Intake Swap

[Carguy4sp]

Hey guys I will be installing a new air gap intake in a few days and I am a little worried about broken bolts on my original intake Q code 3514V engine. The intake has never been off since new.

Any tips, advise on the changeover would be great. The Airgap intake will be topped off with a 650 DP mechanical secondaries.

I have watched a few YouTube videos and each one did the gasket install a little different.

 

[Don C]

Type "intake manifold gasket" in the search box in the upper right of this page and you'll find several discussions on methods and how to get it on straight so it doesn't leak.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Hey guys I will be installing a new air gap intake in a few days and I am a little worried about broken bolts on my original intake Q code 3514V engine. The intake has never been off since new.

Any tips, advise on the changeover would be great. The Airgap intake will be topped off with a 650 DP mechanical secondaries.

I have watched a few YouTube videos and each one did the gasket install a little different.

If the manifold has never been off you will be surprised bolts will probably be loose. There is no water in the Cleveland intake so no place to rust the bolts except the water neck holding the thermostat.

I pretty much always run a tap in the holes to clean them out and blow out any chips. Keep the lifter galley and intake openings covered when doing this.

After you have read some of the threads on the forum there should be no issue.

 

[MeZapU]

Often a small cordless impact driver would work well in trying to remove rusty bolts. The impact action is more likely to loosen any crud/rust and successfully extract a bolt. Lots of smaller taps are often better vs a single high torque removal action of a ratchet.

Like said above, Clevelands don't have coolant in the intake. If any of the bolts would be more difficult to remove it would be the ones at the center of the intake around the heat riser port as they may be a little heat frozen.

 

[Carguy4sp]

Often a small cordless impact driver would work well in trying to remove rusty bolts. The impact action is more likely to loosen any crud/rust and successfully extract a bolt. Lots of smaller taps are often better vs a single high torque removal action of a ratchet.

Like said above, Clevelands don't have coolant in the intake. If any of the bolts would be more difficult to remove it would be the ones at the center of the intake around the heat riser port as they may be a little heat frozen.

Thanks for your advise. I have a small butterfly type air impact and I will try that and see how well it works. I guess I was a nervous nelly about the bolts snapping.

 

[Duncan Mach72]

If I'm worried about bolts shearing because they have been in place for a long time I often put a punch (or socket extension) against the centre of the bolt head and hit it with a lump hammer a couple of times. Obviously use your discretion with the blows as cast iron can break! This seems to help loosen them without having to apply a traumatic amount of torque.

 

[Henry Ford]

The most important thing reuse the factory fasteners if the are the proper length.(clean, polish and clearcoat or alum paint.) IF you insist on "shiny" bolts make sure they are like factory quality, Grade 8. Trans-dapt, Mr Gasket and others sell chrome or zinc plated junk, they do not take the recommended torque ratings.

I am not familiar with the choke heater tube mount for that intake but if a block off plate is supplied check for proper fastener length where the threads may bottom before actual clamping is reached.

I have always used the factory metal gasket with "ultra-grey" locktite RTV.

I lay those cheesy rubber end seals ( I actually like them) on a thin layer of RTV on the block, add 4 gobs on the ends (head to block joint), lay my metal pan gasket in place after a super thin coating of sealer around the port openings, drop on the intake and tighten the fasteners finger tight. check to make sure the intake is parallel to the blaock surface. Tweak fasteners to pull the intake level and then snug with a wrench to sit overnight.

next day remove intake and ensure pan gasket is seat properly. You may then seal the ports with a touch of RTV only enough to see grooves in your finger prints. Think of sealer as a cellophane wrap, just thick enough to keep your engine fresh, any thicker and you parts are out of tolerance.

My own patented trick is to coat one mating surface with thin grease layer.

I have pulled my intake and valve covers in a parking lot to swap out a bent push rod and reassembled without any sealers and drove for years after, cork and paper gaskets never tear on removal.

(my valve covers use studs and the nuts are always only finger tight, only ever lost one and they never leaked, even after remove/replace many times)