Alternative exhaust gasket materials???
 

I'm having a problem with a chronic exhaust leak where my turbo manifold mates up with the spacer.... I don't know why- both surfaces are flat, parallel, and sit flush.
With just a gasket it leaks like crazy. If I put sealant on the gasket it's great.. for a few days before it disintegrates.
What sort of material can I use that is MUCH softer and more resilient and will seal better than the stock metal gaskets???
I tried one made of regular gasket material a while ago, and it was great.. for a week untill it burnt up.
I'm thinking a few sheets of some very soft metal, even lead or somthing... any suggestions????

Probably not lead... too low melt temp...

Maybe sheet abestoes of some sort

gotta find some good gasket material like Corksport uses. It's all soft dimpled metal with a ring around it.
Only have seen the round gaskets though.

Umm Racing beat sells a manifold gasket for like $15

I'm having the same problem between the downpipe and manifold. The downpipe is a Muffler shop special and applies too much force(hangs higher than catback and hangers sit.) to the joint making it pull open on the top and blow through gaskets every week.

Use a new gasket (standard autozone graphite one will work) and replace the bolts and nuts.

Go get some new nuts and bolts from a hardware store...some with an aggressive thread on them. Also get two washers for each and get one lock washer for each...and get a few extra of the nuts and bolts incase one breaks.

Install the new gasket and the new nuts and bolts with a flat washer on both sides, then a lock washer on the nut side...thread locker would be a good idea too. Then torque them to 70-80lbs. Should clear it up.

You can use a very thick copper gasket,

The melting temp is not that high, but it transfers heat to the iron on either side fast enough it shouldn't melt.

I made a 1/8" thick copper gasket I cut out between my S4 turbo and turbo manifold. It is thick and soft- seals great! Been on for 5 months (had it off 3 times and still looks like when I made it).

The factory laminated stainless S5 gaskets work great on my S5 turbo stuff as well- that is another more expensive, but possibly more durable alternative. Get some thin SS sheet and cut MANY gaskets out of it and stack them up. These have a crimped piece on the inside of the sealing surface that surrounds the laminations, that would be hard to duplicate...

EDIT-
Is it possible that the leak is due to the design of the spacer? It may warp when hot and look fine when you check it cold. The factory turbo manifold is thick cast iron and bolts to thick beefy housings. How thick are your spacer flanges? Are they reinforced between themselves (added reinforcements welded beween them besides the runner tubes- like 1/4" plates top and bottom full length)?

possible a thin piece of copper could work. It seems to be the "thing" that every one is doing, although the only experience I have with copper gaskets was shit.

Capsoval-
How thick were the copper gaskets you used? What was your experiences w/ them? Lets hear it!

I used them on a vw engine. there where pre cut piece made for the vw, not some garage made copper gasket, but quality built ones. I put them in torqued the header down to 8 ftlb. which was what was req. by manufacture (3 ftlbs over stock). and they leaked. So I pulled the header back off, filed the flanges, and reinstalled and .... they still leaked. Pulled the coppers out put stock back in and it has been almost a year now with out a single leak. they are in the garage and I am not sure of the thickness but I will go check right now, will post again in like 1 min.

Thanks for the info!

The gaskets were .080" thick.