383 Edelbrock WTH???'s

[dodgepaul1969]

I got this manifold in the trunk of a 70 Runner I bought years ago, never even opened the box other than to take a quick look at what was in it when I found it. Box looked almost new, it's been up on the shelf for quite a few years. I pulled it down tonight. Can anyone come up with an idea why someone would of drilled the mounting/bolt holes out like this???

[dodgepaul1969]

another shot

[Ghoste]

They probably used the valley pan with the paper gaskets they seem to throw in with the pan now and the intake bolts were just not quite lining up.

[A383Wing]

or the engine that it was on previously had the heads milled too much and they had to enlarge the holes to make it fit

[HPP]

It was put it on an engine with milled heads. Milling the heads or decking the block drops the heads lower in relation to the angle the intake sits at, so now the bolt holes don't line up. Gasket face on the intake should be milled a corresponding amount, but it looks like they just reamed the holes with a drill bit. Bet it didn't seal well on that engine either.

[BSB67]

I got this manifold in the trunk of a 70 Runner I bought years ago, never even opened the box other than to take a quick look at what was in it when I found it. Box looked almost new, it's been up on the shelf for quite a few years. I pulled it down tonight. Can anyone come up with an idea why someone would of drilled the mounting/bolt holes out like this???

The best anyone can do is guess, but I think the possible reasons have been stated  My guess in priority:

1) He had a vacuum leak between the head and intake.  Went to add the paper gaskets to help it seal and it would not fit - drilled the holes.
2) Simply wanted to use the paper gaskets that came with the intake  - drilled the holes
3) Milled the heads and/or the block quite a bit, and wanted to run a shim head gasket. Normal squaring and head milling will not require you to enlarge the holes.

The enlarged hole should not effect future intake sealing.  Just use a thick hardened washer and it will work fine and look good too.