Hello all,

When I was building my car (1985 IROC-Z, 383 small block) I came here frequently for advice - that was back in 2010 & 2011 (mostly).

I bought headers and the y-pipe from Dyno Don, per recommendations. People also recommended Earl's Performance Graphite/Foil header gaskets. All together, everything worked great.

In the fall, as I changed the oil to put the car away for the winter, I noticed an exhaust leak. I was at my brother's shop about 30 miles away from my house, and together we determined it was coming from the passenger side header. I checked the bolts, they were all tight so I decided to replace the gasket. I was in a hurry, so I got whatever the "premium" version of the Napa header gasket was, put it on...and still have a noise.

I have since bought my own lift and currently have my car up in the air, and as far as I can tell everything else is tight and intact, so I'm going to start with replacing the Napa header gasket. I went to Summit Racing and found that the gasket I purchased last time (EAR-29DD3BERL) is no longer available. So, I'm not sure if there is a preferred header gasket now, if I should go with any graphite/foil combination or if something else would be better?

EDIT: Sorry, posted to soon. I'm also not sure if I need the D-port (which is what the Earl's ones were) or Square, and what size - the Earl's were wider than tall, but a lot of the ones I found are the opposite.

SECOND EDIT: The heads are Edelbrock Performer RPM, and the gasket they recommend is square port, 1.5". Not sure how that compares to the Dyno Don's headers...

 

TDS still sells the DynoDon's headers, and they have this gasket set on their site.

http://www.top-downsolutions.com/pow...product_id=218

 

Remflex

GD

 

In the shops I ran, we usually re-torqued exhaust manifolds/header bolts, after the first heat/cool cycle. FWIW

 

This. Definitely go with the remflex gaskets. You can look on their website to see which part number matches up with your port size. They work great with Don's headers.

 

Match the header gasket to the headers, not the head. Been down this road too many times. Last time with an older set of Hookers that they no longer offered their (terrible) gaskets for. I welded up the corners of the header ports. That is where they always leaked.

That allowed me to use gaskets that then matched those ports. I don't recall the specifics. But the gaskets need to match the headers, not necessarily the heads.

RBob.

 

To add to what Rbob said above - measure and then go on Remflex's web site. They have a LOT of part numbers with different shape and size ports.

GD

 

Thanks for all of the info!

 

I use the el cheapo graphite aluminum gaskets on mine and have never had problems. I swear by them actually. Replaced my heads 7 years after engine rebuild, pulled the el cheapos off and they still looked good with no escaping "burn out" marks. Bought an identical set and used them with the new aluminum heads and stainless round port headers last year and so far, works fine, no leaks. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, the cheap stuff works better than the high dollar stuff.

Here's a link to pretty much the same thing I use. Nothing fancy, but does the job.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/FOR-1978-19...QAAOSwvjtcaIEk

 

But the Remflex gasket sets are only like $8 more than this on Amazon....

GD

 

I've only bought 1 "DNA Motoring" product,...... a new set of headlights for my 05 Trailblazer. Both headlights had out of the box manufacturing flaws. Sure were nice to look at, but I wouldn't call them High quality - and when it comes to header gaskets - QUALITY MATTERS !

No more guessing, -----> https://www.earls.com.au/shop/earls-...header-seal-3/ --------> Done.

 

There seems to be problems with getting the Earls stuff. I had no luck getting new inserts for mine. Seems they aren't being sold by Holley anymore and so there's no US distribution. Was a good product but honestly the Remflex is better.

GD