Exhaust gasket?? to have or not to have

[cupra20v.t]

I know the exhaust manifolds/headers are fitted with only high temp sealant but has anyone fitted/cut a gasket from a sheet of high temp gasket material.

would this be better/ more reliable than high temp silicon sealer.

when I removed my manifolds I could see patches where the gasses must have slighlty blown past the sealer, surely a gasket would prevent this from happening (slightly stronger and more rigid than silicon)

Any advice?

[ridds]

Maybe a gaket would be better but I'm not sure it's worth the ago.

I find putting a bead of silicone on the flanges and letting it cure slightly before fitting helps.

[cupra20v.t]

that was my next question, im putting new sealant on most of the flanges throught the engine (timing cover/rocker covers/oil filler/oil breather etc)

is it best to run a bead of sealer and let it cure slighlty then bolt the surfaces together or...

run the bead and bolt together instantly?

[Storer]

TVR are the only company I have ever heard of that don't use a gasket between the head and manifolds. Can somebody please tell me why?

[ridds]

Dunno to tbh. Cost? Ease of initial build.

Most of the race stuff I've worked on has had exh man gaskets either.

[rev-erend]

An alternative is to have a gasket made of copper.. I've seen that one one race car.

[jonbarrett]

I thought metal-to-metal, with liquid gasket filling the gaps in the fine surface structure, was considered a better engineering solution. However, I assume the joint needs to be designed to accept a liquid gasket.