383 intake gasket and valve cover choice

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gdbuick

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Hello
My 383 sprung and oil leak from the intake manifold. My first time inside this motor that came with the car.
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My metal pan has part# 90105 stamped on it. Is there an intake manifold gasket that I can buy and from who that has the heat crossover blocked off as I don’t run a choke?

Also my valve covers have been leaking oil they are heavily RTV because they are warped. I would like to buy a decent set of valve covers and appropriate gaskets as I will be building another motor this winter. Hopefully ones that I don’t have to use any RTV on so I can pull off the valve covers easily any time. Suggestions please. I’m ready to order.
 
There are probably many opinions on this, but I don't recommend any silicone on v/cover gaskets. I gorilla snot gasket to the cover ( I like rubberized cork) and no sealer at the head. Always straighten cover at the bolt holes. Intakes w/ no heat cross-over are available.
 
I found a gasket on fel-pro 1214 that says the cross over is blocked. After researching all the valve cover choices I ended up ordering moroso perm- align valve cover gaskets along with mopar performance polished valve covers. Hope I get a good set with good alignment bolt holes and no leaks as there were reviews about issues of this.

Seems to be mixed advice on installing the steel gasket along with the four paper gaskets or not that come in the kit. Also RTV or not. This is my first installation on a mopar. Sure not to be my last now. As I don't know the history of this block or manifold I'm leaning towards the steel tray only unless I can glue paper gaskets to steel gaskets and everything lines up good. Use rtv on block ends and corners, a little rtv around ports and thread sealant on intake bolts. Hopefully this will work out ok.
There was only the steel gasket present when I took it part along with RTV shown in the pictures.
 
Old Mopar mechanic here. Just my opinion, but original steel gasket works fine all by itself. We had a spray-on gasket sealer we used around the intake ports for a little more re-assurance. Silicone here is a little over-kill but OK. Where RTV is good is in the four corners. Where the head and block meet the gasket is where they used to leak. A dab of RTV here is good. The availability of the paper gaskets (even from the factory) was viewed as only needed on aluminum manifolds to minimize wear/rubbing on the aluminum.
 
Moroso v.c. gaskets are the best . torque them to 8-12 ft.lbs., no more . the Fel-pro 1214 is what I used without the paper . RTV the corners and the china wall . Good luck .
 
383Scampman said:
Moroso v.c. gaskets are the best . torque them to 8-12 ft.lbs., no more . the Fel-pro 1214 is what I used without the paper . RTV the corners and the china wall . Good luck .
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The China wall? Hey, I’m new to the mopar land what can I say.
 
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Quality is certainly something my son has been learning with this car build. We bought 4 rocket wheels from jegs and had to return one due to poor chrome in lug area. Shipped that one rim and got one back from jegs which was no better very frustrating.
I checked mine out. I found one that is suspect with a crack but doesn’t go all the way thru. Maybe it will later after tightening? Both of the valve covers have casting lines visible by the mopar letters.
 
@gdbuick, that's EXACTLY what I was talking about on the dog ear! It's a lot more disturbing than the spiderweb look around the lettering (which is just extra casting flash).

From a motorhead standpoint, I'm sorry your son is getting an introduction to the hobby like that. Sadly we all seem to be much more passionate about the Mopar brand than the company itself is. :elmer:
 
CudaChick1968 said:
@gdbuick, that's EXACTLY what I was talking about on the dog ear! It's a lot more disturbing than the spiderweb look around the lettering (which is just extra casting flash).

From a motorhead standpoint, I'm sorry your son is getting an introduction to the hobby like that. Sadly we all seem to be much more passionate about the Mopar brand than the company itself is. :elmer:
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My son actually found another crack on the other valve cover I missed it with my older eyes. We might have missed both if you didn’t bring it to our attention. I’m very disappointed getting my son into this hoppy. We sold two Harley’s to get this dart project. We ordered Super stock springs and they were shipped unwrapped and my wife actually saw the driver throw them out the truck on the pavement at our house. Pretty sad.
 
I have always use a valley pan with two gaskets on each side when in stalled with an aluminum intake. Years ago I had nothing but intake leaks. With the expansion and contraction on the aluminum, your intake bolts will start to get loose. I also check the intake bolts every spring just to make sure they are tight. Since that I have not had any problems with any motor. Just my experience with intakes. Everyone has their own opinion.
 
68dodge said:
I have always use a valley pan with two gaskets on each side when in stalled with an aluminum intake. Years ago I had nothing but intake leaks. With the expansion and contraction on the aluminum, your intake bolts will start to get loose. I also check the intake bolts every spring just to make sure they are tight. Since that I have not had any problems with any motor. Just my experience with intakes. Everyone has their own opinion.
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Thank you. Since the gaskets lined up well we glued the gaskets to the pan. We plan to use this spray on both sides of the gasket before installation.
 
All back together and picked up a slightly used 750 quick fuel carb as the Holley that came with the car has been problematic. Those Moroso valve cover gaskets are nice. My son drove car one day. Then today we but on the quick fuel carb. My son took it for a ride said the car runs awesome never this good. So I went to take my first ride and it backed it up in the driveway I noticed the oil pressure gauge (actual mechanical oil fed aftermarket gauge inside car) is reading zero we know it was reading good pressure earlier today. Shut off car Checked to make sure there was no restriction where it screws into the back of the engine block. Also can see the plastic line has no oil in it when running. Engine sounds OK but it’s starting to tick so obviously there’s a problem what do you guys think ? Seems awfully coincidental we just had the intake off engine oil was changed with this job and is still crystal clear and we did change the filter.
oil pump failure, bad oil filter , clogged oil pan pickup, spun bearing ugg where do I start. Just did all this work hoping we could get reliable car until the winter and then build another engine this winter. We just picked up a 400 block yesterday actually.

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Yes dissapionting but lets not get crazy yet. Lets confirm that it really has low pressure. Remove all fittings on the back of the block and confirm with a mechanical test gauge. This could be simply a blockage in those fittings line to the gauge. Engine looks great, keep up the good work.
 
Disappointing very but like you say maybe something simple. I took off the oil pressure Gauge line at back of block and took out the fitting screwed into block. No issues. Also cranked over engine with rag over oil gauge port and nothing in rag. It sounded to me like the engine starting ticking so I suspect I really lost oil pressure for reasons unknown.
 
One other thing that happened that was not planned. Somehow when I placed and order for some jegs parts I also ordered oil filter fram ph8a and valvoline oil I screwed up and ordered 5w30 instead of 10w-30. Running with 5w30 now.
 
The PH-8a is the one quart Ford V-8 filter. The old Fram big block Dodge number was PH-43 but it's been uhhhhh a long time since I worked a parts counter.
 
While researching no oil pressure I found a thread by member phaelax Who had a similar experience. Pulled off first valve cover and found one bent pushrod and one push rod through the rocker arm. The lifter of both seam to still be in their grooves.

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So what’s the standard recovery for something like this ?
I don’t know the history of this engine so it’s probably worn out I do have a 73 or 74 400 motor I just bought yesterday can I use parts from that engine just to get this up and running. I assume I’m going to have to pull off the intake again at a bare minimum unless both lifters are still in the bore I can see one is.

That crusty engine sitting in the tire is the 4oo engine I just picked up.
 
I think it would be a good idea to pull the spark plug on that cylinder with the broken rocker and bent push rod. Turn the motor by hand to see if the piston is in one piece or a valve piece broke off. Your cam lift is not to high for valve clearance is it? Also to have no oil pressure, you lost your pump, a bearing could of gone out or a plugged pick up tube.
 
68dodge said:
I think it would be a good idea to pull the spark plug on that cylinder with the broken rocker and bent push rod. Turn the motor by hand to see if the piston is in one piece or a valve piece broke off. Your cam lift is not to high for valve clearance is it? Also to have no oil pressure, you lost your pump, a bearing could of gone out or a plugged pick up tube.
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Ok, I can check inside that cylinder. I also have one of those fiber optic lights that I have used before to look inside spark plug holes. Not sure why this happened unless old parts mixed with perhaps a spirited over reved motor by my 18 year old son. Zero oil pressure is disturbing but hoping I can get her back up and running if no major issues found.

The cam is nothing radical i do have the specs in my paper work from previous owner.
Thks
Greg
 
Going to start a new tread "383 lost oil pressure" due to this new problem.
Thanks to everyone that got me this far.
 
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