Exhaust gaskets, worth spending the big bucks

[texanidiot25]

I have NO choice to stick with headers, it's what the truck was setup for. No manifolds crap, or I'll Ram Horn my headers up your exhaust ports.

Are the thick soft metal gaskets (aluminum) worth spending the 20-some-odd bucks on to super seal the collectors and heads? Right now I have the cheapy gaskets that came with my headers, and paper ones as well from when I had to pull off a header while doing some other work. Of course it leaks now.

Good news is, I'm hired again and the 1st thing Im doing is gaskets, so if you have a solid suggestion that I can find in an autoparts store, post'em

[70 Suburban]

yes you get what you pay for. If you get the cheap ones then you can snip the botoms off so they can just drop in.. you will be changing them often so thats good info to know...pffft headers..

[Longhorn Man]

the dead soft alluminum ones are worth there weight in gold.
I had one set. They were used on no less than 3 sets of headers, and removed/installed from each a minimum of 3 times each.... NEVER had a single leak.

[70 Suburban]

see amen

[IvelDesigns]

i wouldn't use anything but the dead soft aluminum ones. as with LHM, I've used a single set on multiple engines, removed and replaced a handful of times.

[68C15]

I had the copper ones on my truck for 2 years of daily driving. not a single leak, ever.

[cdowns]

i've always spent the money on the soft aluminum never a problem

[FRENCHBLUE72]

I also have the copper ones on my 454 and 350. No leaks ever..

[tim21391]

my friends from autozone say go with mr gasket gaskets. then buy these new bolts that wont back out with vibration the bolts and gaskets are worth the money...

[BossHogg69]

Had a set of flowtech headers ('92 C1500 w/ 350) that I ran with Mr. Gasket copper-seal gaskets, put at least 60,000 miles on them, and they never leaked. Well worth the $20-some dollars to not have to ever hear that annoying 'tick tick tick' of an exhaust leak!