Down pipe disaster

Ok so this is completely my fault and its due to a lack of experience I have bent the down pipe assembly on one side where the down pipe actually bolts to the front of the engine (I have only managed to do this on 2 of the 4 rings which secure to the front of the engine) has anyone got any reasonable suggestions for trying to straighten these back out as the holes where the screws should go are now out of line my a few mm and it wont reattach to the front.

Ah the joys of being a young an in-experienced DIY mechanic. :'(

Do you mean the studs? Do you have any pictures of the problem

If you can get two in, can you not pull/force the other two into position and bolt them in as well?
After they've been through a good heat cycle or two they might relax into the correct position.

If not, it might be a case of making a template of the cylinder head ports from card and transferring that to a bit of plywood, clamping the header in a vice (or something) and using a lot of heat to pull them back in line. (Local garage might have the equipment to do that for a few bucks)

Seem to have found the cause as shitty gaskets.

There's a good 40,000 miles left in those.......not.

Brand new they were!

They're only meant to be used once though.

Still shouldn't look like that..

Possibly the down pipes were bent before you took them off, doesn't look you were getting a good seal there in spite of some of the gaskets looking like they've been squeezed to death.

I'd say those gaskets are an outcome, not the cause. They get crushed when the exhaust is tightened up to the cylinder head - it's how they seal the joint. Those look like they have been either placed badly when fitted or the exhausts haven't been tightened up correctly/are misaligned or something else.

I agree with weasley, i have removed & refitted my manifold to repaint 3 times & reused the original gaskets as they are fine if realigned & tightened evenly.

Paul