Help! How can I seal my exhaust?

I have Hooker long-tube headers on my GT and they are leaking like crazy, especially after my cam install. On the driver's side there is a slip joint on two of the primaries where the pipes go around the steering shaft and those things leak like you wouldn't believe, and there's no way to tighten them up. My car sounds like a steam engine going down the street.

Is there anything I can do about this? Perhaps some kind of RTV-like substance I can seal it with? I don't want to do anything permanent like welding for when I need to take the headers off, but I'm open to any suggestions as to how I can make this stop, or at least make it not quite so bad.

I suppose a last resort would be to buy different long tube headers, but that option really sucks. Do they make any that don't have this ridiculous slip joint on the primaries? Should I consider getting 1-3/4" primaries instead of 1-5/8" like I have now? Will they bolt up to my Hooker X-Pipe?

BennyBlown2v said:

Umm, the instructions from Hooker (and Flowtech) tell you to put RTV in the joint lol... High temp copper stuff works well, you'll still have to pull the header off to do it. I have a slight leak at the same spot in my flowtechs (same design), but from the sound of it not nearly as bad as your completely unsealed headers.

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Lucky me, I kept my Hooker install directions from two years ago. (Though, I didn't install them myself.) They do mention using RTV at the head-to-header connection in addition to the gasket (which I find odd), but no mention of RTV at the slip joints. However, if copper RTV can withstand the temperatures at the head-to-header connection, then it's certainly worth trying at the slip joints. Obviously I can't totally seal them while installed, but I can put RTV around 270 degrees of the joint on both primaries. I suppose it can't hurt.