Howdy Y'all!

Has anyone had the Rams that John [Mummert] sells ever  crack with or without gaskets?


tnx/Rick



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1955 F-600/272/E4OD// Disclaimer: No animals were injured while test driving my F-600 except the ones I ran over intentionally!

---------------------
This post was created using OpenSuSE Linux x64 and Firefox

I would be reluctant to use copper gaskets for aluminium heads on a more permanent installation with the risk of damage from electrolysis.

If you note the original manifolds, the center hole is near a shouldered hole and the others towards the ends have a larger hole, this is to allow for some thermal expansion, with aluminum and steel having a different rate of expansion, depending on the type header used, many of the cast ones could have cracked due to people tightening them too much and not allowing them to expand. The factory washers used were flat hard ones which may have allowed for some sliding action during expansion and contraction. some header flanges have slits at the bolts to allow for this similar to why the intake has hold down clamps near the exhaust crossover, because it is hot there but at the ends is cool from the intake ports, different rates of expansion, if they were directly bolted with the crossover would probably all crack.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

What do car makers who make engines with aluminum heads and cast iron exhaust manifolds use? I am sure that their R&D budgets are large enough to have looked at this. If they could save a dime by not using a gasket I am sure that they would.

Ted, with the copper if you anneal the gaskets with a torch (tuned rich, soft flame) and air dry, they'll become soft again.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Anybody tried remflex gaskets. That is what I bought tho I have not finished building the headers to try them out.

We have had extremely good luck with Mr. Gasket layered aluminum on our race car. I've checked and there are none for the Y. I've seen some scrubrolet headers mated to Y heads so maybe their gaskets can be done too. Good luck

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Thanks to all for the comments.  My initial concern was some chaffing or erosion on the exhaust side of the aluminum heads taking place when the manifolds are bolted to the heads without gaskets.  I have since looked at some of the factory aluminum headed core engines I have here and find that some of those use a cast iron manifold bolted directly to the head while others use a steel shim gasket.  I’ve used copper gaskets for engines on the dyno and they do not appear to be a long term solution.  While I have copper exhaust gaskets here for the Y engines, they are on the hard side and do not conform well to irregularities even when the gaskets have been annealed.
 
AussieBill makes a good point about the exhaust manifolds being over-tightened with the gaskets in place thus forcing those manifold end tabs to break off.  On the race engines, simply bolting the headers to the aluminum heads with a thin film of high temperature RTV without a gasket has worked well for a good number of years now.  With all that in mind, I’ll be recommending that the exhaust manifolds on this latest aluminum headed Thunderbird engine build be attached to the aluminum heads without gaskets and with only a thin film of red RTV.  Checking the manifolds for straightness and machining where necessary is an understood necessity on any head.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Every engine I've rebuilt that had aluminum heads and cast iron exhaust manifolds used metallic thermal gaskets. They were a sandwich type with metal surfaces and an asbestos looking inner material.


~DJ~ AKA "Bleach"
1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan 30K original miles

Would a soft copper gasket work to smooth out any surface irregularities and offer a good seal?  I know someone was selling them on ebay a while back.

Larry D

Winnipeg, MB Canada Eh!


'57 Fairlane 500 Club Victoria

'58 Custom 300 Tudor

'56 Crown Victoria

'61 Starliner Z Code

'51 Ford Victoria