----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Hargreave Mawson <OC@46thFoot.com>
>
> About 400
> miles into the trip, I blew the gasket between the exhaust manifold and
> the down-pipe, and subsequently had this replaced by a back-street
> garage in Somerset. 100 miles later, I blew the same damn gasket.
We often sell these gakets in pairs - one for the manifold, one to go in the
glovebox for next time.....
> Is this gasket the one that various people recommend omitting
> altogether? If so, I'll just take it out, and screw everything back up
> as tight as I can...
Many people leave out the gasket but I've never been convinced. The same
manifold arrangement is used on the Dolomite 1500 and I used to change ours
every 3 months/1500 miles at best. After being obsessed with making the exhaust
mountings as rigid as possible to avoid flex, I read an article in an old copy
of The Courier from the mid 1980s. It was suggested to mount the exhaust fairly
loosely, omitting any brackets from the gearbox forward altogether. This
prevents the downpipe joint from becoming a fulcrum point as the whole system
moves together. I tried it, and the same gasket was on the car when we sold it
after about 3000 miles. I don't know how much longer it would have lasted, but
it was a very drastic improvement,
Cheers,
Bill.
--
Rarebits4classics
.......just what you've been looking for
PO Box 1232
Calne
Wiltshire
SN11 8WA
United Kingdom
http://www.rarebits4classics.co.uk
/// spitfires@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|