I recently put my use Pacesetter header onto my '95 4runner 22re. After battling with stripped bolts, old gaskets, cheap gaskets and lots of blood, I got it to seal at the head. Now onto the next leaking spot. Between the header itself and the intermediate pipe (header to cat) its got that ball and socket style connection. I dont know how to properly seal it. The bolts have springs on them and are cranked all the way down. Is there anything to do besides taking it all apart again and welding it? I do have a welder and can weld if need be, but I'm hoping I wont have to. Any thoughts?

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I ended up just welding mine. I couldnt get it to stop leaking

 

Use the proper gaskets...
Go to ToyotaDIY.com, look for it.

 

he's not going to find header gaskets from toyota...
Try using exhaust repair putty

 

I welded mine and before the cat, I put a flex joint so when the engine twists a little the joint takes up any movement rather than flex the header, especially if you do any wheelin

 

I guess welding it is

 

Wouldnt the rest of the exhaust flex?
i mean, the rest IS rubber mounted..

 

my leaked like a pce o crap too, on leak even blew my o2 sensor rrrr. finally found a decent gasket from a local joint. works good . i uses some rtv silicon too its awesome stuff. good luck dude

 

mine never did leak there

before I installed it, I took some sand paper to that black coating they have on it, and removed the coating from that ball-socket joint area

 

I bought mine used, Bleeder, so all the black crap was already off. I painted it with VHT Header paint. You might remember from FaceBook



Im just going to weld it. It'll give me something to do. I know it wont leak there anymore and I need to rework my entire exhaust anyhow. I've been itching to weld lately, so project! YAY!

I was looking at it earlier yesterday and i noticed it was a little dented around that joint so its probably not sealing correctly there because of that.

 

There's not enough flex in the system and it is designed to handle fore and aft/side to side flex not the torque flex caused by the engine moving around on the mounts as you accelerate/decelerate...

That's why they have that ball joint/spring bolt set up

I ended up putting a piece of flex pipe on my old 22R 87 to handle the flexing when I had to rebuild the exhaust and found I could'nt get the thing to seat properly with the new exhaust.

 

So maybe I'll weld it there, then add a flex pipe between the cat and muffler since I need to replace that section anyhow as it is the thinest part in my exhaust.

Should the flex pipe be closer to the header? or will that location suffice?

 

Where did you use silicone? Between the header and head or intermediate pipe and cat? Both? What kind of silicone?

 

Btt?...

 

well i used it between the header and head with a factory manifold gasket, hasnt leaked yet. also between the header and downpipe ( intermediate pipe). its just RTV silicon. stuff i have is grey looking? i keep an extra gasket, two wrenches and silicon behind my seat just incase it decides to blow again haha im not going to blow another o2 sensor....

 

So I took off the entire exhaust. I figured since Im welding a few sections, why not kinda rework it. It was still leaking between the head and header as evident by the soot by the one bolt that has forever given me problems!! The first one to get stripped and need heli-coiled. The freakin heli-coil wont go in all the way. I thought I remedied that by enlarging part of the hole through the header. Oh well. We'll see. I spent a few hours cutting, welding, grinding and having fun! This is the most I have used my welder and angle grinder. So much fun! Actually got some pretty nice looking welds. Sadly, I'm going out of town until tuesday. Good thing I have a garage! Its going to be all 2.25" piping now! SWEET!!

 

I think tapping the hole with a bottoming tap is better than helicoil, what if the helicoil fails how do you get it out, to tap a new one. I went to a 7/16 grade #8 Catipillar bolt, they do not have any coating like zinc just black oxide. The 2 Ive done have not leaked in 8 months.