1965 273 Intake Manifold question

dragnknights said

Hello,
I just picked up a 1965 barracuda with a 273 commando in it. It leaks unbelievably bad from the front and the rear of the intake manifold. I heard that the 1965 273s have a little bit different heads than 66' and up. Could the leak be resultant of using a later aftermarket intake manifold on an early 273 or is it more likely that the previous owner didn't use RTV to seal the front and rear surfaces of the intake manifold? Any advice would be great! Thank you!

Click to expand...

The geometry of the heads and intake are the same for all 273's, just the intake bolt holes are a different angle and smaller diameter... The intake should fit, just the bolt holes may not line up properly...

You say that it's leaking from the front and real of the intake... I would remove the intake and check to see if the intake has clearance holes for the pins that hold the flat gaskets in the front and rear of the block in place... If the intake does not have any clearance holes, it may be the pins not allowing the intake to seat... Either drill clearance holes where the witness marks are on the intake from being tightened down with the pins on it, or remove the pins... I would drill clearance holes if it were mine as I like to have the pins in the front and rear of the block to keep the gasket better lined up and not squish out of alignment when tightening the intake....