Edelbrock Performer 2665 Machining Issue?

[Steve73QMach1]

I have an Edelbrock Performer 2665 351 4V intake installed on my 73 Mach 1. I have had a persistent vacuum leak for a year. Today I pulled the intake off. This is what I see in Cylinder 7 intake:

Now, I saw this when I bought the intake. This hole is for the carb mounting bolt. To me, it appears that they drilled too far. I wouldn't expect the holes to mount the carb to go all the way through the intake. None of the other carb mounting holes are like this. I took the intake back to the store I purchased it from. They said it was not an issue but agreed to exhchange. The next one they gave me was the same way. The guy at the store said that the carb bolt will seal this and it is not an issue. Has anyone else seen this on their Edelbrock intakes?

 

[Kit Sullivan]

Thats normal. You need to install that bolt with sealer to prevent that leak.

 

[judge]

When I look at this picture it looks like there was a gasket missalligned. The dark surface around the port seems unusual. But maybe I'm missing something. Agree with Kit the screw hole is no big deal. Even without sealant it shouldn't make a difference.

 

[cudak888]

Agreed on the gasket alignment - looks as if it may not have sealed properly at the top.

This wasn't an aluminum pan-style gasket by any chance, was it? I can't stand them - never had one seal well; a constant source of intake vacuum leaks.

-Kurt

 

[Steve73QMach1]

There was an aluminum valley pan gasket installed along with the Felpro 1228 gaskets. Sounds like I can dump the valley pan gasket. I agree - there was an alignment problem. Another reason I am doing it myself this time. The 1228 Felpro gaskets block off the heat crossover ports - is that OK with this aluminum intake? This is not going to be a racer - just a street driven fair weather car.


Here are a couple of photos of my gasket configuration and misalignment. Of course the Edelbrock ports are much smaller that the Cleveland heads but the alignment is not good.

One other thing is that the end seals on the intake were cork. The ones that were originally installed were neoprene. There may have been a leak there too.

 

[cudak888]

Eww.

Some people argue that the pan is its own gasket, though one source claims that OEM had normal gaskets at the bottom, and the valley pan gasket on top - reverse of what you show in the photo. Others claim that OEM (on the 351M/400, anyway) had gaskets at the bottom, the pan, and paper gaskets on top.

Who knows?

Frankly, I don't care what the original setup was. I've seen them set up with no gasket, and the result is always a huge vacuum leak. I've seen them set up with gaskets at the bottom, and I've still heard vacuum leaks (not to mention cussing on installation). Adding gaskets to the top can't make it any better.

At any rate, Edelbrock advises against the valley pan gasket, and I follow that bit of advice. I use the Felpro 1228's on their own, and never had a problem - though I found the cork end seals to be a lousy fit on a 400 with an Edelbrock Performer 400. Had to seal the whole thing with The Right Stuff on top of the cork seals. Not a "clean" job by any means, but the Right Stuff did the job perfectly and doesn't look messy at all.

There's no reason for the heat crossover not to be plugged up by the gasket - that will only increase the chances that you'll coke up the oil on the bottom of the hot intake.

-Kurt

 

[Totalled]

It helps prevent fuel puddling in the bottom of the intake plenum in cool weather. If you don't drive your car in those conditions, it won't be a problem to block it off.

 

[Don C]

The crossover improved driveability in cold weather and provided a heat source for the choke.

The key to getting a proper seal is making sure the manifold is square and level. It helps if you put 4 long studs in the center holes to keep it aligned. Start by tightening all of the bolts finger tight in the correct pattern. Then torque to half the spec and then to full torque, also all in the correct pattern. Let it set for a while and then re-torque. You may also need to re-torque after the engine had gone through a couple of heat cycles.

 

[Steve73QMach1]

Thanks for the responses everyone. One last thing, the gaskets I removed were covered in RTV on the cylinder head side. Is it necessary to use RTV around all of the ports if I use the Felpro 1228 gaskets?

 

[Ron Tanzi]

I have used both the stock "turkey pan" and the fel-pro #1240 intake gaskets on my 2bbl heads with the Edelbrock performer aluminum intake. Stock intake gaskets worked fine with the stock 2 bbl cast iron intake when I first rebuilt the engine to stock specs. The second time around the "turkey pan" screwed me when my engine was on the Dyno and had a massive vacuum leak(with the performer intake). I went back to the fel pro gaskets(I had used these before I rebuilt the engine the second time but changed to the performer) I have always used right stuff to seal the intake ends. I also use the heat cross over by modifying the gaskets. I have had the intake off after running this set up and had no coking on the bottom of the intake after 20 K miles. I do run synthetic oil.

I feel the crossover is a must for cold weather drivabilty with a Cleveland due to the port size and the cold fuel/air mixture falling out of suspension. It is really not great to load up cylinders with raw fuel on every cold start and run crappy for 15 minutes. Just relaying my experience.

Ron

 

[TommyK]

Thanks for the responses everyone. One last thing, the gaskets I removed were covered in RTV on the cylinder head side. Is it necessary to use RTV around all of the ports if I use the Felpro 1228 gaskets?

You shouldn't have to. I agree with the suggestion to ditch the end seals and use The Right Stuff or RTV on the china walls.

When I had my Cleveland I used Gaskacinch to hold the gasket in the proper location during install. I sprayed the intake side with Pam. I was able to R&R the intake several times after that without changing the gasket.

All the above assumes the heads have not been milled to the point of creating a mis-alignment between the the head and intake surfaces. You can check that by dropping the intake on dry without the gaskets in place.

It is a good idea to block off the exhaust heat passage with a strategically placed piece of metal. A beer can is handy for this purpose. I usually have plenty of those and the "prep" is very rewarding.