put stock exhaust manifold on, smoke coming from them?

[YoungBlood]

Alright here's the situation, I had pacesetter longtubes on my car, pulled them off, put the stock manifold and H pipe back on. Used the stock gaskets, however, I used bolts (the ones from the headers) instead of the studs and nut that it takes stock. Tightened them down best I could with the stupidly small space. Car starts good, I can't hear any exhaust leaks, unsure if I can feel any or not or if it's just heat I feel. But there's a slight bit of smoke that is coming from the manifold area, on both sides. It doesn't smell like fuel, or oil, it looks like steam almost, but I let it run til it was warmed up, and it still didn't go away. I assume that I am not getting a good seal at the manifolds though? Any thoughts? could it be that the bolts are not going to work with the stock manifolds? I just spent 5 hours pulling those fuckin headers out and putting these back in, so I'm at a loss and I need some sleep, thoughts guys?

 

[YoungBlood]

http://www.rockauto.com/getimage/ge...http://www.rockauto.com/info/RB/03129-007.jpg

just realized the stock stud has a little flange on it.. could that be my issue?

 

[Swarzkopf]

I HATE doing headers on these cars. Just had to remove my passenger side shorty header due to a leak- what a fucking pain in the ass- so I feel your pain man.

If it's actual exhaust leaking out, you'd be able to hear it and likely feel it. Header leaks usually sound like 'ticks' when they're minor, and sound ugly and loud when they're bad.

Could be something on the gasket material burning off? The gaskets do overlap the outside of the header mating flange a good bit.

If the nuts are torqued to spec and the gaskets are good, I can't imagine the stock manifolds leaking. Double check around them for leaks, if they're good, I'd take the car for a drive and I suspect the smoke will go away.

 

[michael.konor]

When you replaced the manifolds, did you remove the valve covers? If so, did you ensure that the gaskets were in the channels, as well as using the dab of RTV at the top & bottom locations?