Anyone welded headers to y pipe?

[Will]

I have pacesetters and the rumbler. I just got a borla muffler to put in place of the resonator and i thought i would get the guy to weld around where the headers meet the y pipe cuz they always leak. I will tighten them and put locking washers and they always start leaking again. Has anyone else done this?

[98Camaro3.8]

Would make swapping header gaskets a real pain in the ***. I know people used to do that with the RK Sports, though.

[DannyV6Camaro]

use shorter bolts and get some new nuts. i got the brass kind of nuts and they dont heat up as quick and come loose. go to napa and they should have smaller versions of what u have on right now

[malice10985]

If you weld them together, you'll be sorry if you ever have to change the gaskets, swap heads, etc... Your headers will become a permanent resident.

I had a local exhaust shop make a really good fix for me. My bolts were always coming loose and leaking, so I had the shop tighten the bolts, and then put a quick tack from the bolt to the nut. That really small weld on each nut kept them from leaking, and still allowed me to remove the headers for a headswap with out major headaches.

['94firebirdv6]

ive heard of some people with the old batch of pacesetters that the y-pipe didnt fit welding it to the headers but like what was said before it would be a major PITA if you had to take them off. if at all possible i would avoid welding the y pipe.

btw malice's solution sounds like a pretty good idea. however Stage 8 locking fastners makes locking bolts for the header collector to y-pipe. this way you could reuse the bolts if you had to take them off.

[NCState98]

I will agree... with the amount of twisting needed to install the headers, I'd hate to think of the y-pipe and other header being welded to it. Either of the above 2 solutions sound much better.