Purpose of a header flange...

I am about to buy a used header from a friend. IT does not have a header flange so he tells me I need to weld one on. What is the purpose of the flange and do I need to have a flange.

Sorry the flange that connects to the exhaust.

I imagine you are talking about the part that bolts into the catalitic converter. Usually there are 2 bolts with springs down there that a flange meets up with. Without that flange, I'm guessing it won't hook up properly and you will have a mad exhaust leak. Might want to ask the other guys too, I may be wrong, I'm not too experienced yet.

Yeah the flange is what hooks up to the rest of your exhaust. Without it there's nothing to hook it up to, just the end of the header pipe (the round end of a pipe). So you need the flange to hook it up to another pipe.

the purpose of that flange and thick donut gasket and springs down there is so that when your engine moves due to heavy acceleration it doesn't break your exhaust etc. or if you happen to genlty tap something with the exhaust it doesn't snap any bolts on the header. The springs are there to hold it in place but to allow it to pivot slightly on that donut gasket.

So with out that flange the exhaust will have nothing to bolt to first of all and if you just weld it you lose that point of movement therefore putting yourself at risk for exhaust leaks in the future.

Thanks for that great explanation. Would a muffler shop be able to custom make that piece as described above.

Thanks for that great explanation. Would a muffler shop be able to custom make that piece as described above.


best way to find out is to go to one and ask. I'm guessing it would depend on the muffler shop.

i would ixnay buying that header.

??ixnay??

u can always go buy a flex pipe it does the same thing but unless u geting that header dirt cheap i wouldnt get it because if u weld it on u got to cut it off but if u do want it the easiest way is to use a flex pipe my car has one and i hav no trouble out of my exhaust

Flexpipe?? How reliable is that?

ixnay means "nix" or to not buy. It's pig latin.