Exhaust manifold sealing TC

[sdibbers]

I’ve noticed that I get a slight leak from the exhaust manifold as it meets the head on my TC. The manifold is crack free but I may have introduced a small amount of distortion when I welded up a crack a few years ago.

Two thoughts occurred to me:
(1) That the copper/asbestos gasket rings available today aren’t quite up to the job possibly?

(2) I’ve read of some people slitting the plate between each branch to minimise stress between branches and allow each flange to seat properly. Would this make sense here?

What are other folks thinking on this?

 

[Vern Klukas]

You’d have to take the manifold off to see if the plate is bent, but unless you can see a significant gap between the plate and the head somewhere I think it’s unlikely that’s the problem. More likely it’s the copper ring that has failed. I do think the newer ones you get have lighter copper. And the filler is no longer asbestos, which may make a difference too.

Yours
Vern

 

[sdibbers]

You’d have to take the manifold off to see if the plate is bent, but unless you can see a significant gap between the plate and the head somewhere I think it’s unlikely that’s the problem. More likely it’s the copper ring that has failed. I do think the newer ones you get have lighter copper. And the filler is no longer asbestos, which may make a difference too.

Yours
Vern

Thanks for the reply Vern. The flange seems flat against the head as expected, and I’ve had a similar noise a few times when taking the manifold off or on in the past.