360 Anyone ever had their Tubi headers crack at the cylinder head?

I just noticed the tell-tale sound of an exhaust leak from the engine bay last week. I couldn’t notice or feel anything from above, so I got the car on the lift and took the belly pan off. Sure enough, the Tubi header is cracked all the way around the circumferential weld on the tube to the flange on Cylinder #1. Pics attached below.

I don’t fancy buying a new set of headers, nor going through the full R&R to have it rewelded. Starting with the fastest, easiest and cheapest solution first, I’ll likely try J-B Weld Muffler Seal first, and perhaps a strip of muffler tape over that? If all the cheap fixes fail, I’ll R&R to have it re-welded before buying replacements.

Has anyone else had a similar failure?
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You do not have a choice in the matter. JB Weld won't hold for ten seconds. That crack is probably the highest stress point for the header. Doing anything but the right thing---remove the header and weld it properly---would be silly.

 

My guess is the headers weren't decked properly and had uneven flanges.

 

Oof. That sucks. Sorry, Jeremy. Was hoping Tubi’s were more ‘immune’ to these stress failures than the OEM ones. How many miles on the headers?

 

I could fit my tig welder up in there and weld it. Not be perfect w/o removing but could work

 

Woof. That stinks to hear. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow!

The Tubi’s had 30,000 miles over the last 6 years.

Could be worth a shot for a band-aid, but the crack goes all the way around. The top looks pretty inaccessible to my eye…

So has anyone heard of this happening before, regardless of the brand of headers?

 

Besides the obvious exhaust leak, is there danger in running the car until a permanent fix? I watched a video with the owner of Fabspeed talking about the possibility of destroying your engine due to cracked headers? Sounds extreme.

 

I think the risk is that a bit of material could break off from the joint and bounce around inside the combustion chamber for a bit. That would like not end well.