What is the best exhaust gasket to use on the Evo, square oem or tapered? They are all about the same price. I've seen some copper too. I noticed the pipes looked loose at the head and they were. Bolts were barely tight. I can't see any signs of exhaust leaks though the retaining ring was mangled on one as well. Shoulda checked them in the spring.

Part two is my crossover pipe had a jingling retaining ring at idle. I assumed the gasket was bad. I pulled it out and the gasket looks great. Is the retaining ring needed in there or is there a way to take up the space inside, can I put a new and a chunk from the old in there? I don't know if just the looseness of the headers would cause slack in that joint, it wasn't crushed at all like the header gaskets.

I'm redoing my intake seals again. Dawn soap or grease? Again everything I read says something different.

Thanks in advance.

 

It really depends on what pipes you are using.
If you are using stock pipes then you need the tapered ones.


I have never put anything on my intake gaskets.

 

I'm using james copper gaskets in mine... no issues.

 

They are stock headers. Want some V&H long shots but they aren't in the budget.

 

I am currently running V&H short shots and I am using the tapered ones.


You can tell which ones you need by looking at the ends of the headers.
If the pipes are rounded then you use the tapered ones and if not the use the flat ones.

 

Check out the retaining ring. What a mess, everything I take apart looks like it went together with no care I believe there was square gaskets and they don't look like they were sealing correctly. Looks like they overlapped into the exhaust flow and blocked more that sealed. Looks like the crossover gasket was more worn on second look. It's pretty trashed.

 

Did you have any issues with the flange nuts? Did they come off with out any problems? Did you use a penetrating lube first?

 

The flange nuts came off with absolutely no effort at all one hand on a 3/8 drive socket wrench. Way too loose. There isn't any ridges on the back either. I think these should be lock nuts or need lock washers maybe? Has neither.

 

When installing new pipes or new gaskets it is imperative that you check the torque after riding it for 100 miles or so.
It sounds like someone skipped this step.

 

lock nuts sound like a good fix, but the flange nut needs to sit directly against the flange bracket (no aditional washers)