got hooker comp shortys off summit, drivers side leaked real bad, so i double gasketed it which helped alot but theres still a small leak from the 2 middle tubes. what else can i do

 

What gaskets r u using?
I use a quality gasket from fel-pro.. 1404 1405 1406 these are for dif size ports

 

I tried a set of percy's once and found them to seal horribly. Went with felpro from there on out, never had a problem. Make sure you get gaskets with enough material to cover the flange and make a good seal

 

double gaskets not needed!. make sure the gasket surface is covering up properly. Run for 50 miles and retighten. I use the fel pro's for many years with no problems. (my last set burned out after 7 years)

 

Also found running hi temp gasket cement works a treat just to make sure.

 

Its also a good idea to run the header flange against a flat sander. Sometimes the flanges warp a bit from the welding. If you dont have a big belt sander, a machine shop can do it for a couple bucks.

 

there Mr. gaskets, and the way the leaked at first it def was not a gasket issue. is it possible the head is a little warped?

 

I've never had a leak from my dead-soft aluminum gaskets - I think they are the Percy's mentioned above - can't see how anyone could ever have an issue with them though. They are really nice and thick, and thus they get squished in there making a great seal!

Then, to keep from ever having to retighten header bolts, Breslin and Percy's both make a header bolt that has a spread tip and an inset allen bolt - loosen allen bolt, install header bolt, tighten bolt, then tioghten the allen headed set screw - which spreads the bolt open inside the head and locks that sucker in place forever.

Summit sells Percy's split bolts here: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PHP-21003/?rtype=10
Breslins sells direct - Google them.

 

take the header off and put a straight edge across the ports, that will tell you if the flange is warped or something else. my slp's had a really bad low spot in the same spot, i had to grind the flange down and make it flat before anything would seal it.

i have perceys deadsoft aluminum gaskets right now and they are awesome.

 

Those percy's seem to be hit and miss. I'll stick to my felpro's til they let me down

 

Most likely, the header flnage and the flange on the heads, don't line up (in which case you're kind of stuck with it); or, the gasket you're using, doesn't cover one or the other. Very common. Cheeeeep headers are highly prone to the former issue. Sloppy mfg tolerances or lazy design can easily create that.

CAREFULLY remove your gaskets without destroying them, so you can see the imprint of everything in them. Give them a good thorough visual, looking for the witness mark of the parts in them, and looking for the mark to disappear off into the edge of the gasket someplace. See where the metal isn't touching the paper. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what's not touching what where.

You may find the cure is as simple as using round port gaskets instead of square port ones, or something simple like that.

It's almost certainly not the brand or material, except to the extent that they do or don't fit, as described. IOW figure out what shape will fit your parts (if any), and go through all the ones hanging on the wall at the store until you find one that fits.

 

you and me both brother. I only use Percy's dead soft but on this 3rd gen, I tried the mr gasket dead soft and they work great too.

I've ripped out copper gaskets and too many Felpros; yes, the mighty felpro gaskets. I've since paid the extra for dead soft from Percys on EVERY header install and have had ZERO leaks.

 

I had a leak once with new headers and it was a weld leak at the collecter instead of at the head. It drove me nuts for months untill I looked at it one night and I could see fire at the collecter.