I'm so excited I just got my car running again, timed it, but still get some hesitation when giving it gas. Sometimes a pop. Now I have an exhaust leak coming out of the end of both manifolds, at the gaskets. Since it's well before the O2 sensor, could this be causing my hesitation and somewhat rough idling?

 

The exhaust leak is not causing the engine troubles.

 

I had a problem with my header bolts backing out and i had 6 out of 8 tubes blown out with the aluminum gaskets and when i bought locking bolts and put on new gaskets it made a huge difference in the low end but i never had a miss or hesitation

 

Hmm well my ignition system is all new now and working fine, shall I suspect fuel injectors? They are original, I was planning on replacing them anyway. Now that I think back to when the car had a A/F ratio gauge, it would always show lean off the charts when I gave it gas and it hesitated. Does that sound right?