puder

ok so ibought a pair of stellings headers. I got good price and they fit my damn boat. BUT they showed up and looked a little iffy SO i tested them. I bough some fitting and some hoses and managed to hook up a leakdown gauge. to one end and seal u teh otehr end with a valve.

First i tested with just compressed air. I pressurized it (the water jeckets) up to 40psi then 50psi. At both pressure it was even with no measurable different between the two guages. (no leak down). I did this one both headers and they both cam eup even BUT i though I heard little air escaping. SO

The second test. I wfilled eth jackets up fully with H20. Then hooked up the leakdown guage and sealed teh oetrh end. I pressured the jacktets with again 50psi and saw no measurable diffence. Then i heated the flanges with a propane torch to simulate expansion from heat (exhaust gas). I did get a sign of some water drips after this. Notign major and once i put the torch on it the darkened wet sot would dissapear. Thsi was teh case on all but one port of one header. I heated it up and i got alittle sprinkler. Luckily i believe it can be easily welded as itsa straight shot from the opening.

Once that one part is fixxed are the other small leaks acceptable? After being under 50 psi for about 5 minutes with the pipes sealed at both ends with constant pressure there wasn;t really any accumulation of water in the pipes excpet on the one leaky spot.

Will these cause me problems or will they be ok to run? Rmeber no measurable difference between the two guages at 50psi with or without water.

thanks.

formula31

Did you use a cylinder leakdown tester? I dont think that will tell you what you wanted to know. You need to put pressure to the thing with a guage on it and then turn the air or water off using a valve and see if the pressure drops over a few hrs or days. If it does, and your sure there are no leaks in your plumbing, then you have a problem. Submerge the thing in water and re-apply the air to find the leaks. I wouldnt use it if it leaked at all.

puder

the water was inded turned off and sealed. I then applied pressure (compressed air from my compressor).

jrz

Pressurize to 60 PSI and put them in a tank to look for any leaks. Unless you can rebuild the engine cheap it isnt worth the chance.

formula31

And then you turned the air off on the compressor side of the gauges and watched the gauges and they didnt loose pressure? Then your probably OK.

Mbam

Puder, as formula31 says, pressurize the water jacket, SUBMERGE IT and look for bubbles.

Leaks are common, but not good to have. I used to weld my old Kiekhaefer pipes once a month. Would drain them when the engine was off so as to not hydraulic it.

mr_velocity

Everyone I know that runs Stelling have leaks. Like bam says, put drains in them. The leaks probably won't be a problem while your running but when you shut them down it'll all run into the cylinder.

I'll be putting drains on my CMIs as soon as a I can find a small good looking stainless ball valve.

RLW

Why are you using so much pressure to test for leakage?
Do you think that there is 50 or 60 psi of pressure while these headers are in service? Not likely as it is not a closed system. You could be doing more damage just by applying to much pressure. I pressure checked my Superchiller prior to me selling it but first called the manufacturer to see what the parameters are that they used for pressure testing.
Be careful!
Russ

puder

i actually popped off eth water log earlier. 60psi is too much pressure...

i'm testing it now at about 30-40. On eheader is fine (no bubbles) and the other has a small fixxable leak right at the flange. The welder/marine exhaust fabricator (he does damn nice custom parts for big old diesels) said he can fix it no prob!

thanks guys!