Any drawback to exhaust manifold gaskets

[Scott Marzahl]

Is there any drawback to using exhaust manifold gaskets besides they were not supplied at the factory. I recently finshed putting together my L-79 327 and couldn't wait to fire it up sitting in the chassis. The new side pipes and L-79 cam sound sweet together. I did get some leakage at the junction of the head and exhaust manifold though, not much, just enough to dis-color the orange paint so I thought I would install a set of graphite gaskets rather than having the manifolds milled.

[Brian M.]

Re: Any drawback to exhaust manifold gaskets

Use a thin layer of Permatex Ultra Copper Hi-Temp Silicone Gasket. Anything that squeezes out can be trimmed and should give a leak free connection. Good luck.

[Joe C.]

Re: Any drawback to exhaust manifold gaskets

Scott:

No drawback, just that they shouldn't be there for JUDGING purposes. If the leak is minor, it will eventually carbonize and seal.

Joe

[Jim T.]

Re: Any drawback to exhaust manifold gaskets

Later model aluminum headed Corvettes use gaskets. When I put a ZZ crate engine in my 70, the original exhaust manifolds that was on my original owner 350/300 did not fit leak free on the the aluminum heads of the ZZ crate motor. So I bought some Corvette later model gaskets that are used on the aluminum headed small blocks. Fixed that problem. The air conditioner side was not any fun, but thats another story. My car would get to many deducted points anyway because I drilled holes to install a Corvette luggage rack.

[Tom H.]

Re: Any drawback to exhaust manifold gaskets

....and how many deducts do you get for that rack??? What started out as a movement to preserve these cars has turned into "anal revulsion"

[Patrick H.]

Re: Any drawback to exhaust manifold gaskets

I went through a set of exhaust gaskets every year or two for 7 years on my 71 after I had the motor rebuilt. I, too, didn't want to resurface my manifolds. I soon found out that the gaskets burned out anyway and left me with leaks and staining.

A year ago I finally bit the bullet and had the manifolds resurfaced. They seal beautifully and I've had no problems whatsoever. I shouldn't have waited.

Patrick

[Lawrence C.]

Re: Any drawback to exhaust manifold gaskets

I have a '66 L79 and I took the exhaust manifolds off to clean them up during the car's restoration. When I put them back I put gaskets in and there were no leaks. After judging I took them off again, cleaned the surfaces, and so far there have been no leaks either. I agree that once you get the manifolds surfaced you will have no problems without the gaskets.