Hi Frank,
I've built three or four tube headers, and the way I always did the
collectors was to pinch the four tubes together slightly so the contact
points between the adjacent tubes flattened out a little, then weld those
together. A diamond shaped piece covered the hole in the center of the four
pipes, and then the collector was formed over a heavy gauge mandrel and then
welded around the ends of the four pipes. In this way all the tube joints
were welded 360 degrees around. For insurance I'd usually tab the four pipes
together and maybe put a fifth tab spanning the underside of the pipes to
collector joint.
When repairing commercial headers, usually the only thing that you could do
was to cut the collector off, fix the leak (generally in the diamond), and
then weld the collector back on.
It only takes a very small hole to produce noticeable noise, and that's
irritating, but the exhaust fumes and carbon monoxide leaks are dangerous.
If I were you I'd find a way to fix it.
Best regards,
Theo
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