Exhaust leaks. Need Welding...

[Dean]

Well, I found both my exhaust leaks.

A bolt had previously come out of my header-up-pipe flange and had burned through the gasket. I replaced it with a used one I had, but it started leaking over the weekend.

Replaced it with a very nice copper one from summit for $10 vs. crappy OEM. one for $30+...

Something is still leaking and rattling.... hmmm...

Guess what I found under my turbo heat shield...

Now I need some stainless welding done... Any ideas before I just take it to Sid?

[cody]

Jesus, that's ugly. What brand of DP if you don't mind me asking?

[Dean]

This is my well used BPM.

May have to replace it in the relatively near future. I want to see the new Crucial one. I'm a big fan of divorced wastegate.

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by Dean

Well, I found both my exhaust leaks.

A bolt had previously come out of my header-up-pipe flange and had burned through the gasket. I replaced it with a used one I had, but it started leaking over the weekend.

Replaced it with a very nice copper one from summit for $10 vs. crappy OEM. one for $30+...

Something is still leaking and rattling.... hmmm...

Guess what I found under my turbo heat shield...

Now I need some stainless welding done... Any ideas before I just take it to Sid?

I can have that welded up for you for free next week if you don't have other options.

And make sure you retorque that copper gasket soon or you will get another leak.

And btw the OEM gaskets are actually pretty good, but they don't work well with the distortion and misalignment of many aftermarket headers and UPs.

[cody]

Yah, I absolutely hate copper gaskets now that I've recently fixed my 2nd pre-turbo ex. leak due to them sucking...and I did re-torque them after a heat cycle. OEM FTW IMHO.

And yes, the new Crucial DP should be even better than the shorty (which I run), even though Jeremy's being rather tight lipped about specifics.

[sperry]

Dean, you're lucky you didn't melt every damn thing under the hood in the area of the turbo. That's more than a "leak"... that's a "throw the pipe in the trash" failure. The pipe is more than "well used"... and by the sound of your car, I bet it's been busted at least since the last auto-x. (I was just attributing the awful sound to the divorced waste-gate, but a massive leak makes all sorts of sense for the brashness of the exhaust note.)

Time for a whole new turbo-back IMO. And I wouldn't stress the divorced WG vs. bell-mouth designs, the dyno really hasn't shown a difference.

[MikeK]

Hmmm .... I seem to remember Warfield telling me about you making him weld this crappy exhaust up instead of just getting a new one in the first place

[Dean]

OK, I'm on the lookout for a new one, probably the crucial, but the old one is "fixed" for now.

Sid welded it but good.

The OEM gaskets on the MadDad Headers suck IMHO single layer with minimal crush. Hopefully the copper will do better, or I go in search of a better 2.25" 3 bolt collector gasket which is what the MadDad uses. I'll retorque it after I get it hot. They could not have done a worse design for accessing the bolts. The top one is at 1 o'clock as seen from the front (if you could) and can only be reached through the hole in the wheel well and only a self ratcheting box end will fit on one side and make 1-2 clicks. A box end can just be wiggled onto the other side but not turned. There is no other access. And you wonder why people don't get this tight and it leaks / falls out.

I put on a new OEM turbo outlet gasket, and it is 4 layers with tons of crush...

Off to get a 3" for the far end of the down pipe into the CAT. It is a combined down / mid pipe...

[Dean]

Retorqued the copper one after the meet.

2 lower bolts < 8th of a turn, top one that I really didn't want to get loose in the first place and used some persuasion on didn't budge.

I could not find a 3" 2-bolt gasket for the mid-cat connection at a bunch of stores including summit, so for now, it got the high temp silicone. We will see if that holds up. I have used it further back on a bunch of exhausts with great success, but don't know how it will do up there. it survived the spirited drive to/from the meet OK.

Also added a "Vortex" cone at the rear to replace my lost "Twister" insert/silencer.

[100_Percent_Juice]

^ how well do those cones work?

[Dean]

Originally Posted by 100_Percent_Juice

^ how well do those cones work?

It is no Supertrapp. A few DB is my guess. You are welcome to hear a before / after if you want.

I would have used a Car Chemistry Disk insert if I had enough depth, but the cone barely fits as it is.

[MPREZIV]

Used those cones in the exhaust of a speed boat I built with a buddy to try to pass the DB laws at Pyramid... they sucked ass. Did just about nothing at all for us.

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by Dean

I could not find a 3" 2-bolt gasket for the mid-cat connection at a bunch of stores including summit, so for now, it got the high temp silicone. We will see if that holds up. I have used it further back on a bunch of exhausts with great success, but don't know how it will do up there. it survived the spirited drive to/from the meet OK.

I have some 3" gaskets I made from soft graphite gasket sheet - 1/8" thick (just like the hi-dollar Remflex ones ( www.remflex.com ). 1 or 2 are yours if you want.

[A1337STI]

You might be able to bribe rubber biscuit into welding it. I may be making a lot of trips from reno to tahoe in the near future if you need a way to get that piece up to a welder. assuming Ansel has the time and desire, etc, to fix up a seem or two.

[MPREZIV]

See line 2, post 8, and add another point to your sig line...