szabon

So I seafoamed my 86 951, and it feels great! I saw that lots of smoke spilled out of where the headers meet the head, so I am going to replace the gasket. The smoke was not right where the headers meet, more where the headers go into the sleeves that then tighten to the head, but I imagine new gaskets are in order anyway. This also explains my ticking...

I know I need gaskets, and I imagine that the nuts should be replaced too, since they are rusted to hell. I am planning on taking the headers out and seeing if there are any cracks. Are there any exhaust gaskets that I need to buy as well? I would like to get everything and just do this in a day, vs waiting for a new part to come in...

John_AZ

Buy the 20 copper nuts from Paragon-no rust:
http://www.paragon-products.com/Coop..._exnutpack.htm

OR the locking nuts:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...5%29%2C%20Each

Get new manifold gaskets and insert the correct direction:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...d-gaskets.html

Get new exhaust manifold flange gaskets also.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...C%20Each%20%20

GL
John

szabon

You are AWESOME!!!! Exactly what I was hoping for.

Thanks!

Sentinelist

What is this 'seafoaming' you speak of?

Jfrahm

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=seafoam

MAGK944

When my head last came off I fitted copper nuts on the exhaust side and stainless Allen studs with stainless nuts on the intake. They still look like new after 4 years wereas the old set I took off were rusted solid.

John_AZ

The oldtimer PROs on Pelican would suggest options.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...-solution.html

I thought you could just add a quart of diesel fuel and empty...

Sentinelist

This is blowing my mind from that link...

"ATF is very thin so it flows better at temperature than regular engine oil. However, it doesn't provide great lubrication. ATFs typically have a lot of detergent type additives which help de-gunk the engine. Adding a quart of ATF to an engine prior to an oil change has been common practice among Mercedes Master Techs for years. If the engine/lifters are really gunked up, you may have to add more than a quart of ATF to clean things up. Add it just prior to an oil change, run the engine at idle until the oil is at normal operating temperature (typically about 10 minutes after the coolant is at normal operating temperature), then shut it down, and change the oil.

BTW, it's also common practice among Mercedes techs to add a quart of ATF periodically to a full tank of gas to clean the injectors ."

ditch68

Seafoam can also be used directly into the upper intake system via the vaccum line that supplies the power brake booster with the engine running. Use a half pint of Seafoam and a funnel, dump a slug of it in there, and let the ngine recover to idle. Repeat until you have one big gulp left, and let the addition of this last bit kill the engine. Be careful and wear safety glasses, as it can burp back and spray you...ask me how I know. Shut the ignition off and let it sit for 15 minutes. Restart the engine, and all the carbon and crap the Seafoam loosened in the upper intake will exit the engine as a GIGANTIC MUSHROOM CLOUD of white smoke out the exhaust. As in, your neighbors might call the fire department amounts of white smoke.

After it thins out, drive the car and do some good open throttle pulls and it will go away. This is the smoke that szabon was describing coming out his header leaks.

This technique has eliminated flat spots in the throttle response, improved idle and generally made cars run better every time I ha e done it on many cars, the dirtier and more gunked the more marked the improvements. It absolutely transformed my '65 Porsche 912 (911 engine with Weber carbs).

NOW...I have hesitated to use ot on my turbo cars just because I have not researched to make sure that it is OK for that.

Do a google search for Seafoam, and you will get tons of info and a better procedure than I posted, with more detail.

Jeff

Sentinelist

Very interesting. Ok thanks. Yeah, if anyone has experience with this in a 951, the topic is alive, post up.

951Saga

Quick List search…

The Seafoam Poll

Introducing SeaFoam into a 951 engine?

Seafoam test

Sentinelist

Sorry, thanks. I thought it was something new for some reason- will read up.

ditch68

All this talk about Seafoam made me go do it on the 951 this morning. NICE. The smoke cloud wasn't as big as my 912, but it smoked...a lot.

Even more when I did a freeway frontage road blast to clean it out afterward at WOT, I must have looked like the space shuttle launching with my white car. Really.

It did smooth out my idle, and improved my low end response! Glad I did it now! I do love that stuff.

Jeff

Sentinelist

Lulz. After reading Jason's links, I'm still curious though on the fence sitting here at 135k.

Probably time to dump some Techron in the tank too (though I always fill with Chevron or Texaco 93 exclusively).

Copilot

I Seafoamed about 9 months ago on my 951, shortly after getting it. I loved it, for two reasons:

1. Ran smoother, specifically at idle, afterwards.

2. Confirmed my suspiscions about exhaust leaks - specifically, showed me EXACTLY where they were leaking.

Fun fact: When I did eventually pull off the headers (it appeared there was a crack on the #1 header, somewhere in the heat shield), it turns out it wasn't just cracked... it was completely sheared.

Also, on the OP... when I DID put on new headers, I used the Lindsey copper exhaust gaskets. The engine is about 1 more day of work away from being reinstalled/running, so I'll let you know how they are...