Hi all, I've got a small leak at the collector for my headers and I think it's what's giving me an annoying "ticking" sound from the front of the car. For the purpose of this thread, assume that there is no other cause of the ticking since I know that there is at least a small leak at the collector. I've got the Dyno Don headers and Y-pipe with the ball and socket style flange. I've tried tightening them up really tight to try and get them to seal together but it doesn't appear to work. I was thinking maybe I could get a thin copper sheet and cut out an interface gasket to hopefully deform to fill the small leak point; would this work? I also considered using some copper RTV but that would be messy and could potentially blow out. I'd also rather not risk getting any RTV into the cat. Any other ideas?

With the ball and socket, you shouldn't have to Hulk-Tighten the bolts to get a seal. I'd probably take it apart, and make sure both surfaces are clean and smooth, then take care to align things properly and evenly tighten the collector bolts so that one side or the other isn't overtightened causing the flange to get cocked off kilter.

I've had them apart and back together several times trying to get them to seal. Maybe one of the flanges got slightly damaged during shipping or something, but no amount of aligning or cleaning has helped me thus far. I hear that the ball and socket are supposed to Just Work™ but on my particular setup I've never gotten them to seal.

Tried again tonight. Took them apart, sanded the two surfaces nice and smooth, got new bolts/nuts and tightened it up. Driver side seemed pretty sealed, but the passenger side still leaked. Tightened it more, no change, loosened up again, tightened again, no change. Tightened it as much as possible, no change. The passenger collector just won't seal. It's like the mating surface is too big or something because nothing I have done to this day will make the thing properly seal, there's always a small leak.

Is there an exhaust "trail" (black soot) that shows exactly where the leak is?

I didn't see any spots that were really clear. I might just have to try some of that copper RTV stuff in extreme moderation. Likely there's just a tiny spot that doesn't seal.

And your sure it's not leaking somewhere else?

A light coat of red rtv should do the job if it does have a small leak or flat spot in the ball/socket

A shop-vac and soapy water test verified that it is in fact leaking at the collector. Could always have an additional leak at the actual header gasket I suppose but it's hard to get to the passenger side one to check without removing some stuff, so one problem at a time