the H pipe.

Aren't you supposed to use a donut here?

 

[don29163]

I have done this twice, with gaskets..72 Q code 351C, both times they leaked, gonna try it one more time without gaskets and see if that fixes it. There is another thread on this here.

There was no evidence of gaskets when I took it apart, but they came with the engine kit, so I used them....thought I got a bad set and put new ones on, same leaks.