Hi @Butchk,I’ve never been able to seal off my Manafre headers ball and socket. The suck air. I can’t tune my EFI Sniper because of that. I have had individuals muffler shops and myself. And suggestions?
Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about those Man-a-Fre ball and socket joints. They look kinda like the old "Buick ball" which can go out of round and then don't seal perfectly. Some people find that adding a sealing "donut" between the ball and socket works, but those ball joints aren't designed to require a gasket or donut. Perhaps you could try a fibrous exhaust cement like this: Flo-Ex – Taber's - https://tabersproducts.com/product/flo-ex/ or the Walker brand muffler cement Amazon product ASIN B000CQHVLI You'll have to check to make sure those are o2 sensor safe of course. Hope that helps!
I can say that for certain that the junction that we're using on our header doesn't work like that. Our header outlet uses a CNC machined stainless steel "mandrel" that fits inside of the the pipe flares on the header and exhaust. A cast 316 stainless clamp goes around the entire assembly and applies even pressure to the joint. The inward pressure compresses the flared pipes against the spherical mandrel for an air tight fit. This design has been proven to work and has been installed on tens of thousands of high performance exhaust systems. This design also provides up to 13 degrees of articulation at the joint for easier installation and fabrication of a custom exhaust.
Good luck!