Okay, I bought the jackpot 2-1-2 header for my bike. The bike only has 1300 miles on it, but I think the gaskets are shot or at least mashed pretty good. Should I replace them with stock Harley gaskets or order the spiral wound gaskets from fuel Moto? Also the cross pipe seems to have a gasket on it where it attaches to the header. Is that correct?

Thanks

 

Who installed the header pipe? Were the gaskets replaced when the new header was installed? Have you run 3 or 4 heat cycles and then re-torqued the header bolts? Gaskets are suppose to smash so they form a tight seal against the exhaust ports.

 

Sorry, I was not very clear. I just bought a new head pipe to install myself. When I removed the stock one you could see that the gasket had been smashed pretty good when they installed the original. I heard people say to use the original one that was in there. This one just seems pretty messed up and so I thought I would put new ones in.

 

My rule-of-thumb is replace the gaskets...and use the proper gaskets depending on the type of head pipe shoulder.

 

Kind of my rule too. I don't know why I didn't think about that before I started this project after the Harley shop was closed.

I had kind of given up and figured I would have to finish his project next weekend after I pick up the gaskets. So I started putting the old header into the box the new one came in and saw a sheet of paper at the bottom. That happen to be instructions and a set of gaskets stapled to it. What turned into trouble some installation went smooth as silk once I had those everything just fit perfectly.