It is very important that you clean the insides of the headers as good as possible to remove any of the flaky chalky type residue, then slather the o-rings in vaseline, it will really help it go together. It is going to take a lot of force to get the ends back together. I used a hydraulic bottle jack and the bottom of one of my tractors to press mine back together. Just go easy a little force at a time and it will finally slide together, you don't want too much force at once and then have it slam together.
After I got everything cleaned, I installed the new seals as per the instructions, and pressed the pieces together. It took way more force to do this than I would have thought. No leaks when I first started, But after 5 miles, Lost pressure. Coolant is now full of oil. No water in oil as far as I can tell. This time I will install the seals on the sleave and press one end at a time. I have never had this much trouble with seals before this. Any one else done this recently?
