Header problems on the 383.

[SteveSS]

Just a bit of background on the car. We are closing in on being done with the 1971 Charger 500. When I bought it, it had a 440 with a spun bearing but the original numbers matching 383 came with it. I had the 383 rebuilt years ago and once it was installed and started it had a pretty bad exhaust leak. The car has Hedman Headers. Somewhere along the way, I picked up some original exhaust manifolds but never bothered to install them The rest of the exhaust was brand new, So why mess with it? Now that the car is almost complete it was time to address the leak. My mechanic guy thought the best way to get the driver's side header off was to disconnect the steering box. That was easy enough. After the header was off we could see the center two tubes were leaking from the top of the gasket. I thought about having them resurfaced on the inside of the flange but that would remove too much of the weld's strength. I ended up talking to a nice tech at Hedman and he recommended some Remflex gaskets. I took a flat file to the area where the pipes meet the inside of the flange. I was shocked to see how uneven and lumpy the welds were. I knocked a little off the high spots and we'll try the new gaskets when they arrive.

I'm just sharing the experience in case it helps you.

 

[Black_Sheep]

Remflex are all the rage, I just wish they would notch the ends so you can put in a couple header bolts and drop them in.

 

[ckessel]

I'm not sure about Doug's but I know TTI's are done correctly. At least mine are. Most of the others I've seen over the years were piss poor. High dollar[ Hooker] down to el cheapo were crap. Back in the early 80's, Eagle was supposedly a higher quality unit. 16ga tube, 5/16" flanges. Gold coating. They were advertised as Blanchard Ground. Right. I joked that they were ground by a guy named Blanchard. Just as bad as everyone else's at the time.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Header bolts?
Oh my bad must be on aluminum heads

 

[1STMP]

Just a bit of background on the car. We are closing in on being done with the 1971 Charger 500. When I bought it, it had a 440 with a spun bearing but the original numbers matching 383 came with it. I had the 383 rebuilt years ago and once it was installed and started it had a pretty bad exhaust leak. The car has Hedman Headers. Somewhere along the way, I picked up some original exhaust manifolds but never bothered to install them The rest of the exhaust was brand new, So why mess with it? Now that the car is almost complete it was time to address the leak. My mechanic guy thought the best way to get the driver's side header off was to disconnect the steering box. That was easy enough. After the header was off we could see the center two tubes were leaking from the top of the gasket. I thought about having them resurfaced on the inside of the flange but that would remove too much of the weld's strength. I ended up talking to a nice tech at Hedman and he recommended some Remflex gaskets. I took a flat file to the area where the pipes meet the inside of the flange. I was shocked to see how uneven and lumpy the welds were. I knocked a little off the high spots and we'll try the new gaskets when they arrive.

I'm just sharing the experience in case it helps you.

Both sets of headers I run are custom. One set on
a Jeep 360 that have been on the engine for more
than 20 years, one newer set on a 440. Zero leaks
on either.
For reduced sealing problems, my builder will not
use a flange less than 3/8" thick.