Quote:
Originally Posted by FB85C10
will a gasket that has the round holes work on my heads cause i have the vortec heads and my ports are square with a radius corner cause im not sure? pic below! or will i need a different header? Thanks!!
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As for gaskets, I'm fairly sure FelPro #1444 will work, but I'd be more concerned about matching header port positions to the heads. You should contact a couple header manufacturers to get the exact dimensions of the header ports including height, width, and vertical position relative to bolt holes. This is because Vortec header bolt holes ARE NOT aligned across the vertical center of the port openings, but are slightly lower. Also, the spark plugs are closer to the ports than on conventional heads, which means one or two header tubes per side may be right up against spark plug boots, or maybe even spark plugs!
When I researched this last year, the only person I spoke with who knew about the port height relative to the bolt holes, as well as the spark plug position was Sanderson dealer Century Performance Center in Reno, NV. He gave me a couple P/Ns that would work, but I can't find my notes.
Another note on port height relative to header bolt holes: Exhaust gasses are most active at the top of the port. Just like a car going around a turn, the gasses don't want to change direction when they hit the turn, so they are forced to the outside of the turn -- the top of the port. So, the last thing you want to do is cover up even a tiny part of the port with a head gasket or header flange.
I ended up using 96-2000 cast iron manifolds, and even had to grind them open at the top around .100". But since I plan to add headers someday, please let me know if you find some that fit. I'm learning that Doug's makes a high quality product, so I would probably call them too.
Here you can see that OEM style gaskets cover up the top of a Vortec port.
These are FelPro gaskets for a 96-up 5.7L engine, but I don't have the P/N.
