intake gasket questions

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watchdoc

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So, I'm swapping out my Holley 3310 for a SuperQuad to go on my mild 340 (J heads with stock 340 manifolds). I currently have a Weiand Action Plus 8007 spreadbore I plan to reuse. Between the leaking 3310 and oil wicking up the intake bolts (for 20 years!!!), I wanna change the intake gaskets and reseal the bolts while I'm swapping the carb. Here is my procedure thus far. Any advice would be appreciated.

1. Pull carb
2. Drain coolant by pulling radiator hoses and thermostat housing(I plan to jack up the rear and suck out as much coolant as I can with shop vac and turkey baster)
3. remove intake bolts and lift intake as carefully as possible in an effort to spill as lil coolant as possible. Planning to leave Distributor in place.
4. mop up coolant and inspect for damage and or abnormal wear. What all should I look for other than bent push rods, worn cam lobs???
5. cover valley area before cleaning and scraping gasket area Any tips on this part?
6. glue new intake gaskets in place. Planning to use Fel Pro 1213 I'm reading all sorts of conflicting info on what to use on the sealing surfaces. Is there a consesus?
Do I reuse the intake bolts I have an just use thread sealer to keep the oil from wicking up?

What am I missing??
 
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Don't know why the oil is wicking up the bolts. I never use sealer on those bolts. No reason to.

If it's a paper gasket, I use gasgacinch on both sides of the gasket and the heads and intake.

Don't use ANY end seals, no matter what they are made of. If you have the alignment dowels in the China rails, pull them. Use a bead of silicon across the China rails. Make sure everything is clean.

You can look for bad lobes and bent pushrods. You can t see much more than that.
 
YR is once again spot on once again. I have to ask, thou, why are you using an action plus? The iron 340 manifold is better than it is, as the Weiand has 318 sized ports that extend deep into the manifold. If at all possible, switch to a performer RPM, an LD 340, or an iron intake. If you do continue to use a 318 size port manifold, a Fel-Pro 1243 gasket (273-318 size ports) may be a better option, but I would definitely GaskaCinch or Hi-Tack it into place on the manifold. A Weiand stealth may be a better choice, it has the same ports and design as an action plus but a square bore carb flange. Appearance wise, it looks like a taller version of an Edlbrock LD4B. I will compare the port to plenum arrangement to see how close they are. Whatever you choose to run, based on the symptoms you describe you should do what this article says.
http://www.hughesengines.com/Upload/TechArticles/INTAKE_MANIFOLD_SEALINGJULY2015.pdf
 
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Drain the radiator at bottom, just sucking coolant from therostat will leave some in there. Sealant on intake bolts is good idea. Inspect bolts, if not stretched should be ok.
 
After you are all done and before you fire it up, do an oil change.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
Why are you using an action plus? The iron 340 manifold is better than it is, as the Weiand has 318 sized ports that extend deep into the manifold. If at all possible, switch to a performer RPM, an LD 340, or an iron intake. If you do continue to use a 318 size port manifold, a Fel-Pro 1243 gasket (273-318) may be a better option. Also check manifold fitment with the following.
http://www.hughesengines.com/Upload/TechArticles/INTAKE_MANIFOLD_SEALINGJULY2015.pdf
Click to expand...


Honestly, I've had this car for about 30 years and that's the way it came. I don't have another intake but I'm not opposed to swapping. Here are the specs the way it sits.

71 Dart Swinger with 73 340 engine, small valve J heads, and Mopar purple shaft 284.484, 340 cast iron manifolds, Holley 3310 vacuum secondary, Weind 8007 spread bore intake, 727 and a 8 3/4 3.23 rear. Ran 14 flat and was a decent cruiser in this configuration but I don't care much about racing anymore and just want a reliable cruiser that looks, sounds, and starts like a stock car.

I had the super quad laying around and thought it would be a good match for the spreadbore Weiand intake. Kinda tired of fooling with the Holley and it needs a full rebuild at this point.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
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Yes, definitely drain the radiator. And raise the rear of the car too, the rear ports under the manifold flanges always seem to hold coolant by vacuum if you don't get the level down in the block. Anymore, I just go ahead and pull the pipe plugs on the bottom of the water jackets in the block and flush everything in the coolant system if I'm changing a manifold. My mentality is "IF your that far into it anyway..."
 
fam_img_370-1.jpeg

I'm with YR on the gasket cinch by Edelbrock on both sides of the gasket and the head and the intake.. I put a stacked bead of "the right stuff" meaning two beads one on top of the other on the front and the back and put an extra glob in all four corners. I also put a thin smear around the water ports on the heads and the intake. The four end bolts don't go into oil but the ones in the middle all do and I just put a little bit of "the right stuff" around the tips of the bolts before I thread them in to avoid any seepage..
Did I say "THE RIGHT STUFF"...
I know it's expensive but do you like things to leak?.. in the end it's a small price to pay... everything you ever take off that that needs RTV put the right stuff on it... Water pump timing cover oil pan the right stuff...
 
More than likely, your oil is actually coming from your valve cover gaskets. If your SuperQuad is ready to run, I would say to go with a regular Edelbrock performer. You can find them used pretty for a fairly good price and they can be port matched out to the 340/360 port size. It will equal the performance of the factory iron intake and won't be nearly as hard to install. If you want even more performance from the base performer, do this modification.
10-6.jpg
 
I'd plan on pulling the distributor out. For 2 reasons: 1) The rear manifold bolts are a pain to get to, especially if the car has the stock throttle cable bracket and/or kick-down lever. 2) The rear of the manifold (as well as the front) is going to be "glued" in place and will require putty knives or some kind of prybar to break it loose.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
More than likely, your oil is actually coming from your valve cover gaskets. If your SuperQuad is ready to run, I would say to go with a regular Edelbrock performer. You can find them used pretty for a fairly good price and they can be port matched out to the 340/360 port size. It will equal the performance of the factory iron intake and won't be nearly as hard to install. If you want even more performance from the base performer, do this modification.
Click to expand...

I may swap the carb and change the valve cover gaskets before I pull the intake just to see if that cures the oil seepage. Once I pull the intake, I'll measure the ports and see what I have. The guy I bought this car from 30 years ago was known for swapping all sorts of things around so nothing would surprise me.
 
When I know I'm going to pull the distributor I always turn my motor to top dead center firing a number one. I also Mark the distributor as well so it's all right back in timing. Pay attention to which way the rotor is pointed..
 
you can check on pushrod and rocker wear, ridges, etc
check your springs does it have the springs with the dampners\
they have to be tired
new stem seals
new timing chain
 
I dont see any sense in re-inventing the wheel. You have a good intake already and reuse it. Get one of the Harbor Freight abrasive roll kit and port match them yourself . A few hours time and $20 something dollars you can correct the port mismatch.
As others have said, silicone on the China rails.
 
That’s true, too. You could probably deep port match the action plus and get the divider milled to at least match the performance of the factory iron intake. Milking the divider will no doubt help with the fuel distribution problems inherent to the spread bore plenum.
 
I'm not really chasing power anymore. leak free reliability, Drivability, throttle response, easy starting, and even fuel economy all take priority over power at this point. Trying to introduce my 13 year old to the classic car scene. The car already leaves long black stripes with ease and I'm not sure if I will be taking it back to the track.
 
Yes you can get seepage from the intake bolts mostly from the center bolts. I believe I used a product from ARP -google search it. I have always just pulled the bottom Rad hose. Yea it's a good idea to put something in the valley-plastic-rags. I use a razor blade to clean the heads ect. It would be good to have a book to follow for intake removal and sealing procedure
 
I never have problems with the FelPro intake gaskets and no glue. I am waaaay to lazy to have to clean the surfaces of thatchit, on the next go-round; plus the next time I take the intake off, I can re-use those gaskets; sometimes more than once. I understand the reason for tossing the china-wall corks too, but have never had a problem with the ones that come in the FelPro kit, if they are the correct thickness for your combo of parts.
I used "the RightStuff" once, but never again. That stuff does it's job really well. and hanging over the fenders for an hour,cleaning thatchit off, is not for me.
I do use RTV in the corners, but very sparingly.... cuz Like I say; I'm lazy, and getting it off to reuse the gasket is a bit of a pita.
>If you do use RTV on the china walls, make sure you build it up high enough and wide enough....... the first time....... cuz a second application will not stick to oily cured RTV. So you will be stuck cleaning every molecule of it off. And if you glued the gaskets on, they will tear up on the teardown. So basically, it's a $30/40+labor, do-over. No you can't just smear more RTV on the leaking area, I have never found a product that sticks to cured RTV....... Except maybe "RightStuff", and I won't use it ever again.
What I do , when forced into it, is to apply the RTV to both surfaces, wall and intake, plus corners, then drop the intake on. Then jiggle the intake for/aft a smidgeon, then center it up and bolt it down, in the prescribed circular pattern. Yes I retorque after warm-up. No, not with a T-wrench; I told you, I'm lazy. After 50 years,my wrists are built-in T-wrenches.

I'm not disagreeing with other posters nor negating their sage advice; only stating/sharing my experience.
 
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I must be one lucky buggar. I've never had oil wick up the intake bolts.

Now that I've typed that, I'm sure that oil will blow out the bolts like a volcano and douche the whole engine compartment.

My luck runs that way.


Edit: are you guys using a working PCV system or Pan Evacs or similar??
 
Motors that develop crank case pressure (blow by, windage, rings, guides, ect) will be more problematic than motors with some kind of crank case vacuum source. When motors are fresh they don't typically have issues, but when they start getting worn the problems manifest themselves. I just use thread sealant on them to avoid any issues down the road. I figure why take the chance, applying sealant takes an extra min anyway.
 
I don't care where the blowby comes out...... so long as it ain't the rear mainseail.lol; I hate when it does thatl.

But yeah I have always run PCVs and breathers with return tubes.
Some of my older 318s did that.
The factory bolts are pretty good at keeping that down to a minimum.
 
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