GMC Exhaust gaskets

Sorry but I have to dote a bit on a good friend of mine and how he has found peace in his life using his GMC

I tell ya man, we should all be as lucky.  Andy & Ang came down to cheat the snow out of the cold country in their GMC.  Andy had us do mechanicals and a full exterior refinish over 8 years ago looking to accurately reproduce the custom order white Palm Beach.  Funny thing was, just after he had us build his dream machine he actually found an original white Palm Beach.    so he’s the only person I can say  has owned 2 of the rare machines… one original the other a “tribute”, the TR4 isn’t hard on the eyes either…..  We both agree that the Tribute came out really nice so then realizing the insanity of it and saw the coach got to some good owners in the Netherlands. Now with his personal dream machine…. in the process of retiring from designing and hand crafting custom, accurate, wooden spiral staircases craftsman style….. sorry man, just had to add that in… his faithful dog by his side, a cold Bud in his hand, his dream machine sustaining him after a late nights party just peering out from the top of the bag……. and doing it all plugged into my shop….. thank you for allowing me to be a part of your happy place.

Andy, you’ll probably hold this against me but you have a full life indeed.  OK, lets get on to a riveting subject …..

exhaust manifold gaskets

Lemme get Jay over to the Megabus for his ride home to Miami, I WILL come back later…..

See, I’m back and while it may sound like a boring subject… exhaust manifold gaskets for heavy lift vehicles is actually sort of fascinating…

Let me explain…. disposable parts… and that’s what any gasket really is…. have to be chosen for their use.  When it comes to exhaust gaskets there a few specifications that may be different than a gasket for your hot rod or late model car.  We are talking old motors here…. warped mating surfaces from years of heat…. rotten cast metal original exhaust manifolds… an off balance 5 bolt pattern and the fact that the exhaust on a motor under torque…. headers and manifolds literally glow yellow, red and blue.  Try it.. drive at night with the hood up climbing a good hill…. lets put it this way, don’t touch them…..  You will see composite fiber gaskets burn out!  .  Th heat generated in extreme.  Those were quality gaskets…. just could not take the heat.  After 40 years of heating up, original exhaust manifolds are brittle and with the 5 bolt pattern are warping, cracking, blowing gaskets and have been surfaced so much there’s not enough metal for the oil dip stick tube to pass so folks double gasket the driver side….. lets see twice as much burnable paper…. what could go wrong!  These were Mexican made Asbestos gaskets used by Thorley headers…. would not burn but no longer available.    These would conform to warped heads, cracks etc. and stay together.  The big news too were the opening sizes.  A full 1 1/2 x 2″ opening.  You can see how the headers are ground out the largest hole possible.      Now check out these new graphite gaskets,   These are made of fiber reinforced soft graphite metal…. they conform well and will not burn and as far as blowing out…. they are as strong as copper gaskets.  BTW, copper gaskets work well if you have 2 exactly flat surfaces….. where do you find 2 flat anythings on an old big block American motor!  See, there’s learned technology even on exhaust gaskets.  These gaskets are $46 a set…. gimme a call if you are interested.

OK, the day is on and I’m outa here… thanks for dropping by, hope there was something interesting…..

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