I was over at a friends house today and we discovered that I was missing 2 bolts on my passenger side header!! the 2 bolts nearest the firewall, on either side of the last pipe. So that is no doubt where my "tick" sound is coming from (didn't bother to check them till now, I figured it was valvetrain). These must have come off with in the past 2 months, as I know they were there at that time (and there was no ticking sound)

Anyway, we get 2 new bolts, get the first one in with no problem, but the 2n'd one (closest to the firewall) we just could not get in. we could get the bolt in the hole, but we turn it, and turn it, and it would never catch. We took out a mirror to see if the hole was clogged, but it's not clogged at all.

So, are the threads damaged in there maybe? We tried that bolt in the other holes, and it goes in fine. What should we do? There is an un-used hole about 1/2 inch further towards the firewall, but a bit to far out to catch on to the end of the header. Is there any type of metal plate that could extend the header so we could use this hole? I'll take a picture if this is confusing.

Even with just that one extra bolt on, I can hear a big difference when I'm driving, a lot less ticking sound.

Thanks for any info!

 

what kind of headers are they. i just installed my flowtechs yesterday and i had to clean up all of the bolt holes in the flanges. when they welded the flanges excess metal was in those elongated bolts holes keeping the bolts from lining up with the holes in the head. i had to take the dremel to 10 of the 12 bolt holes so they would fit. you might have to do this as well.

 

they are edelbrock headers. The bolt has no problem going through the header, I think the problem is in the head

I have never had this problem before, I changed the header gaskets a while back, so I know all the bolts got in sometime before this.

 

are these the same heads you had before? if so then you just have some finaggling to do. those rear headers bolts are sometimes tricky to get started.

 

yep, same heads

I'll give it a few more tries tomorrow if I have time.

thanks :-)

 

A lot of times the best thing to do when you are having a problem like that is to loosen the rest of the header bolts or even remove them, start with the one you are having problems with and go from there.

 

ahh... I didn't think of that. Maybe the hole isn't lined up to good. I'll try that!

 

i had that problem with my 2055's, i brought it to a shop b/c im lazy and didnt have time to deal with it. they fixed the problem, the header wasnt lined up with the head, loosen all the bolts and start with that back one like someone suggested, it should work fine.

 

you could try loosening all the other header bolts, it could be something as simple as binding in the hole, if its off its mark just a little it may not go, i didnt have exactly the same problem but for me it was much more simple to loosen the other bolts to get that one in.

 

You could loosen.... ah hell, it's been said enough times already I had the same problem with the rear most bolt on the passenger side. Lucky me though, the engine wasn't in the car yet so it was easy to deal with.

 

yep, I blew the aluminum gasket! It was completely missing the rear 1/2 of the gasket that covers the last pipe towards the firewall! wow that's crazy!

Well, I got a new gasket, put that bolt in first (just had to tug on the header a bit and it went right in), and all the rest went in real good.

Chad, I'm glad we broke off all of that heater box stuff, I couldn't have gotten to that last bolt with it still on!

No ticking sound anymore, I feel like I'm in "stealth mode" when I close the cutout now

thanks guys! much appreciated!



Now, the real question. With my header missing those last 2 bolts, and the gasket completely blown, could there be any damage to anything else on that side of the engine? It seems to idle and run real smooth, and I seem to have picked up a bit more power by sealing the header all the way. Any chance of some valve damage or anything?

 

good things come in time. with that said im glad you got that problem fixed. what kinda gaskets were in there to start with?

 

there were aluminum gaskets on the engine, I put them on about 8 months ago, and I know all the bolts were in there real good. I can't believe I blew one of those aluminum gaskets! Well, I guess when 2 bolts are missing, odd things can happen :-) I'm going to be checking all the bolts regularly now.

I liked the aluminum gaskets, because you could see a dark spot on the shiney aluminum where ever you have a leak, then you can tighten those bolts around the leak. The new gaskets I just got are already black, so it's going to be hard to see where I have any leaks in the future. I couldnt' find any aluminum gaskets (even from the place I got them from last time!), and copper gaskets were like $50! I just picked up a set of regular Mr. Gasket's.

 

im considering getting some dead soft gaskets before they go out on me that'd really suck.

have you considered locking header bolts? some guys here on TGO swear by them.

 

I might try some lockers, that wouldn't be a bad idea.