Need help asap... midpipe not sealing against headers

[Nvidia]

Anyone got any suggestions on how to "bridge the gap"?

I took it to an exhaust shop today to have my bassani x-pipe put on because the pipes going to the headers wouldn't reach on the left side once they went through the hangers...

So I'm waiting for the guy to start it up, and he does, and I'm very surprised at how loud it is... and then I realize when he pops the hood that it's all coming from the engine bay.

So basically, it looks like they're sealed, but it's louder than a damn top fuel dragster. It's sounds like the equivalent of running open headers, it's that friggin loud. It's leaking on both sides, but driver side worse than passenger.

I won't go two days in this thing without getting a ticket, so I gotta get this fixed ASAP. I believe the header clamp is bent, which definitely doesn't help things... but if there's ANY way I can avoid buying a new set of headers, I'll try it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Sorry for the long read.

 

[bill302]

back the bolts out and tighten them evenly on both sides and if the header flange is bent compensate for the bend and tighten them up even as possible...

 

[Roland69]

chewing gum....J/K. are you still using stock headers

 

[bill302]

chewing gum....J/K. are you still using stock headers

bbk shorty headers its listed in his signature....

 

[Roland69]

ha so that is correct.

 

[89stangWhiz]

yeah, also tighten them hot (try not to burn yourself).

I had a leak problem, though nothing like yours! Know a good machinist? I had my father fab up a stainless steel sleeve. I put that over the ball of the header to seal up against the midpipe and take care of the leak.

 

[88Stang331]

I also have this problem with the BBK shorty headers, everything reaches where its supposed to, but i have a horrible leak under the hood.

 

[Sicarius428]

BBK equal lenghts are slightly wider than the non equals. If you have those you are going to have to muscle the midpipe into place. Funny thing is the stock H fits just fine on them. My friend has the equal lenths on his with a bassani x and it took some effort on our part to get it in.
Kevin

 

[NFGTragedy]

I also have this problem with the BBK shorty headers, everything reaches where its supposed to, but i have a horrible leak under the hood.

Same for me right now... what gives

Its only my passenger side collector that leaks.

 

[Sicarius428]

Same as my friend's. Bassani does the 3 piece config so it should fit just about everything.
Kevin

 

[iwashmycar]

my bbk's cause a leak there too

...arent there some type of "gaskets" that are made to seal the connection??

 

[Nvidia]

Well, I got it to seal.

I ended up using a doughnut gasket around the two headers and managed to seal it. It was then that I noticed there's a header bolt missing and what looks like a portion of the header gasket blown out... great.

But anyway, thank you all for the great help. it's very much appreciated. And I will never buy BBK headers. again.