OOOOOOOhhhhh,

THAT little gasket, yeah that actually could be the culprit, the header likes to tweak itself in a weird direction, like it's sitting crooked and I noticed this on my other NX-76 too. That very well could be my issue, the gasket isn't seated evenly that's for sure, and I can see that without even removing the header.. [:@] Shouldn't it fit a little tighter around the exhaust port?

Hey TRD, have you shaved the inside of the header at all? If you look into your header on the motor side you can see where it has a 2 little spots the stick out sorta, at least mine does. It's just asking to be Dremel'd smooth.

EDIT: What purpose does the silcone tube around the header serve, is it just for heat dissipation, like to keep the heat off the shock right there or plastic around it or what?