[Tony Radford]

Roscoe, I don't see how "snugging-up" the header bolts will work. I replaced those little square head bolts with socket head bolts and I'm pulling them up pretty tight. I don't think I'm in jeapordy of stripping out the heads, but those headers are not exactly precision assemblies. I'm considering pulling the passenger side header back off and add more of that expensive sealer I bought along with the copper gaskets.

I'm sure my backfiring issue is directly related to the integrity of the seal between the header and the head. I never had a backfiring problem until I replaced the gaskets, and now it's significant (unless I crank down on the header bolts).

Randy, Bill suggested I buy the paper gaskets and spray that red sealer heavily on both sides, install and wait 5 or 6 hours before firing her up. I wanted something a bit more solid and I hate the thought of gunking up the heads with something that has to be scraped off when the connection is broken in the future. As usual, I probably should have taken his advice ver batum and saved myself the expense and grief. Milling out those copper gaskets was a real bummer using a Dremmel tool and dull router bit. I guess this is one more reason to go ahead and purchase the stroker.