Intake to exhaust gasket thickness?

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Doug.S

Doug.S

1964 Dart More Door
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
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Saylorsburg, PA
I am new to the forum, so thank you for the assistance! I am looking at a 64 Dart 170 to buy as a semi-daily driver. The car is great, the engine is great. The question I have is about the intake to exhaust manifold gasket. When looking at the connection point of the intake/exhaust from the drivers side fender, I can see a gasket in between the two manifolds. It is a thin gasket about the thickness of a business card. If you trace around the connection to head side, I can feel an exhaust leak and there is a gap there of at least 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch. Almost like the intake to exhaust gasket is not thick enough and the bolts on the battery/ fender side are pulling too tight leaving a gap on the head side. I just dont get how this could happen considering those surfaces should be machined in such a way that they should almost touch without the need of a gasket there. Could this be a mismatched intake and exhaust manifold? The current owner thinks the car is the 170 with a 225 slant six. I was under the impression the 170 Dart only came with the smaller 170 or 198 slant six...could this be the wrong intake or exhaust? Any reply would be greatly appreciated.
Doug
 
All factory Slant-6 intake and exhaust manifolds are compatible with one another, though if the mating surfaces are damaged or marred it will be difficult to seal them. Those stupid stamped-steel gaskets usually sealed okeh (not perfect, just okeh) with new manifolds. With used ones, abandon all hope. Similar case with the manifolds-to-head gasket. Easy enough fix; It is very much worth your while to get the good thick gaskets for the for the manifolds-to-head, intake-to-exhaust, and exhaust-to-pipe junctions. Hardware and installation: read this and this.

And no, any available engine (170, 225, 273) could be had in any trim level of Dart (170, 270, GT). The trim level has nothing to do with what engine is in the car. And the 198 wasn't available 'til '70.
 
slantsixdan,
Thank you so much for the reply. In looking at the articles that you linked in your reply, I believe i have found an instant fly in the ointment. The gasket on this car is paper or a paper equivalent. The material should really be the metal gasket that can be slightly "crushed" as it is torqued down to form the seal in between intake and exhaust. Thanks again. I am 90% on buying the car and I know I will be here picking your brain for more info if I do.
Doug
 
When are You going to see the car again? If the engine is original look at the deck-pad under spark plug #1 by the alt. bracket for the stampings, should see a "V" if it is a
'64 model year engine, and there will be either a 17(170) or 22(225), then there are date & shift stampings.
 
Easy visual way to figure out if it is a 170 or 225 is by the length of the bypass hose at the front of the engine. I don't remember the exact lengths but I can eyeball them and tell right away. The 170 is about 1" shorter than a 198 or 225. As mentioned already, the 198 didn't come out until 1970 model year. (But buying an old car is like buying a box of chocolates) Be careful when you change that gasket as the 3 screws are relatively small and easy to snap off.

Another way to determine the engine size is to drive it. If it's slow, you have a 225.
If it's slower, then it's a 170.
 
Doug.S said:
slantsixdan,
Thank you so much for the reply. In looking at the articles that you linked in your reply, I believe i have found an instant fly in the ointment. The gasket on this car is paper or a paper equivalent
Click to expand...

Unless a previous owner has done something well and truly stupid, it's not paper, but it doesn't matter—it's not sealing, but there are good gaskets available to make it do so.
 
In looking at the intake to exhaust again, I see there are normally 3 studs that run from the intake to the exhaust to hold those manifolds together. The two bolts on the drivers side (non engine side) of the manifolds are there and tight. The third bolt that runs up through the intake from the exhaust on the head side is not there or is broken off below the intake. Im sure this is the instant solution to the problem and hopefully has not allowed any strange warpage of the manifolds. I will post pics once the car is here at my house.
 
Doug.S said:
In looking at the intake to exhaust again, I see there are normally 3 studs that run from the intake to the exhaust to hold those manifolds together. The two bolts on the drivers side (non engine side) of the manifolds are there and tight. The third bolt that runs up through the intake from the exhaust on the head side is not there or is broken off below the intake. Im sure this is the instant solution to the problem and hopefully has not allowed any strange warpage of the manifolds. I will post pics once the car is here at my house.
Click to expand...

There may be...or may not. Remflex also makes the one for between the manifolds. Any minor warpage wont be an issue with remflex. Follow the proper install procedure. If the one bolt is broken you may be able to easy out it or drill it and retap.
 
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