intake manifold gaskets optional?

[mjwebb]

has any ever heard of not installing these and just using gasket sealer? is that an acceptable practice or nonsense?

[FLG]

I would always use a gasket over using sealer, if the area is pitted i will use gasket AND a sealer to fill in the holes.

[mjwebb]

so the valley pan with the gasket molded in isn't good enough? thanks

[FLG]

Use the gaskets and some ultra copper high temp RTV, put on the intake, make it snug, let the stuff set up and then tighten to torqe specs.

[mjwebb]

thanks...and sorry, still learning my way on this site...I asked the question then thought of a 'search', and low and behold....this topic ad naseum...lol

[Nacho-RT74]

are we talking about BB ?

you don't need gaskets... the valley pan IS the gasket!

They are sold around but they don't fit, UNLESS you milled intake, due milled heads job and to match geometry back with some untouched heads

[FLG]

Good catch nacho, sorry forgot to ask...remembered form another one of your posts...thought it was a 318 but doh!! 383...nacho is right disregard my info 

I remember reading it on here not to long ago...i soak it all up like a sponge.

I think Ron and Nacho are tired of my questions already...i always wind up bothering them with PM's

Figure its always best to learn by asking questions then by trial and error. Granted they both get you to the same place, but just by asking a question you save alot of time and potentially alot of money if you didnt and things went wrong.

[Nacho-RT74]

well he never told about the engine, just talked about valley pan... so I guessed we were talking about BB, because SBs doesn't have a valley pan.

[b5blue]

They make gaskets to go with the valley pan in different thicknesses also. When I put my six pack on I ordered a gasket set from Mancini and it just had the valley pan....I'll never just use that again...dry fit and check it first, if it's very close use thin gaskets. Remember 99% of the time were not using a new block and heads.

[Ghoste]

IF they decked the block or machined the heads.  In more cases than not though you'll still be fine with just the valley pan.

[b5blue]

I was a "not" and it was a bummer!(it was LATER that I found six pack calls for it!)

[Ghoste]

Now that I did not know.

[b5blue]

Fel Pro 1215 is what I used and they were actually a bit too thick, but my block height was stock and my 346 heads (lightly used) were just cleaned up for surfacing not cut down...that's why I thought it would work fine. (The 1215 blocks off the heat crossover too, I drilled a 1/8 hole in each side to let some "heat" in.) Remember head gasket thickness alone can change intake alignment...there's a really good section on that in Larry Shepard's book "The MOPAR Six Pack Engine Handbook", if I can get the scanner working on my printer (?) it would be a good thing to post! (still trying to read Vista for Dummies...sorry)

[maxwellwedge]

Back in the day Chrysler did release a supplemental gasket kit (to fix leaks) to use with the valley pan on 6 packs. They were thin almost paper-like pieces.

[b5blue]

Yes exactly Shepard recommends shimming up between the intake and the blocks "chinawall" .040 (or whatever) squaring the intake and checking the gaps topside and bottom side at the corners between the intake and head for parallel. With some extrapolation you can "dial" in the thickness of the gasket that will match your build. Some of this may be over kill for a stock on stock build but oil really drops your octane and good port alignment builds more power right! On this subject don't forget to put RTV in the corners to seal the valley to the block/head mating area and put sealant on the intake bolt threads to keep oil from "wicking up" onto the top of the valley pan.(Thank Firefighter for that tip)   

[Purple440]

Well I was just using the valley pan as the gasket and some gasket sealer.  A local race shop was saying they were having a tough time sealing without a real gasket, and in my case they were right.  It's running much better now that it's buttoned up