I had to remove the Bonez today to get to the trans pan so I decided I would go ahead and put in the copper gaskets I got from " the guy on the forums here"

Now that I did I have leaks again. no severe but I am going to break it down again tommorrow and try to seal it better.

Is there such a thing as too tight that it doesnt seal? or is it not tight enough?

I dont think the flanges are warped since it was working fine this morning.


Mike

 

That Bonez flange is tricky to get torqued down right, I've noticed that on mine too. You could try some of the high-temp copper or red RTV stuff to help the gasket seal a little better...

 

also I've heard good stuff about getting everything (copper gaskets) hot by driving a while and after they are hot then torque them down even tighter.

 

That's what worked for me. The set on my car leaked slightly when I first put them on. I drove around for a bit to get the exhaust system good and hot, re-torqued the flange bolts and everything has been great for the last 12,000 miles.

 

I guess I will try to heat them up and tightened down.

there is no limit to how tight they should be or is there?

 

not really just don't break the bolts

 

You shouldn't have to get crazy with it, but there's no reason you can't torque it down to any degree short of breaking the bolts.

 

I broke it all down and checked out my flanges. It looks like one of the Bonez flanges is not even and one of my Borla flanges is not even. SO that explains the leaks everywhere.

I put a bunch of copper RTV on the flanges and also put the gaskets that came with the Bonez and the new copper gaskets. made a sandwich out them .


put it all back together and now only a slight leak at the Borla. almost nothing . could not feel any leaks at the manifold but that puts out a lot of heat anyhow. I couldnt hear any leaks at the mani and the leak at the cat-back is just a pinhole...

so, as long as the crap doesnt blow out i am good to go. I tightened it all really tight and so there really shouldnt be any COpper RTV to blow out left. Just the Bonez gaskets.


cross my fingers now!!!!

 

That explains the leaks. The copper gaskets are really tough, but they don't compress enbough to make up for bad flanges like fiber gaskets do. If you find that the system starts leaking, resurface the flanges and take out the fiber gaskets. It should stay tight for the life of the car.

 

I would have resurfaced them when it was apart but I had no way to do it and no car to take it and get it resurfaced. the RTV copper-fiber gaskets-copper sandwich should hold for a while I hope.

 

I bought the copper gaskets and the Manifold to block one leaks like a river.

Went back to the Mazda gasket.

 

Where did you get the copper gasket? I don't seem to recall making any for you. (Unless maybe you've changed your user name?)
The engine-to-manifold flange is where the Mazda gaskets really shine. I have yet to see one fail in that location. Using a heavier gasket there is, in my opinion, overkill. (Some of us like overkill of course. )