Exhaust manifolds

[boonie]

Dumb question or not. I was starting to tear down the motor out of my ‘69.
There are no exhaust manifold gaskets or any kind of gasket maker on them. The surfaces are very clean and flat. Do they not run gaskets or did the PO skip it? And I did a quick look on Jeff’s and I didn’t see any. Thanks.

 

[Rightpace]

You will need to replace with gaskets when you reassemble. Was the motor previously running?

 

[thegreatjustino]

From the factory when both the heads and manifolds were brand new and completely straight, there were no gaskets used. Once the original seal is broken and they're reinstalled, the gaskets are needed due to minor warpage caused by engine heat.

If there were no gaskets upon disassembly, your engine had likely never been apart before.

 

[jckkys]

I've removed and replaced mine more times than I can count and never used a gasket. Nor did I need one as they never leaked or warped. I think if I ran a shop working on other's trucks I would use them, just in case. But for my own, I can R&R them easily. Just never needed to.

 

[boonie]

Yes, the motor had been running and never had any exhaust leak issues. By the looks of everything else, I doubt they’ve never been removed. Thanks for the replys

 

[DirtDonk]

I've used and re-used original manifolds always without gaskets and never had a leak either.
If your surfaces check out and mate well, I don't see the need to introduce a potential leak area. I always remove things like this in a torque-pattern as well. Just an old habit I developed when working with a lot of aluminum stuff. Just made sense to be as careful in disassembly as in assembly. If one nut or bolt won't loosen up, I don't remove the others until the recalcitrant fastener has been resolved.
Never had a leak so far... Knock on wood!

Paul

 

[jckkys]

I also want to point out that over the years the manifolds were bolted to D7OE DA heads that came on my new '77 for about 15 yrs. Then I used E7TE heads for about 20 yrs. Now they're on GT40 heads off a '97 Explorer. Same manifolds, 3 sets of heads, no leaks and no gaskets.

 

[sprdv1]

From the factory when both the heads and manifolds were brand new and completely straight, there were no gaskets used. Once the original seal is broken and they're reinstalled, the gaskets are needed due to minor warpage caused by engine heat.

If there were no gaskets upon disassembly, your engine had likely never been apart before.

concur with mr. Justino's assessment..