About to install some Bassani Fire Sweeps I recently picked up on my 15 WG. I'm going to do the install this weekend so I've been doing some research on here. These pipes have a taper where the pipe meets the manifold some I'm going to get the cone style or taped gaskets from my local dealer. Any way from what I've read they can be tricky to install and some people have mentioned putting them in the freezer for a few hours. Is this a good idea? Does this really help shrink or stiffen up the gaskets? It also seems like all I need is some thing round and flat to push them into place. Since I don't have a racer install tool I was thinking about using a large washer but have no idea what size to use. Any suggestion?

 

Yep, put them in the freezer over night. I use a short piece of PVC pipe the same diameter (1&7/8")of the exhaust port to push them in.

 

another vote for the freezer here ! alittle lube on the sides and clean the ports out alittle too!

 

+1 on putting parts in a freezer to shrink them and make them easier to install. It's physics - materials contract when cold and expand when hot.

 

Totally legit.

 

I do that with bearing races for overhauling rear diffs be it for pinion or differential bearing races, Works great. For a few race engines I've built, I would put cylinder heads in a turkey fryer and warm them up, put my valve seats in a freezer and press the seats into the heads without exerting (literally) tons of force or damage the seat or cylinder head. Sometimes for rebuilding or servicing manual transmissions I'd warm assemblies up and freeze others for reassembly. Conical tapered exhaust flange gaskets on small block Chevys only blew out if not torqued properly, mating surfaces weren't cleaned of rust. I'll be putting pipes on my bike soon. Should be a cinch. A friend of mine from NY had an old shovel head that had a gasket pop. When he went to replace it, bolt broke off 4-5 turns out. Went to his house with my mig welder, welded a nut to what remained worked that bolt back and forth until it came out freely, chased the threads all was good. Hopefully I don't run into that issue as my mig welder and tool box are in transit to FL.