Hey Gnarls, I think you may be confused on which plate I'm talking about.
Yep... I thought the leak was at the head, which was really puzzling. My fault for not clarifying. Your previous earlier photo was confusing for me.
OK... WAY different issue!!
Yes... those little screws should be carefully tightened.
On my 22RE there is a bracket, no bracket on my 22R, right. The point I was making is that there is weight hanging on the side of head. BUT... your leak is NOT related to the manifold to head.
I'd still use the Permatex sealer and a gasket. I'd torque them down 4 to 5 lbs. You can recheck and retorque with the thread sealer up to 24 hours... one of the nice features of that sealer. The sealer has "stickiness" to it that I think will work well to seal the plate to the bottom of that manifold.
I'd use a tightening sequence, like a cylinder head.
Sorry I was not aware of where your "leak" was coming from.
My guess is that the plate may not be perfectly flat and may even flex somewhat during tightening?
Gnarls.
