Intake Manifold Valley Pan Installation

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sgtjd

Well-known member
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May 20, 2011
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Location
Fairborn OH
My Car
1973 Mach 1
Got the heads on and now its time to do the Intake Manifold Valley Pan Installation. Question: when I read the shop manual for installing the intake manifold gasket it reads "apply non hardening sealer at the four junction points of the seals and cylinder heads". It doesn't say anything about applying any sealer around the ports. Howerver, the fel pro gasket valley pan instructions states this: Apply a thin coat of sealer around the intake ports on the top side of the gasket. Now apply a 1/8 inch bead of silicone sealer around each water port on the gasket. So do you apply sealer or not? thanks in advance.

 
There are many thoughts on the turkey basket. I intend on installing mine. The directions are horrible aren't they?!?!?!

My builder told me to use a feeler gage between the manifold and the head to assure I did not have any space. Otherwise, oil may by sucked by one or more of the intakes and burned out the tail.

From:

http://www.mustangsandmore.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/005990.html

Daniel Jones

Gearhead

posted 01-31-2002 03:38 PM

If you're using the turkey pan, apply a thin layer

of the black Permatex around the ports of the pan. Allow the Permatex to

get tacky before installing. Using long guide on the 4 center (the

vertical ones) will help guide the manifold into place.

Also from this post:

The pan protects the oil from splashing on the hot exhaust crossover port.

Use it unless you've blocked off the port or have an intake without a

crossover passage (Holley Strip Dominator, for one).

The rubber intake manifold gasket end seals can be troublesome, especially if the heads and/or intake have been milled. Many builders toss the rubber seals and just lay down a bead of RTV but I don't like that as I've seen too many engines with RTV bits clogging up pushrod holes and oil pick ups. I prefer to buy or make my own end seals from cork. I peen the block rails with a punch so the gasket won't squeeze out while it's being torqued down.

BTW, this also works well on valve cover gaskets. Use Permatex 300 (the

black stuf I thinkit's called Permatex Aviaton Form-a-Gasket now) or a

contact cement to hold the gaskets in place. Don't use RTV except in the

corners of the end rails and even there I prefer using the red/brown

(hardeneing) Permatex.

 
You can use both FelPro gaskets and the turkey pan. Just trim the turkey pay so it doesn't contact the gaskets or the ends, leave a couple of tabs on each side that will line up with the manifold bolts, then drill a couple of holes in the low points on the turkey pan to drain any oil out. For added insulation you can spray a couple of coats of white ceramic engine paint on the bottom of the intake manifold.

 
Take a look at it from this direction for a moment. Hot oil on a fingertip is quite painful quickly due to the heat transfer and the fact that oil "holds" heat. On the cast iron manifolds heat was not disipated quickly due to the type of metal. Aluminum disapates heat very quickly at the top air exposed side. on the bottom without the pan it will hold the oils heat and tranfer it to the top. The last turkey pan I used had a spot where oil obviousley layed and the oil was fried to the pan as dry as toast. We used the ceramic paint on the bottom as well (Great idea Don C) and the insulating properties of it work great. I personally didn't have fuel issues but we were running a can cooler while racing anyway but not using it when daily driving.

 
You can use both FelPro gaskets and the turkey pan. Just trim the turkey pay so it doesn't contact the gaskets or the ends, leave a couple of tabs on each side that will line up with the manifold bolts, then drill a couple of holes in the low points on the turkey pan to drain any oil out.
The felpro gaskets with the turkey pan are pretty thin. Are you sure we should use them?

Any chance you could cut and paste what the turkey should look like when we are done cutting?

fel-ms96010_w.jpg


For added insulation you can spray a couple of coats of white ceramic engine paint on the bottom of the intake manifold.
I can't get paint to stick on solid steel, sanded with 80 grit sand paper, wiped with a tack cloth, wiped with paint thinner, primed with filler primer, sanded with 400 grit sandpaper and painted with engine enamel. How am I going to get paint to stick to that turkey pan?

 
You can use both FelPro gaskets and the turkey pan. Just trim the turkey pay so it doesn't contact the gaskets or the ends, leave a couple of tabs on each side that will line up with the manifold bolts, then drill a couple of holes in the low points on the turkey pan to drain any oil out.
The felpro gaskets with the turkey pan are pretty thin. Are you sure we should use them?
We used Felpro with the turkey pan and had no issues on my '71

M-code. Be sure and check the torque of the bolts after you have

run the engine for a few hours. We found mine had loosened up

a bit.

mike

 
Aluminum oxidizes almost instantly. That is a reason it corrodes slowly. It is also why paint won't stick to it very well. I don't want paint falling off of the underside of my intake into the engine valley. There are zinc chromate etching primers, but I don't know of any heat resistant etching primers.

I am using a turkey pan for the moment, but when I rebuild my short block, I will not use one as there are no heat crossovers and it is of too little value to justify the potential leaks. What I do intend to do is deburr and polish the underside off my manifold to a nice shiny finish.

 
Often the cause of intake leaks is gasket slip caused by improper lowering of the intake onto the heads, especially with the turkey pan. Someone posted a method for insuring the intake manifold is perfectly inline when lowering it onto the heads to avoid any gasket slip that I thought was pretty good info. You cut off the heads of a couple of spare bolts that fit into the heads this allows you to lower the intake perfectly inline with no slip. Start your other bolts then back out the bolts used to lower the intake onto the heads.

 
You cut off the heads of a couple of spare bolts that fit into the heads this allows you to lower the intake perfectly inline with no slip. Start your other bolts then back out the bolts used to lower the intake onto the heads.
Set screws would work well also:

socket_set_screw_cup_point.jpg


 
[set screws would work well also:

socket_set_screw_cup_point.jpg
Cutting the heads off of bolts is more of an adventure.LOL

Set screws...shows how little I work on the engine, didn't even know they made such a thing, I would have cut a finger off trying to cut the heads off of the bolts.

Jim

 
Set screws...shows how little I work on the engine, didn't even know they made such a thing, I would have cut a finger off trying to cut the heads off of the bolts.
I don't want to leave the impression that I was upstaging a forum member. I have NEVER used a set screw for this application. It literally just occurred to me, probably due to a recent rummaging session at my manly man's hardware store. Now I have to go back and buy some....

 
I don't want to leave the impression that I was upstaging a forum member. I have NEVER used a set screw for this application. It literally just occurred to me, probably due to a recent rummaging session at my manly man's hardware store. Now I have to go back and buy some....

Nahh, that's good stuff, the reason we're all here, to save other members time money and fingers...I love this place, wish I had discovered the site before all my misadventures on my Mach, learning the hard way.

Jim

 
+1 on either set screw or all thread. Make sure you just use two screws as Mentioned. Thinking more was better does not work with angled taps.

 
+1 on the screws. As Jim states only use a couple. Thinking more was better does not work on tapped holes on an angle. Two on one side works well. image.jpg

 
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