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Falcon Header Blow-By

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I have pulled everything down on the top of the engine and notice that my Falcon stainless (two piece) header has some "blow-by" on the one area that is hardest to get a nut onto the stud. If I have the mating surface of the header machined flat it will decrease the room I have to screw on this nut. What choices would I have to improve the seal on the exhaust port? Thicker gasket, or do they make such? Frustrating.

Bill
 
Bill,
You need to have the header flance checked for flatness. If it's not flat have it machined. Based on what you said, I would guess the low spot on the flange is near the problem stud. In that case this area should need the least material removed. Another possibility is the weld material around that port is too high. In either case the amount of material to be removed should be minimal. Not enough to make the installation any worse.
As for the nut. Try starting the problem nut first, before you slide the header onto the other studs. In other words hold the header as far away from the head as you can and still get the nut to start threading onto the stud. As you start the other nuts you can work on the problem nut a little at a time. I cut one end off a combination wrench leaving the open end and a short handle to use on my headers. Between the technique mentioned above and the short handled wrench I was able to install the headers without too much trouble.

Hope this helps,

BOBH
 
Hi,

Sometimes those headers get a little warped during welding. It might be possible to bend it back into shape, carefully, of course.

Also, is the rest of the exahust system disconnected? I've got the Falcon two-piece S/S headers on my TR4 and find I have to install the headers first, then attach the collector and the rest of the pipes. If installed the other way around, it tends to twist the header away from the block.

I am not sure if they are available for the 6-cylinder TRs (which I assume is what you are talking about), but thicker "competition grade" manifold gaskets are made for the 4-cylinder TRs. These would certainly help, if they could be found for your car.

Cheers!

Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif.
'62 TR4 CT17602L
 
Alan,
The Falcons I have are split headers (two piece). Indeed I have ordered the "header" gasket (read that-thicker) and think I will bring them by the local machinist to have them faced. Will then send them off to Jet Hot to have them coated for beauty and insulation. Hopefully this will solve the problem. I am wondering if anyone like McMaster-Carr would have a thinner nut, like a jam nut, to fasten the two tight spots on the bottom of the headers. I would think that the nut would have to be especially high strength to be able to tighten down on the stud without stripping. Maybe even an ultra-high strength stud to handle all that shear on the threads.

Bill
 
Shannon,
I use Jet Hot for my coatings. They had done my cast iron exhaust manifold and a few other items. Their product holds up very, very well. The guy quoted me approximately $160.00+ for my two-piece Falcon header. I have seen their coatings on a friend's stainless header and it looks truly awesome. (the shiny silver color) A big plus for me besides getting rid of the now-burnt-blue color is to get more insulating value for the header pipes. As Alan will tell you, wrapping headers is an effective way of keeping heat out of the engine compartment but I don't like the looks of wrapped headers, especially with the short supply of space in that area. Jet Hot maintains that their coating will drastically (their wording) reduce the radiant heat emitted into this area. We will find out.

Bill
 
A word on header wrap ... it tears very easily as it ages, and I don't really want to bother re-wrapping the stupid thing. I haven't tried Jet-Hot coatings or similar yet, but I think they're a far better solution from what I've seen of header wrap.
 
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