Review on Dorman 674 398 Exhaust Manifold Kit by Jim Young

I bought this to replace the passenger side header on my F-250 5.4 '99 as I have a had an exhaust leak. I was struggling to get an OEM, but it looks like they just don't make OEM anymore (which I could find), so I went for it. It looks like a decent cast, but when I took a ruler and placed a feeler gauge on it, it deformed about 0.015. I was expecting better as I do NOT want to do this job again anytime soon due to a cracked manifold caused by a bad pour! The included gasket is pitifully flimsy and doesn't even come close to OEM gasket quality so it goes straight to the trash along with the flange bolts. Here's what I do to (hopefully) get the job done right: - spend a lot of time sanding the mating surface with tempered glass and sandpaper ($30, not including tempered glass) - ditch the included washer and get a good quality one Use washer (in my case). MAHLE MS19535 - $40) - Remove the supplied flange bolts and use some more proven flange bolts (Fel-Pro - $25) - ARP stainless steel bolts - Extreme pressure all - heat cycle once or twice, then come back and retighten everything . I understand trying to keep the price down, but I'm totally willing to pay the extra $50 for a quality one, even for castings and some decent gaskets/fasteners, if it means I can't do the job again for one another needs to do 10-20 years. The quality of this stuff is stock and I would be surprised if you could go even 3 years without a cracked manifold and/or blown exhaust gasket.