I have always used anti sieze. If anything, I've heard it's more important to use on aluminum for dissimilar metals (ie spark plugs in the head, steel studs in the head, etc). Aluminum on aluminum can gall/tear as well (like stainless).

I pulled the lugs off my Civic to rotate the tires, and the studs had a dab of anti sieze on the threads. Good stuff

Thanks for the info Kenny! I may just keep the header uncoated and unwrapped.

Zedyone_kenobi, I noticed that your header has the plug screwed into where the air galley tube connects to. Did you have to use a sealer to prevent exhaust leaks or the plug coming undone?

I wish I could tell you. The header was like that when I bought the car. I am thinking of sending it off to get redone. It is looking a bit worse for wear.

Heres what my set-up looks like before it has been run. Those pretty carbs would look great next to a ceramic(shiny header). Be advised, I was told by a friend and verified thru research that you don't want to dial in new carbs with a freshly coated ceramic header. A bad fuel mixture will dull the finish of the ceramic and never come back. I wish I could get some Z therapy carbs, but my carbs are almost new-plus I got some mikunis for after break in.

Good luck with your carbs!

now that is VERY NICE!

Well Done

These are the essentially unchanged directions since I had the Sanderson's on my Camaro. It's true, the finish will dull and the coating cracked on my headers. It has more to do with a Mallory distributor with a bad advance curve. High egt's from too much advance really damaged the coating on my headers.

http://www.sandersonheaders.com/tech_header_installation.php

They have a quick section on new engines and fresh rebuilds. It also says to be careful after performance mods so a drastic enough change can affect exhaust temps

I did an afternoon restore on my Clifford headers using high temp VHT black header paint. I prepped with naval jelly and a good cleaning (the paint is self priming). I have actually been pleasantly surprised by how durable the finish is. I've had a couple clumsy moments with my wrenches and the paint didn't chip

Edited November 7, 200915 yr by 70 Cam Guy

UPDATE:

Okay, I got a small case of the while I was at its, and took off the thermostat hosing and the upper radiator hose. I ordered all new seals and hoses, since, you know, I was there. Now here was an adventure. The bolt was so corroded into the thermostat housing the head snapped right off. OH JOY!

Three hours later and some delicate tapping with a rubber mallet I got the housing to loosen it's death grip on the sheared bolt. Now with only 1/4" of bolt sticking out of the head, I had to say my prayers to the good Lord above, said a few to Budda and Allah, just in case they were car nuts too, never hurts to be thorough, and clamped a vice grip to the last remaining threads to see if the bolt would unscrew.

You know many things go through your mind when you attempt something like this. You have this feeling like you know there is a smarter way to do this, but at this point your caveman instincts from the Pre Cambrian period surface and you just want to pick up the car and throw it.

Long story not so long, the bolt nicely unscrewed. Thank the Lord. OR Allah, Or Budda, hell I even thanked my wife.

Kept cleaning things up, put some new paint on the thermostat housing and the heat shield, and started to do some final thread cleaning on the heads.

One question folks. I asked Ztherapy to block of the water passages from the intake. So the water line that does form the thermostat housing to the intake, I assume I can just plug. Also, I should be able to remove the line running around the back of the engine as well. Is this correct. From the looks of it, the coolant does not need this flow path to function correctly.

Any thoughts.

I have to go see if Black Dragon or MSA sells bolts for the Thermostat housing now.

I love working on my car.

Edited November 9, 200915 yr by Zedyone_kenobi

The bolt was so corroded into the thermostat housing the head snapped right off. OH JOY!

Three hours later and some delicate tapping with a rubber mallet I got the housing to loosen it's death grip on the sheared bolt. Now with only 1/4" of bolt sticking out of the head, I had to say my prayers to the good Lord above, said a few to Budda and Allah, just in case they were car nuts too, never hurts to be thorough, and clamped a vice grip to the last remaining threads to see if the bolt would unscrew.

<snipped>

Long story not so long, the bolt nicely unscrewed. Thank the Lord. OR Allah, Or Budda, hell I even thanked my wife.

Actually, that appears to be a common problem. I had the exact same thing happen when I changed the thermostat on my car. What happens is that the shaft of the bolt corrodes and swells in the t-stat housing, so much so that the bolt won't turn and the head breaks off. Once you persuade the housing to give up its death grip on the corroded bolt, my experience has also been that the broken bolts unthread easily. In my case, I had a brand new t-stat housing waiting on the shelf, so I wasn't worried about destroying the one that was stuck.

Short version - new t-stat housings are still available new from Nissan, and are actually rather affordable. I'd recommend having one on hand before attempting to remove a long-attached one.

Oh yeah, ALWAYS thank your wife. It's a good habit to get into.

One question folks. I asked Ztherapy to block of the water passages from the intake. So the water line that does form the thermostat housing to the intake, I assume I can just plug. Also, I should be able to remove the line running around the back of the engine as well. Is this correct. From the looks of it, the coolant does not need this flow path to function correctly.

Correct. Plug it at the t-stat housing, remove the pipe going around the rear of the engine, and cap off the supply to that pipe at the T-fitting on the side of the block.

Correct. Plug it at the t-stat housing, remove the pipe going around the rear of the engine, and cap off the supply to that pipe at the T-fitting on the side of the block.

This is exactly how I did mine, as well.

Here are a few pics that might help you.

Heater hose coolant paths.

Plugged t-stat housing. I forgot what exact plug this was, but I'm pretty sure it was a normal pipe thread (NPT) threaded plug.

You'll need a 3/4" to 5/8" heater hose adapter (splice) to neck down from the larger hose coming from the lower radiator hose outlet assembly to the smaller hose needed at the heater core inlet. All parts stores should have these in stock.

I chose to throw the heater hose T away, along with the metal line assembly and thermostat that snaked around the back of the head.

Edited November 9, 200915 yr by g9m3c

I used a 1/2" pipe plug in the thermostat housing IIRC. It's an allen head plug (socket head plug?) so it sits flush in the housing. I capped the heater T on the passenger side and completely removed the tubing routed behind the head. It's much cleaner without all the extra cooling lines.

That's good information about the thermostat housing, I'll keep that in mind if/when I need to change the t-stat

THat confirms what I thought. Good info. I was going to order a new T-stat housing Arne, but thought I could save this one with a wire wheel and lots of scrubbing. So far so good. I am prepping it for paint right now. I still need to clean the holes. I am guessing I should liberally coat the next bolt with some copper grease or antisieze before installation. Something to prevent corrosion! YUCK.

Today my orange paint from Classic Datsun showed up, as well as my new tensioner pulley for the AC. All I have left to do is clean out the threads, and I should be able to start putting things back together!

Just need some thermostat housing bolts that go into the head. Must be metric bolt store around clear lake somewhere!