Alright, so I was talking to this guy who has a hobby buisness building fords. He is mainly into t-birds and cougars. Well I was talking to him about my 86 that I am rebuilding the motor on and we got to talking about gaskets. He told me that when I go to put the exhaust manifold on I should not use a gasket for it, he said they just leak. Has anyone else heard of this or not use a gasket when putting headers or exhuast manifolds back on?
Thanks
Jim
Nope you should put a gasket in place I have put manifolds with no headers and it will leak big time.
That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. Perhaps he means don't use a sealant as you would on other gaskets?
Put the headers on when the engine is on the stand. It will be easier and you can get the gaskets on perfect. The end bolts are a bitch to get to with the engine in ..
I will have to go talk to the guy again and maybe find out exactly what he means. He has built a ton of motors so he definatly knows what he is doing. I might have misunderstood him though. I thought maybe it could be correct though because some motors come from the factory without a exhaust manifold gasket. I know for sure my 86 2.3 didn't have one. So I was just unsure. He also told me some other things like when I first start it I shouldn't start it with any fluids. What he does is let them run for a little while until they get hot then turn it off and keep doing that for like two hours in order to let the gaskets seal up real good.
Jim
the 2.3L's never got em, but the 5.0 and 3.8 should have
No fluids? I can't see it lasting too long without oil.
That's exactly what I thought. I have to see if this guy will let me come help him build a motor. Then I can find out exaclty what it is that he is doing. I will go talk to him again soon. I have to see if he was able to find a head for my 2.3 and he told me he would take me for a ride in his MN12, from what he was saying it is really nice.
Jim
What the guy means is to start the engine w/o coolant. That way you don't have a coolant leak on your hands due to the gaskets not being set.
That's what I thought, too, but I wasn't sure. I didn't think assembly lube would do the job very long. :hick: