headergasket....help!!!

[jmd2914]

ok, on my way home last night, i lost a headerbolt on the drivers side so i decided to replace the gasket while i was doing the bolts. so i get all the bolts out but my old gasket is baked on to the ports. so first off i need suggestions on how to get the old gasket off without having to take my header completely out to get to it. i decided to go with one of the mr. gasket co. gaskets, i was gonna get some felpro gaskets but kragen was out of them so i went with the next best thing cuz i need my car back on the road. my apologies for rambling but i need help getting the old gasket out and advice on how to get my bolts to line up when im putting them back in cuz so far i cant get them to line up. any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks guys.
joel

 

[Rockin302]

You probably need to loosen the 2 bolts located at the flange at the end of the header that meet up with the cats.

Kragen should sell some gasket remover stuff that you spray on and scrape off.

BTW, are these stock headers or aftermarket? If they're aftermarket you may have to loosen some more bolts futher down the exhaust system. That way, you can slide everything back a tad so you can line everything up. It's a bit of work but you can do it.

 

[TrickStang37]

definetely loosen the flange to hpipe bolts.

 

[jmd2914]

theyre aftermarket bbk shorty headers. how good does that stuff from kragen work?

 

[5spd GT]

Yep take those 4 bolts off (h pipe to header - 2 on each side)...it will allow you to have more play...

I say just go ahead and take the header off (your right there)...it doesn't take long...

Use a gasket scraper with the room you now have (removed header) and go to work...try to keep the material out of ports...

 

[Michael Yount]

You're gonna need to take the header completely out of the way so you can do a good job cleaning the gasket material off of both the head and the header. Good luck getting the bolt holes to line up - it's a major pain in the butt.