I HATE donut gaskets!!!

[wallaka]

So I come home and my exhaust manifold is cracked...again. I get a manifold from a '70 250 and make a new downpipe (to fit the bigger manifold/gasket) and what happens...I get the angle wrong and it won't seal!! Well, only 4 hours or so in the Alabama heat wasted.:fume: I gotta see if I can twist it around where the downpipe clamps on to the rest of the exhaust pipe. I'm glad I'm on leave and have plenty of time to work on it but I just want to drive. The exhaust blows directly on the starter though...not good! The last time it did that I replaced 3 starters in 2 days. And got soot all over my carb and valve cover. Anybody have any tips or experience with these things? I'm so tempted to epoxy the pipe to the manifold!!! Well, I wouldn't really. I know better. It is driving me nuts though. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm at my parents' house and only have a floor jack and basic hand tools. Other than that it's good to be home!!!

 

[Anonymous]

When I had a lot of trouble with my exhaust sealing I figured it was because the exhaust pipe was meeting the manifold at the wrong angle. I loosened or removed the nearby exhaust hanger clamps in order to let me get the correct angle of meeting for my exhaust pipe. It takes time and patience but after a while I got it to work out alright. Then I put the exhaust hanger brackets back on.

The other trick I used was using a sintered metal donut. Cost twice as much, $2, but it worked well for me.

-Dan in Atlanta

 

[XFlow_Fairlane]

when I build headpipes I always start at the manifold and work back....thiss way I know it will all line up.

 

[wallaka]

Hmmm...they had a metal donut, but I didnt know how it would work. I thought that it would have to have some "squish" to it to work well. I dunno. I'll try again today I guess.

 

[Anonymous]

I used the metal donut in my turbo set up.

I polished the tapered area of the manifold the best I could with scotchbrite, then applied black magic marker. I then rubeed the donut on the manifold to see where the high spots were. I repeated until the donut has nice contact in the whole tapered area.

No leaks.

You may need to have muffler shop fix your headpipe.
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