My vote is to buy the flowmaster ball and socket joints. It's like $90 and have those welded in. They work very well. It will be much better than what you have now and requires no gasket.

 

I'd much rather use v-band clamps than ball/socket joints

 

why? (both are good, just curious)

 

I think you're on drugs Scott



normal header noise to me. You just dwell on it too much haha. Nic's truck sounded like it had a bad exhaust leak untill I finished my exhaust (without leaks) and I was like oh, that makes sense. Trust us running Pacesetters. Its normal.
My entire exhaust is welded but the trans, drive shaft, everything is accessable for removal, knock on wood. I would think theres enough RTV on there to keep water out in event of a flood.

 

Just buy the new manifold gaskets, pipe, bends and vbands, then drop your truck off at my house, and i will weld it all up for you....

 

I like the ball and socket joints, unfortunately there isn't always enough room for them...I wouldn't be able to fit them between my collectors and cats. There's ample room with an ORY though.

From listening to the vid, I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary BTW.

 

Mine sounds the same.

I am hoping V-bands solve the problem

 

I didn't hear anything. If there is a leak, and you drive it long enough, carbon tracks will show up.

 

Like I said before, the video doesn't pick up the noise that great. Anyone thats heard my truck knows what I'm talking about (I hope haha)

 

Think about it. There's no load on your engine at idle, you're not going to get big exhaust puffs out of the gaskets. Driving it's a different animal. It can leak while driving only and not while idling. Looks like in your video there's little "boogers" of RTV blown out in a few spots.