Found my lifter tick !

Wrap that Harley pipe in a steel wool snake, and torque it down.

(I've done it. Doesn't last long, but it works.)

It was the '86 GMC truck ... it's had that tick since the first time I fired it up . It was very slowly getting louder , and I really couldn't pin it down until a couple of weeks ago . I noticed the header flange and a spot on the cylinder head were rusted a bit , because the paint had burned off . I was already suspecting a header leak since a lifter tick doesn't get louder when you give it more gas . Live and learn , this is my first set of headers and now I know why some mechanics hate them .

I've only had three vehicles with headers. Only two I installed. Went with ceramic coated Headman headers both times. No issues with new gaskets of course. 351W and 460. Well, had to slightly dent one header to clear the motor mount on the 351W. I'll be looking at that again soon enough. I think its the next vehicle I'll be dragging in from my parents house to start working on.*

My Cortina GT had headers. I think they were stock, and they would get hot enough to glow. Hot enough to melt a synthetic hydraulic clutch line and shoot fire out the front like a fire breathing dragon when the line burst and sprayed hydraulic oil all over them.

The heat on exhaust headers/manifolds can always be an issue, but like everything else proper torque settings and new gaskets are important.

• I think I have the '42 Jeep sold. Supposedly the deposit is in the mail. Its not the cherry primo price I hoped for, but its far from the worthless pile of trash not worth the effort to haul it away others claimed either.

It was an exhaust gasket .

------------------------------------ I had a strange noise I thought might be engine knock. It turned out the 3 bolt flange on the rear end of the stainless catcon was mild steel and the bolt lugs had deteriorated enough to loosen the next pipe slightly.

Cast irom manifolds can be hard enough to get to seal on an older vehicle - special gaskets made for the problem - and sometimes double gasketted - the real solution often requires millong the surfaces. Headers are a whole different story as the thin flanges often warp. I HATE most aftermarket headers (and a lot of OEM "tubular manifolds" are just as bad!!!

Cast irom manifolds can be hard enough to get to seal on an older vehicle - special gaskets made for the problem - and sometimes double gasketted - the real solution often requires millong the surfaces.

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I fitted a small engine to a warped plate welded to my log splitter, both too big to mill, by pulling coarse sandpaper through the areas that contacted and then angle-grinding away the scratches on the plate. The sandpaper could be pulled at various angles to make fresh scratches distinctive.

Rocking the engine revealed which two plate corners made contact. When it was close to fitting sandpaper in all corners was tight in the corners that need more grinding and then filing.

This set of headers has a 5/16" thick flange , I figured that a standard gasket would be enough . I was wrong . I've installed a .094" Cometic gasket that's intended for header use on the passenger side ... I'll be doing the other side in a few days , it's not leaking and I've got more important things than fixing a problem that isn't a problem yet . And that side is more work , the A/C compressor mount has to be removed to get the header unbolted enough to slip the gasket in .