I recent had my 430 (now 448) rebuilt in my 67 riv after i threw a cam bearing... and kept on driving it ou: . It cost me 4,000 for the rebuild and everything (too much?). I had them put on headers i ordered from TA performance while they were at it. Three weeks after i got the car back the header gaskets cracked so bad one broke so its back in the shop:rant: . This is my first car and im still in school so please bare with my technically illiteracy and stupid questions. The shop wants to take the engine out to replace the gaskets claiming the bolts are impossable to get at. As you may well know this is expensive and its only a 17 dollar part. Should they have to take it out? if they dont but they insist should i just do it myself?
I can't see why they'd need to take the engine out, other than charging you more labor. I've recently removed and re-installed the stock manifolds on my '67 Riviera with the engine in the car. Some of the bolts are hard to get to, but you can manage. Just my 2 cents. Danny Austin, TX
GAH! Don't let them charge you to remove the motor. You'd be better off driving it to St. Louis and letting me install new gaskets myself:laugh: What you need to do it bu new gaskets and notch out the holes n the bottom o you can just slide the new gasket in. Sometimes the old gasket is hard to get out because it is still n the bolts that you have loosened but left in (ie. the bolts you cant remove without major trouble.) To avoid this in the future, you need to constantly keep watch on those header bolts because they work themselves loose after a few heat cycles. Keep them tight and you'll be fine. An eventually you will not have to worry about tightening them anymore. I blew 2 gaskets before I realized that they were this tempermental.
There are a few guys on the BPG from the San Diego area. I bet that if you contacted them they would let you come over to their house and sort of coach you on doing it your self. Search around. If you ever come to the Northern L.A. area I will be glad to help ya.
header gaskets I second this on any header installation or header gasket installation. Must tighten and retighten the bolts when you first put in gaskets as the bolts seem to loosen up after several heat cycles. you will know when to eventually stop as there will be less and less that you have to turn the bolts to tighten up. I do however check them when i do my 2500 oil change, it just takes 2 extra minutes but can prevent many minutes of frustration and replacement time. Allen
get better header gaskets, whatever you do! Mr Gasket makes some gasket blanks that are composite, they incorporate a steel mesh inside the flexible gasket material, and it resists the famous "white gasket crack" You'll have to cut the gaskets out or have them done, and they cost like 40 bucks for a pair, but believe me, it beats replacing header gaskets every summer! It's an easy job in my car, but it was a pain before I figured the best way to do it. Just remember- nothing grew into place on your car!
Also, do a search on this board for all things "header gasket." You'll be happy you did. This issue has received extensive coverage. I've written a number of posts about the subject but can't keep doing it. Anyway, do the search and learn. This is easy do-it-yourself stuff. If you don't see it mentioned in one of previous posts, do yourself a favor and always use anti seize on header bolts - sounds counter-intuitive but heat-cycles will eventually sieze a bolt. When a gasket blows out after a decade and a bolt is seized you'll be sorry. After 9 years on my engine I've had only a one tube failure on a gasket - not a bad record.
