The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Leaky headers

On this forum I keep seeing posts like this that state as a fact that all headers leak:

“I could still outrun anybody who wanted to GIVE me a set of headers and make me use them!”

Between the ages of 16 and 72 I have had headers on 4 different vehicles, a flathead Ford powered ’31 Ford coupe while in high school, an Olds powered ’29 Ford roadster on ’32 Ford rails while in college, a sbc Chevy in my now restored ’36 Chevy pickup while a young adult and now a sbc powered ’32 Ford roadster in my “golden years” (second childhood). None of these leaked. The ones in the ’36 pickup were totally home fabricated. Even the flanges were made from pieces of flat bar using an exhaust gasket as a template. The ones on the ’32 roadster have were installed about 14 years ago and did require retightening a couple of times when newly installed as the gaskets compressed, but after that the bolts stayed tight and there have been no leaks.

I’m wondering what experience others have had with headers leaking or not leaking.

In the summer of 1967, while a college student, I did have a welding job at Doug’s Headers. There I learned that if there was any warping of a header during the welding process, that was simple to correct. We simply bolted the header to a cylinder head and heated a dime size spot on each primary tube to red heat with an oxy-acetylene torch to relax the metal and take the “spring” out of the header in the bolted on condition.

I have had several vehicles over my 55 + years of driving that had headers. Some leaked all the time no matter how often I tighten them. Others leaked until retorqued. Others never leaked. Vehicle, header brand, tightening technique and gasket material all play a role. 🛠

Woodsy Owl says "WHOOOOOO- - - - - -CARES?"

Opinions are like "noses". Everybody's got one, and some are pretty smelly.
Jerry

"Whoooooooooo cares"?

This question appears pretty regularly on this forum. Most recently it was Old Tractor Guy who asked "If I keep the stock steering and use block hugger headers does the engine require an offset or the steering box moved away from the frame."

The advice he got concerning the inevitability of leaks is inconsistent with my limited experience. So that got me curious. Then Justhorsenround chimed in. So that's at least 3 of us just very recently.

Justhorsenround probably got it right. Preventing leaks probably depends on quality parts properly installed.

Headers have always offered potential performance improvements and tuning options, especially when combined with "H" pipes, "X" pipes and even multiple "X" pipes on the same vehicle. There is extensive and very interesting information about "H" and "X" pipes in the "Performance Related" section of the Chevy Talk forum. Moderator "Grumpyvette" has compiled a vast library on every imaginable performance topic including these exhaust subjects. He presents extensive, illustrated how to articles along with track and dyno test results on all these topics.

Even 50 years ago when I had the summer welding job at Doug's Headers there was a variety of approaches to header design; Dougs "tri-Y", long tube, short tube, 180 degree, etc. And header design had evolved greatly since then. So I'd venture a guess than anyone who is interested in performance improvement "cares".

Some leak and need to be re-tightened. Some don't. I don't see a Big deal about it.

My personal experience, through early years of hot-rodding and round tracking, is to use quality brand headers AND quality brand gaskets. We did that and never had issues, other than maybe a once re-torque. The Victor brand graphite gaskets always seemed to work the best for us.

Early on, all you were concerned about was that you could brag you had headers and glass-packs and it was loud, and how much all of it cost. Later on you figure out the advantages of tube diameter, tube length, extension lengths, exhaust flow characteristics, etc., and you're ashamed about how much you spent on an exhaust system.

Old school mechanic told me years ago, you can't get fuel/air IN, if you can't get the spent exhaust OUT. That still resonates with me.

Mike

Kades51......add good quality bolts and not the cheap overseas ones that most people get. It is a key component.

...along the same line if I ever take the headers off my 37 w/350 I'm going back with an original set of ram horns for no reason that after 50 years I think headers are a waste of money in "most" cases. I may add that I've tighten the bolts on the 37 once since 1999.

I'll jump in here because I was one of those who commented about leaky headers.

My '63 C10 (283/327/400) started off with Ram Horns, but I was a teenager who wanted "More Power" so I added headers. I could only afford the cheap ones at the time, so I got what I paid for. I was always having to replace manifold gaskets, no matter how many times I tightened them. Same thing on my '77 Blazer (350). Again, cheap headers.

I also had the collector flange go bad on a couple of sets, so I welded those to the pipes to solve that problem.

I will agree that it was probably more of a quality problem than a header problem.

Fast forward to my current '62 C10. I have a '67, 275 hp, 327 V8. I am not trying to find all the horsepower at wide open throttle, but more trying to get a decent amount of torque in a usable power band and at a decent rpm range. Enter the factory Ram Horns. Good design and solid performance/reliability.

To me, it is more about daily driver reliability that I would not be afraid to send my wife or daughter out in the rain in that truck and not worry that they will have trouble with it, than it is about max horsepower.

Both my '63 C10 and '77 Blazer had headers and glass packs. The loud roar was what I wanted. Not so today. Now it is Ram Horns and Magnaflow mufflers. Still a decent rumble, but a lot more refined.

Unless each header pipe is exactly the same length, and the pipe diameter and length is chosen for a HP or torque gain at a specific RPM, the things are just eye candy and/or noisemakers. Using them on the street is a sign of ignorance and/or stupidity. Fancy chrome block huggers, etc. on a trailer queen do get the attention of the mouth breathers at a car show, though!
Jerry

Eat your Wheaties this morning Jerry? Ignorant, stupid mouth breathers is a bit excessive. How about you just say you don't like them and leave it at that!

Martin,

You are so right that "Ignorant, stupid mouth breathers is a bit excessive" but that's nothing compared to what he called me last winter when I was looking for information related to putting a tandem master cylinder on my '36 Chevy pickup. He actually posted in writing on this forum that I'm a "Donkey hole", and that's a verbatim quote. What I did to "deserve" that was to simply state that there is conflicting information on where residual pressure valves are and are not required.

I would never install headers even though I have several that had them
to freaking hot inside to warrant any more performance..

dont be to hard on Jerry, he means well and if you have a problem just
pm him and talk about it.... you dont have to do it here...

"dont be to hard on Jerry, he means well and if you have a problem just
pm him and talk about it.... you dont have to do it here..."

Joker,

The purpose of these forums is to have a place to exchange information. For example, for decades I wanted to change the rear axle ratio in my restored '36 Chevy pickup from 4.11 to 3.55 but couldn't find a practical way to do that that wouldn't alter the appearance of the '36. Then I found this forum and posted the question here. A member (Pre 68 Dave) saw my inquiry and gave me information that I used to do the job in my home shop. Without this forum I'd still have those 4.11 gears in my '36

People will neither ask questions nor provide information if there is someone just waiting to criticize them for doing so. We're not talking about differences of opinion here. We're talking about outright abusive behavior in addition to incorrect "information" (all header leak, "X" and "H" pipes are "Rube Goldburg" contraptions that don't work, 200R4 transmissions can't handle healthy engines, etc, etc. That is something for the moderator(s) to deal with.

pm headed your way
I