Tf Aluminum Heads Ported, What Ex. Gasket To Use?

[MikeR351w]

Hello,

I have a 90 LX 5.0. Long story short, the Trick Flow Aluminum heads were ported and flow a ton of air. Bad news is I took my exhaust gaskets up to them and they are too small now. There is not much room for trimming them wider. They fit the height but the width is now 5mm too large and the gasket is too small. Should I just put them on anyways or try to trim as much off as I can? I do NOT want any leaks though. i am kind of perplexed because the largest gasket I can find is only 1 1/4" wide. I need about an 1 1/2" or 35mm

Any suggestions?

 

[MikeR351w]

Would the smaller gasket interfere with the exhaust flow? Or would it not be worth trimming?

 

[RangerJoe]

How do the ports compare to your header? If the header is smaller than the exhaust on your heads, but not bigger then your gasket, just run them as is. It may be that the header opening will be tour restriction anyways.

Joe

 

[Noobz347]

Wait....


This is an aftermarket header? Do you know the size and brand?

I haven't come across too many non-race heads that are ported for more than a healthy sized header.

If you can... Post up a couple snap shots of the gasket over the heads. Post one of the gasket over the header as well. Should help to make a little sense of what you have going on there.

 

[MikeR351w]

Here is one pic.

 

[MikeR351w]

It was easier to measure accurately with mm than inches. My gasket is too small but not much room for porting or trimming it. The headers are shorties from bbk.

 

[RangerJoe]

It was easier to measure accurately with mm than inches. My gasket is too small but not much room for porting or trimming it. The headers are shorties from bbk.

If you are running shorty BBK headers, they header openings are going to be smaller than the exhaust ports anyways. You can probably open them up a little bit, but probably not enough to match that exhaust.

I had to ditch my longtubes and go back to my shorties on my afr 185s, and the headers are narrower than the exhaust ports. It bugs me knowing that, but that's where I am stuck for now.

Joe

 

[mikestang63]

You can use some copper RTV to make your own header gaset or buy set of percy's copper gaskets and trim them out a little. As others have said, the header port size will be smaller than the head opening anyway.

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

Who ported the heads like this? I thought when people ported they took the gasket and mating parts into consideration? If you paid a shop to do this I'd talk to them about where to go from here.

Like requested before, can you post a pic of the gasket laying over the exhaust ports? Just put a couple header bolts in with the gasket and snap a picture of it.

 

[srtthis]

we just use RTV on the race cars...

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

we just use RTV on the race cars...

Do you use RTV in addition to a gasket or only RTV? What type/color?

 

[srtthis]

just RTV

we've used red black and copper.
we have some pretty good back pressure and heat in the turbo car and it holds up pretty well

 

[hoopty5.0]

Id be very hesitant to use RTV on a street car that still uses O2 Sensors. The excess silicone burns off and coats the metal plates in the O2 sensors preventing the electrons from diffusing back and forth, which skews AFR readings. I forgot where I put the link to an article I read a while back, but definitely something to be mindful of.

 

[GroverDill]

I use Copper RTV also. no gaskets. I have o2 for the BS3

No problems to report.

 

[hoopty5.0]

I use Copper RTV also. no gaskets. I have o2 for the BS3

No problems to report.

Maybe no excess?

 

[GroverDill]

Yeah not sure, just reporting my experience

 

[srtthis]

we've been doing it for years and never had an issue... did it with the nitrous car and now with the turbo car. both had widebands and no issues. you dont need to cake it on or anything