Pinto Car Club of America

Im rebuilding a 2.3 and want to know how i should deal with the oil separator. im using a different intake, says shefield, and don't require the crankcase vent hose, so what do i do. Also my header dosn't cover the small hole bellow each exhaust port, think its a 2.0 header but it bolts up. Don't know how to plug these holes because they are at an angle and shallow.

Im not sure what the oil separator is your talking about but you do have the right header i bought one for a pinto from hedman hedders a few years ago and it was the same way. I bought some all thread rod that would fit in the egr ports on the head and welded them to seal those four holes. If you don't fix those holes you won't hear an exhaust leak. When i fixed mine it didn't make the car quiter or anything.

thanks i taped the holes and put plugs in then spot welded them in.

HI. I had the same problem with my 2.3 header. I used a 3/8 thread tap and tapped each hole (they are 5/16), making sure not to go all the way thru into the exhaust port. Then screwed in a 3/8 bolt and hand tightened it. Then i cut off the head of the bolt flush with the head of the motor. (this way you can take them out later if you want). The bottom part of the header then covered most of the end of the bolt and hole and secured it that way. Hope this helps. Kenny Topeka Kansas.

Well... I took the long aproach. Didn't want to drill the holes bigger so I meassured them to be 21/64 and cross referrenced that with what size tap. Then got a set screws and high temp treadlocker. The bolt ground off flush is nice cuz it gives a flt surface for the gasket to set. I would have to cut out a custom gasket because the 2.3 exhaust gasket has the holes cut out. Guess I'll wait to see how long till I get an exhaust leak.