suthrninca

I'm going to install my kamikaze header this weekend and was wondering if I should go ahead and buy exhaust mani gasket and doughnut before I get started. Never done this before. Is it possible to reuse the old gaskets?

C Orndorff

iTrader: (16)

You can, but new gaskets don't cost that much.

suthrninca

What about header wrap? I now this is not a race car, but it would keep engine compartment temps down. Would it be worth the trouble?

mykungfuisthebe

yes get the gasket... dougnut is reusable and yea wrap em.... its easyer to wrap when its off the car.

mr.bojangles

i used my old one with no problem

manthatguysfast

iTrader: (3)

ya i used the old ones too

djmota

iTrader: (34)

I have used my old ones a couple of times. No leaks

CapYoda

iTrader: (30)

general rule of thumbs is to replace them whenever you swap header, whether aftermarket or OEM.

but the general rule of thumb is also suggested cuz you only swap header, exhaust components when there are problems with it.

of course if you've only driven like 1,000 miles and youre swapping your header for an aftermarket one, your stock gaskets are probably fine.

but doesnt hurt to swap it now.. when you unseat those things, funky things happen. in either case you can make the call when you take a look at the gaskets.

wrapping may help, but in our situation.. I think it doesnt do as much as it would... and may damage your header in the long run due to extra stress and heat on the header.

so you should probably just leave the wrap alone.

CapYoda

iTrader: (30)

also, remember to torque the bolts probably, the stock spring bolt is rather delicate and snaps easily.

do a search on "bolt torque" and or "header torque" and you should find numerous threads with torque spec on the bolts, if you dont know them or have reference to them.

IronFist

iTrader: (3)

I used my stock one when I installed the hp top portion header. You can see the link to my DIY in my sig.

RiceRocketeer

23 ft/lbs on the top bolts, 17 ft/lbs on the bottom bolts..

suthrninca

Thanks for the info. I installed it last night. I reused the exhaust mani gasket, but the oem doughnut wouldn't fit on the header down pipe. I took the header and oem doughnut to autozone, they looked for one that would fit without any luck. They let me go through thier stock and I finally found a winner, but I didn't check what car it was made for. Anyway, it's installed with no leaks yet and no cel (got a mil eliminator from bigjosh).

CelCUs

iTrader: (9)

When I did mine I went ahead and got a 3 inch donut gasket, I trimmed a lil' off the sides of the gasket to make it fit right because it was too small I think. G job on the install

RiceRocketeer

get some pics