Exhaust Manifold Gasket Material

[haulnazz15]

I've got a quick question. I have an exhaust leak on the port side exhaust manifold, which is a new manifold to go along with the new 351w I put in there last summer. I used the exhaust gaskets that came with the center-riser conversion kit from ebasicpower. The leak was there from the beginning, but I wanted to put a few hours of run time on the new engine before I fixed the small exhaust leak.

Now, to my question: do normal automotive gaskets work for this purpose, or do I need to go back and order the gasket from a marine store? If the automotive ones work just as well (especially in 1-piece form), is there a reason I should choose one gasket material over another?

Note: I did search for about 30 minutes on this and came up with varying answers. To me, it seems like exhaust-only is coming out at that point, so I see no reason it should be a marine-only part.

 

[joncrisler]

Re: Exhaust Manifold Gasket Material

My feeling is that the marine gasket is wider, since most marine manifolds have much thicker flanges. I have used both Sierra and GLM gaskets recently; both worked fine. My feeling was that the GLM worked better in sealing surfaces that were a little more uneven than what would be ideal. The Merc gaskets always seemed to be top quality.

In either case, these gaskets are cheap. I think a pair of exhaust gaskets for a 454 were maybe $15 at most ?

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Exhaust Manifold Gasket Material

Yeah, I wasn't really that concerned about cost, more about availability and function. I only need the one gasket anyway which runs about $7 bucks plus shipping. I haven't decided if I'm going to lay a straight-edge across the manifold ports and block ports yet. It's a tight space between the manifold and the fuel tank and I would rather not have to remove the manifold completely if I don't need to. If it blows another exhaust gasket, then I'll pull the manifold out to investigate. With all of about 5 hours of run-tme on the new powerplant, I can't make too many assumptions about the cause other than assembler error (me), lol.

 

[joncrisler]

Re: Exhaust Manifold Gasket Material

Make sure to clean off any rust around the ports, and try to get them clean and even.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Exhaust Manifold Gasket Material

Yep it's just exhaust through there. Any exhaust gasket for that engine should work fine.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Exhaust Manifold Gasket Material

If the automotive ones work just as well (especially in 1-piece form),

Ayuh,... I've taken to buyin' Fel-pro exhaust gaskets, the carbon/ metal 1s...
I finially found a "Parts Guy" to look 'em up for me...
All the 1s listed for automotive were multi-piece stuff..
Ya need the 1 piece 1s, to hold 'em in place, because marine motors don't use All the retaining bolts...

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Exhaust Manifold Gasket Material

I hope there isn't any significant rust on the ports with such little run time, but I suppose there could be some surface rust on the exposed areas. I'll definitely do that before throwing the gasket on there.