Exhaust Issues

[jsdoyle]

I have headers off my 350 that go into 3 inch pipes with Flowmaster 40's. It is pretty loud and a friend of mine told me that it sounded like my donut gaskets or header gaskets need replacing.

I got to looking at my headers at the engine and noticed a hodge-podge of bolts/nuts holding on the headers. See the two pictures attached. There appear to be two different size bolts, the outer ones larger than the inner bolt heads. Also the left front looks like a headless bolt with a nut tightened down.

Kind of inconsistent. I'm wondering, is there normally a standard size for all of the holes that attach the headers to the head?

The left side seems louder at the engine and it's possible the header gaskets are not sealing like they should.

Some of the bolts are rusted and I'd like to make them more consistent in appearance for both sides.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Scott