Exhaust Leak, Slight smell of fumes in the cabin Options

[Britain Smith]

I went through the painful process of replacing both rear wheel bearings and CV joints this last weekend and to do this I decided to remove the heat exchangers. It was actually a lot less painful to remove the heat exchangers that I thought it would be, however I now think I may have an exhaust leak. I was surprised that when I removed my heat exchangers, there were no copper gaskets or anything. They did have copper exhaust nuts however, which probably is the reason they came off so easily.

So, should I order up some copper exhaust gaskets and install them with some new copper exhaust nuts? Do orignal 1.7L motors supposed to have the copper gaskets there? What does and exhaust leak on these motors sound like exactly? If I have one, it is very slight cause I can hear something but it is hard to distinguish over the valve ticking.

Any assistance?

-Britain

[SGB]

Its possible those gaskets were hung up in the exhaust ports and didn't fall out. Did you look up in there? You do need 'em. There was a good thread recently that discussed heating the gaskets and allowing a slow cool down (not quenched) to make the copper more maleable. When I reattached the HEs recently, there was a Pinto like POOP POOP POOP from one side. I figured out which exhaust by getting under the running car and sticking a piece of rubber hose up next to the exhaust ports and listening at the other end.. The leaker was WAY apparent. Those studs should be tightened to 17 ft-lbs- no more! I did not soften my copper gaskets before I put 'em in there, but did learn that the torque on the bolts had dropped after a few heat/cool cycles, and the rubber hose test indicated some minor leaking too, so I retorqued a couple of studs.