I just got done installing my new 350 engine with hooker headers and it was not too bad to install but please do the following before any header install. When I dynoed my engine I bolted up the headers using the stack exhaust gaskets and within the first 20 seconds of start up I blew two gaskets on one side. We pulled the header off and found the welds on the header flanges were not even, many high spots, so we ground down all the high spots and reinstalled with high temp gasket sealer only and no leaks! The first thing you need to do on all header installs is take a straight edge and run it over your welds to check for high spots, I guarantee you will have some, I had some 1/4" high spots around some of the flanges which would have created huge exhaust leaks. I took my sears 7" angle grinder with a sanding disk used for steel and rough work. I grinded the entire flange down until it was flat, the grinder worked very well and worked nice and slow so I would not get carried away,. I had to do this to 6 out of 8 flanges. This saved me alot of heartaches because my headers now bolt up nice and tight without any leaks!!!!!! JW told me to use 3M weatherstrip adhesive on the engine side of the gasket and antisieze on the gasket between the header and head. He says that this way the gasket does not rip when the header expands and contracts. It works great and I have 400 miles on my engine without any leaks! Tim
JW is correct, I was mixed up, I did ues the adhesive on the heads and antisieze on the header, sorry. Tim
