Installed Longtubes now having issues

[Noclutch]

Valvetrain noise is common with the switch. I got a wif of fumes once and a while. After installing I put a wrench to the nuts yet again. At night with the hood open engine running look into the dark engine compartment and see if you see any flashes at the headers and heads. If you do you have a problem. If you have soot in the engine compartment and before you did not, you have a problem. With the engine running lift the hood, if you smell fumes at that time, you have problems. If you never had headers the noises will keep you thinking until you get used to them.


A Copper Anti-Seize Lubricant for the threads of all fasteners if you want to be able to make changes a little easier.

Use an impact on the flange bolts, I never liked cranking them on by hand.

 

[1SonicGT]

uploading a video I took tonight after tighteneing all the bolts down. In the video you can hear the ticking and popping of the exhaust. Just sitting in idle out on the street I can smell the exhaust with the hood open. I keep my engine bay pretty clean and I have only driven 5 miles with the new exhaust so I doubt I will be able to see any soot yet.

 

[UltraKla$$ic]

Here's my engine bay sound. Skip to about 55 seconds:



Just get you either another set of Percy's(preferrable to me) or OEM gaskets and put some copper high heat silicone around the exhaust ports on the gasket and drop them in. If you use the Percys, you should be able to just loosen the headers from the heads far enough to drop the gaskets in and then tighten headers back down.

Put the copper silicon on the gasket and wait 10 minutes for the sealant to "skin" then drop them in.

 

[gtcs07]

Yeah it definitely sounds like you have a nasty leak there. Do was UltraKlassic said thats your best bet.

 

[b00stedgt]

Hope you checked the flanges for flattness. My first set of pypes werent even close to flat. Complete garbage and would have leaked like crazy no matter what gaskets I used

 

[UltraKla$$ic]

/\/\/\/\ THat would suck!

 

[b00stedgt]

Yep and then you have to wait for them to ship you out another set. In my case it was a month. So hopefully you don't have the same issues I did

 

[UltraKla$$ic]

Hopefully since he bought the Kooks, he won't have that problem. I know they say the Pypes are like the Kooks, but hopefully the QA on the Kooks are worth the money we pay for them.....LOL!

 

[1SonicGT]

I bought the kooks off a member here who had them on his car for 4000 miles then sold the car. I'm not gonna name names yet just in case this goes sour. I asked him on the phone if they were fine straight dings etc and he said they are perfect no problems with them on my car at all. But I didn't check them I took his word on it.

 

[UltraKla$$ic]

Change the gaskets and put a bead of Hi-temp Copper Silicon around the exhaust ports on the gaskets, let it skin for 10 minutes, slide them in. Bolt them done. NO LEAKS.

 

[BLKS197]

OK So Ipurchased some Kooks Longtubes with a gutted catted h pipe from a seller on here. The headers came with Percy gaskets. I just got done installing the headers and making sure all the bolts are tight. I believe all the bolts are tighter then the 18 lb ft then they are supposed to be torqued down to. Anyways when I start the car and its cold I hear a tapping sound comming from my drivers side. I haven't been able to locate a leak from the headers. Anyways when ever I give the car gas and let off I hear a whistling sound like I have a freaking turbo blow off valve! I honestly dont know what could be causing it. No check engine lights and I dont smell any exhaust from the engine bay really just a hint but I cant tell if its just from the garage or not. I was told by a buddy at work that it counds like its comming from my valve cover. He said it might be a loose lash adjuster. Any thoughts on this? gonna take it down to a muffler shop tomorrow to make sure there is no leak. Any help is appreciated


RYAN

PS sorry for the bad grammer Its almost 3 am and I have been working on the car for the past 9 hours.

Problem found...OEM will fix it as stated

 

[UltraKla$$ic]

lol..........mmmmmmmmm okay

 

[nv4gt ws]

factory gaskets are best!

 

[1SonicGT]

Update: Got a set of OEM gaskets and some High temp copper RTV on them. That shit is messy! let it sit for 18 hours then started it up. Lots of smoke from the engine bay. Cant tell if its the excesse RTV burning off or what. Stopped smoking for the most part after a 20 minute drive. Just wondering if its normal to smell your exhaust most the time when not in motion? Also when heater is on it floods the engine with exhaust gas. Any ideas?

 

[elky406]

OK So Ipurchased some Kooks Longtubes with a gutted catted h pipe from a seller on here. The headers came with Percy gaskets. I just got done installing the headers and making sure all the bolts are tight. I believe all the bolts are tighter then the 18 lb ft then they are supposed to be torqued down to. Anyways when I start the car and its cold I hear a tapping sound comming from my drivers side. I haven't been able to locate a leak from the headers. Anyways when ever I give the car gas and let off I hear a whistling sound like I have a freaking turbo blow off valve! I honestly dont know what could be causing it. No check engine lights and I dont smell any exhaust from the engine bay really just a hint but I cant tell if its just from the garage or not. I was told by a buddy at work that it counds like its comming from my valve cover. He said it might be a loose lash adjuster. Any thoughts on this? gonna take it down to a muffler shop tomorrow to make sure there is no leak. Any help is appreciated


RYAN

PS sorry for the bad grammer Its almost 3 am and I have been working on the car for the past 9 hours.

Do yourself a favor.Reuse the stock mls manifold gaskets with some hi heat silcone.It will never ever leak.

 

[VTXFrank]

Do yourself a favor.Reuse the stock mls manifold gaskets with some hi heat silcone.It will never ever leak.

His last post, which incidentally, is right above yours, states:

Update: Got a set of OEM gaskets and some High temp copper RTV on them. That shit is messy! let it sit for 18 hours then started it up. Lots of smoke from the engine bay. Cant tell if its the excesse RTV burning off or what. Stopped smoking for the most part after a 20 minute drive. Just wondering if its normal to smell your exhaust most the time when not in motion? Also when heater is on it floods the engine with exhaust gas. Any ideas?

Sonic has already received the advice you've given here.


@Sonic - Dude, it sounds like you've either not bolted the flanges down very well so that it's leaking, you didn't get a good contact patch with the gaskets or, and this really sucks, the flanges are warped. At this point, I would say you need to pull the whole thing off the car, clean up the exhaust ports on the heads, clean up the flanges on headers, check to make sure the flanges are good and then reinstall. Use a torque wrench this time. Uneven torquing can cause all sorts of issues with headers. Especially after a few heat cycles.

As far as your turning on the heater and it flooding the engine with exhaust gases, I don't see it or I don't get what you're saying. The whole heater system is an enclosed deal. If you have it set on recirculate, it pulls air from the inside of your car. If you have it set to fresh air, then you would be getting exhaust gases into your car.

 

[S197gt07]

Just wondering if its normal to smell your exhaust most the time when not in motion?

With gutted cats you're going to get that smell. It's the smell of greatness

 

[b00stedgt]

Update: Got a set of OEM gaskets and some High temp copper RTV on them. That shit is messy! let it sit for 18 hours then started it up. Lots of smoke from the engine bay. Cant tell if its the excesse RTV burning off or what. Stopped smoking for the most part after a 20 minute drive. Just wondering if its normal to smell your exhaust most the time when not in motion? Also when heater is on it floods the engine with exhaust gas. Any ideas?

Gas smell and smoke are normal but I don't know about the engine flooding when the heater is on

 

[monk36]

Gas smell and smoke are normal but I don't know about the engine flooding when the heater is on

I think he meant it floods the cabin with exhaust when the heater is on? OP correct me if not. That shouldn't be a problem, especially if you're having a little smoking from the sealant. It should go away to some extent, but as said, cattless you will smell exhaust more often.

 

[1SonicGT]

Ok so today was a fun day thats for sure. PUlled the driver side headers off, purchased 2 new oem gaskets, pulled the steering shaft and the weird panhard bar looking thing in the front. pulled off the motor mounts and used carb cleaner to clean the head and the header. Used a tap to double check my header bolt holes that go into the head. When it came time to install the gaskets I used like half a tube of copper sealent all over the gaskets and header flange. I installed the header and let it sit from 8am to 2am now. started it up. There was more smoke under my hood when I started the bitch up then a cheech and chong party! lmao I am guessing that most of the excess sealent on the headers that drooped down was getting burned off. Took it for a drive, no clicking no leaks no nothing! Mission accomplished. I think that when I was removing the header bolts the first time that some of the bolts had shed some aluminum off and that it was keeping me from fully threading in the studs all the way. I turned on the heater and when I have it recirculating the air I dont smell anything. Its only when I have it pull from the engine that I smell a small trace of exhaust gas now. I want to thank everyone that helped me along the way. You guys answered alot of questions and helped me figure out what I was doing wrong and needed to do to get it right. Also now that I dont have a leak I can honestly say that the exhaust has gotten quieter lmao. Open headers FTW? Thanks again guys

bTW I have no idea how you guys get a torque wrench on the header bolts. Its like impossible for me. I can get 2 out of the 8 on both sides. This time I just hand tightened them really tight.