Moparts
Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!!
Posted By: dakrt23
Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 01:23 AM
So i finally got my 360 dart running and everything is working perfectly, the car is awesome, except these damn headers will not seal... i have taken it to two different exhaust shops, one that switched my cheesy bolts to studs and better gaskets and they still leak LOUDLY, like i can hear it over dumped spintech pro-street mufflers... thats bad...
both places told me the flanges are just too weak to provide any flat mating surface... looked it up on summits site and they have a 1/4" flange vs. 5/16" for everyone else...
the question is... is there anyway to get these hedmans to seal up without cutting off this flange and welding on a newer thicker one, or switching headers?... if there isnt, then ill end up biting the bullet and switching, but if anyone has any tips or tricks with these headers in particular, let me know!... thanks...
Posted By: 69L78Nova
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 01:33 AM
Use Ultra-Seal gaskets, and a film of copper silicone on both sides. My old set of Hedmans sealed right up using that method
Posted By: 383man
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 01:52 AM
Are they new headers ? 1/4" is pretty good compared to header flanges years ago. Mine are Hedman that have been on my car for 2 years with zero problems and I just use standard gaskets. Ron
Posted By: dakrt23
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 02:02 AM
cool, thanks ill give that a try!!!... using standard paper gaskets now, definitely going to try a steel core gasket next... never liked paper ones, they just came with the headers...
Posted By: dakrt23
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 02:04 AM
after looking around summits site, all the other headers (Even summits generic ones) had 5/16" flanges... hedmans were the weakest at 1/4"... seems to be hit and miss with these things... a friend has a set of hedmans on his 67 cuda and they are fine... mine sound horrrrrrible... its all i can hear and it makes driving the car not fun...
Posted By: kenworth_goose
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 02:10 AM
If you take those paper gaskets and soak them overnight in water, install them wet, they won't leak anymore.
Posted By: vdriver
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 02:10 AM
Do your heads have the air injection holes on the floor of the ports, & if so, did you plug them?
Posted By: Y3 70 BEE
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 02:14 AM
Do a search for REMFLEX gaskets. The best choice for a thin or warped to s header.
Posted By: Junky
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 03:18 AM
Quote:
Do a search for REMFLEX gaskets. The best choice for a thin or warped to s header.
Best darn gaskets I've ever tried! www.remflex.com
Posted By: dakrt23
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 03:48 AM
ive heard that trick too, thanks for the input... ill probably just end up trying some steel core gaskets or these remflex ones everyone is suggesting...
Posted By: dakrt23
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 03:50 AM
pretty sure there are no air injection ports... i didnt see anything unusual when i was painting the heads.. are they located just below the exhaust ports?...
Posted By: dakrt23
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 03:51 AM
just checked those out, they have some pretty strong claims... no leaks, no retorquing (thats hard to believe)... pretty pricy for gaskets but if they work they will be worth it... have they worked for you as advertised?...
Posted By: dakrt23
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 03:52 AM
have they worked for you as advertised?... they have some big claims to go with the big price... what do you think?... thanks for the help...
Posted By: superwrench
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 03:55 AM
Quote:
If you take those paper gaskets and soak them overnight in water, install them wet, they won't leak anymore.
I've heard of that...but..I think it depends on whose gaskets.....one fellow I know used a brand X gasket and they were pretty well mush when he went to get them in the morning after an overnight soak!!
A good felpro 1414 for a big block and some Ultra-Copper RTV and you'll usually be good to go for a long time.
Give the bolts a nudge after about 10 runs or so. 
Posted By: Y3 70 BEE
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 04:02 AM
I sealed up some c body cast manifolds that no ultra seal or anything else would seal. When you see how beefy remflex are you will see why.
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 05:15 AM
I've been hearing good things about remflex for years, but never did try them. It is quite a bit for exhaust gaskets, but if they work, well worth the money IMO.
Posted By: vdriver
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 06:45 AM
Quote:
pretty sure there are no air injection ports... i didnt see anything unusual when i was painting the heads.. are they located just below the exhaust ports?...
If your heads have these holes, and they ain't plugged, you're wasting your time with different gaskets/headers/whatever. You gotta plug 'em.:
Posted By: nutso suave
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 07:19 AM
an old hot rodder told me a good way to prevent header leaks is to cut the plate between the tubes, so that each tube is bolted individually. he uses those thick felpro gaskets and doesn't have a problem with leaks.
Posted By: CokeBottleKid
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 08:25 AM
Quote:
Quote:
pretty sure there are no air injection ports... i didnt see anything unusual when i was painting the heads.. are they located just below the exhaust ports?...
If your heads have these holes, and they ain't plugged, you're wasting your time with different gaskets/headers/whatever. You gotta plug 'em.:
check... NOW!
Posted By: bobby66
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 10:52 AM
Quote:
an old hot rodder told me a good way to prevent header leaks is to cut the plate between the tubes, so that each tube is bolted individually. he uses those thick felpro gaskets and doesn't have a problem with leaks.
This is good advice right here. And make sure the headers aren't hitting a head bolt on the bottom of the flange.
Posted By: Junky
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 01:49 PM
Quote:
have they worked for you as advertised?... they have some big claims to go with the big price... what do you think?... thanks for the help...
Put them on two years ago. No leaks whatsoever! I had tried two other good quality gaskets that would leak. The Remflex gaskets sealed up perfectly. They're some neat gaskets, well worth the money!
Posted By: MoparJoe
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 01:58 PM
If they keep blowing the gasket at the bottom make sure the headers aren't hitting the block or oil pan.
I had a set of headers on my '88 Ram that wouldn't seal with paper gaskets and I swapped to Percys aluminum gaskets and haven't had a problem since, I even reused them when I swapped motors and they still don't leak.
Posted By: 1fastrunner
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 02:26 PM
I also installed the Remflex gaskets, and my leaks went away. As for the price, I looked them up on Amazon.com and got the best price with free shipping.
Jim
Posted By: LimelightCuda
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 02:32 PM
Quote:
If you take those paper gaskets and soak them overnight in water, install them wet, they won't leak anymore.
A long time ago an old hot rodder told me about this trick. I also have Hedman headers but for a big block. I used regular gaskets and I soaked them in water for about 5 minutes before installation. This is the way I have always done it and I've had pretty good results. On this particular car I haven't had any leakage at all in over 2 years. I drove the car to Ohio (500 mile trip) twice and no problems. I think I re-torqued the headers slightly once just after installation. The only probem I had with my Hedmans was I had to switch to manual steering because they did not fit right.
Posted By: LimelightCuda
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 02:49 PM
Sold! I just ordered a RemFlex exhaust gasket for my Slant 6. It is about $20 more than the Fel-pro gasket but after reading how the gasket is made and that it is made in the good 'ole US of A and how much of a PIA it is to do a Slant 6 manifold gasket I decided to take the above advice. Thanks.
Posted By: Mr.Yuck
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 03:07 PM
get a set of fel-pros...a little more expensive but worth it. and DO NOT crank the he!! out of the bolts. most people who get leaks is because they over tighten the bolts and warp the flange. Nice and snug and 1/4 -1/2 turn is all you need.
Posted By: MY340
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 08/30/08 08:55 PM
Quote:
Use Ultra-Seal gaskets, and a film of copper silicone on both sides. My old set of Hedmans sealed right up using that method
Worked for me too! Paper gaskets will not last as long no matter what you do to them.
Posted By: dakrt23
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 09/01/08 01:14 AM
Thanks for the tip on amazon... their prices were way better than remflex's site... ordered up a set and got free shipping but have to wait like a week for them to even ship... oh well...
gonna start lookin at amazon more for good deals like that... thanks!...
Posted By: 1fastrunner
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 09/01/08 11:46 PM
It won't be a week, except for maybe the holiday. I think they told me a date 10 days away. but It was really only 4 business days.
Jim
Posted By: BillJ
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 05/02/09 06:26 PM
You guys swear by remflex.....however crusing around the internet there are people using them on other than Mopars and they say they do seal at first....but tend to blow out a high rpms. What's going on here? Thanks.
Posted By: In_The_Pink
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 05/03/09 12:09 AM
I've re-sued REMFLEX gaskets with no problems, on two different types of Hedman Hedders. They rock.
Posted By: therocks
Re: Hedman Headers leak like crazy!!!!! - 05/03/09 02:05 AM
Most if not all 360s had those pesky holes.I use Mr Gasket ultras and they always seal.Ive even reused them.Cutting the flanges between 1 3 5 7 and 2 4 6 8 also kelps.Just dont do what one guy did.He cut them between 4 6 3 5.They will never be any good doing that.Rocky