[ihc] Copper header gaskets for a SV

["Tom Reed" <treed@xxxxxxx>]

I seem to blow out header gaskets on my Stan's headers about every 2 years.
The gaskets crack at the ports and begin to leak. When I took out the
drivers side yesterday if fell out in 3 pieces and every exhaust port had a
crack!
 
So I decided to make copper gaskets. We will see how well they work and how
long they last. To make them I bought some 3/4" rolled soft copper pipe at
the hardware store. After straightening as much as possible I cut 2 19"
pieces. I then sliced up the side with a hack saw as far as I could. This
was the only tricky part, to finish the cut I used the jig saw with a
shortened metal blade so it would not hit the other side of the pipe.
 
I then opened up the pipe and flattened it on the anvil of the vice with a
little hammer work. To get the correct pattern laid out I clamped a stock
exhaust gasket to the copper sheet and spray painted all the openings. I
then center punched the bolt holes and the corners of the port openings. I
wanted the gasket to go under the 2 end bolts of the header and the stock
gasket doesn't extend that far so I placed a straight edge along the center
punches for the bolt holes and scribed a line on both ends of the copper
sheet. These holes were center punched exactly 4" out from the center of the
nearest bolts.
 
I then drilled all holes with a 3/8" bit and used the jig saw to cut out the
ports. A little file work and in about 1.5 hours I had a set of copper
gaskets. The gasket seems to seal pretty well, but not quite perfect. I'm
hoping that as the copper flow during the heat/cool cycles it will flow a
bit and make a perfect seal. We'll see.
 

Tom Reed