so this morning my buddy and his chevy 6.0 gasser came up from behind me floored"didnt know it was hinm at the time". i floored it and kept up and passed go 5.9 ! but anyways my question.

as we were side by side he texted me after saying my motor sound like ***, he says i have a exhaust leak im really excited but not because this whole time ive been thinking its a lifter. when i installed my longtubes i used felpro gaskets and locking nuts . its been about 3 years since ive had them. so i hope when i change out the gasets ill be ok. and it wont be a lifter.

i cant hear the leak with the hood open when i pull on the throttle body to rev or let it idle. how can i pin point the leak so i know its the gasket and not a weld ?

also i didnt install the longtubes . how do i remove the locking bolts ?

 

Well, I have just found out yesterday that I have a crack in the drivers side header. I was also thinking it was a bad gasket, but as luck would have it not the gasket. I can see the crack in mine after you know it's there. I would first look around the collecter gasket since you have longtube headers. If it's not there try and look around where the 4 tubes go into the the collecter. Mine is cracker there.

What makes use MEN and not Boys ( The price of our Toys )

 

One method, with potential to **** off your neighbors...... is too feed your engine a bit of oil at idle. If there is an exhaust leak, it should become readily apparent.

 

+1 on using the oil to check for leaks, its crude but effective. Also if you can get a hand held pyrometer(temp gun) point it at the tubes at idle. It will be hotter at an area where the leak is(flange,gasket hopefully) than at the other tubes. Also check the tubes themselves. Look for cracks in the welds, seams in the tubes cracked,etc.

how do i remove the locking bolts ?- Depends on the fastener used. Some have a smaller nut inside a bigger one. Or like a Stage 8 or similar they use and allen bolt inside the locking nut to keep them from loosening up. Alot of penetrating lube(insert your favorite brand here) will help.

 

I used seafoam... when it smokes it points out the leak. and it cleans instead of possibly fouling things up I suspect I have a leak too and mine smoked where the passenger header bolts up around #8 cylinder Could this be causing the shudder I get in overdrive? I get the ticking noise too I thought was a lifter.

 

Yer right. SeaFoam would work as well, and actually be good for the engine.

If you are getting smoke out of there, that's a leak. Fix it, and see if your tick goes away. (exhaust leak and lifter tick sound awfully similar.)

Shudder in O/D is prolly unrelated, might be a miss, might be a trans issue, or any of a dozen other things.