[pap0007]

hello- i am a mustang newbie, and have a 94 gt convertible with an exhaust tapping (i believe.) the taps get louder and faster with the throttle position, sounds like its coming from the right side of the engine compartment.

i removed the exhaust to chanage the transmission a year ago.

i removed the exhaust recently to see if i could reseat it tighter (in hopes to remove the tapping) and found one of the bolts holding the x pipe to the header was stripped. i replaced the bolt, tightened it up and still the same tapping. i tried to make it tighter while the pipes were hot, no change.

i noticed that one of the bolts holding the header to the block was out about 1/16 inch, so i tried to tighten that (after spraying w/ wd40), but it wouldnt move either way (tighten or loosen)- i didnt try that hard, i dont want to shear the head off since its in the block.

does anyone have any suggestions on how to diagnose and fix the tapping problem?

thanks much for any help.

KP

[LimitedE]

That surely sounds like an exhaust leak. I have been dealing with the same issue on my drivers side lower header flange. Seems to start leaking every couple months after I seal it back up. I used some dead-soft exhaust manifold gasket s to seal the top and when I take the x-pipe of this weekend, I will use some hi-heat silicone sealer to seal the bottom flange.

[pap0007]

thanks for the reply limited. so are you saying you've used "doughnuts" to seal the gap? the reason i ask is because we were thinking about doing that, but the basani exhaust is a ball and socket joint, so we thought that would be the wrong application for the doughnut.

do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions for how to try to get the stuck bolt out? (which holds the header to the block)

thanks for any replies.

KP