Exhaust Manifold Gasket

[griffith]

Curious if anyone has experimented with exhaust manifold materials for their Turbo E28. I've got one here that the previous owner had put two gaskets into and before I try to fab a gasket out of copper shimstock, I'd be curious as to what the market alternatives are and what people have had success with. As far as I know this one has some flavor of metal composite gasket on it.

Jason

[turbodan]

You shouldnt have any problems with stock as long as the manifold is bolted up tight.

[Jeremy]

Stock here for 30+k miles. Holds just fine. Some have gone without the gasket altogether and had success.

Jeremy

[philip1]

just make darned sure the manifold is flat and you should be trouble free.

[griffith]

Huh...i'll bet the manifold's not flat...I'm inferring from your posts that there are no alternatives to stock.

Jason

[philip1]

So make it flat its real easy. find a good flat surface, a granite table is best but a flat bit of cement floor will do. to check if the manifold is flat get a belt for a floor sander and put it on the floor under the manifold ..... slide the manifold across the sandpaper if the manifold is flat there will be an even finish if not it will show where the high spots are. if it is warped continue sliding the manifold on the paper till it has an even finish.

[T_C_D]

Sounds like it got tweaked while chuck tore it up on the track.

Todd

[griffith]

Todd,

Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Philip,

I've got a granite table at work and 3 surface grinders, I'm sure I can clean it up if necessary. Two of the nuts that I could access were loose though so tonight i'm going to try to get to the lower nuts on cylinders 4-6.

If that doesn't work I'll pull it. Are people using the gaskets that have the integrated shields or the ones without?

Jason

[Jeremy]

With shield. Cut a notch for the tubing of the bypass system. Not sure what kind of setup you have, so I'm unsure of what location you'd need. You get the idea, I'm sure. I think we used tin snips.

Jeremy

[griffith]

Pulled off the Intercooler (damn that's a nice design, TCD!) and sure enough the underside #6 nut was a bit loose...tightened it up, but it didn't solve the issue (at cold, even when i first got it, it would shut up after it warmed up)

I'm not sure where they found these gaskets, they're multi layer metal, and the gaskets are fine...just the #6 Cylinder flange is tweaked outboard at the rear of the flange...such are the disadvantages of a split flange homemade manifold. My concern is that it'll continue warping that way whether I grind it or not, but I'll give it a try anyway...

Thanks again for everyone's help and time.

Jason