I'm putting the top end on my 97 back together, and bought new steam pipe banjo bolts. The seal looks different than what I took off. Will this be an issue? They were listed for the Corvette.


Anyone else use these?

 

Did a little more digging and found that seal. It's called a dowty washer, used for high pressure hydraulic/pneumatic apps. I guess They should be fine. I was just concerned because they looked different. I don't ever want to take this thing apart again. I'm getting too old for it.

 

Did you try buying the correct part #? Maybe still be available.

From Shoebox:

http://shbox.com/1/steam_pipe_seal.jpg

 

Yeah, I only found two though.

 

Shops that do a lot of AC work tend to keep those seals in stock. I don't think I've ever actually reused an LT1 steam cross over tube. I always ended up making a new one out of AN fittings.

 

I found them at McMaster Carr. They had a 10 pack of them for 14 bucks. If it was for my 93, I'd go with An fittings, but I plan on trading this car after it's back together.

 

I had a customer come in one time with his steam pipe leaking put news seals and bolts in still leaked. The flanges on the pipe were warped which is discontinued from gm so I made a new one out of an fittings which is the way to go.

 

I got it all back together now, runs good, no overheating, and no leaks. I was a little worried though when I started it, and was rewarded with a big cloud of white smoke. I fogged the neighborhood out with the coolant that was still in the exhaust from the bad head gasket. It cleared up after about 10 minutes though.

 

I re-used the stock ones 3 times in the last 8 years and they never leaked.

 

yeah I also re-used my washer/gaskets on my first H/C swap. I did replace them on the 383 build.

FWIW the steam pipe is still available. Also there are 10's of thousands of them in junk yards on any LT1

 

I'm closing in on 50 pretty quick, which is about all I do quickly anymore. I didn't want to take the chance of having to pull it all back apart again after everything was back in the way. Reusing gaskets and seals would make me loose sleep at night. Cheap insurance. Now I can go back to working on my Chevelle, which is like being on vacation after working on this thing. All's well, that ends well.