my stealth ram wont seal to the heads.. it keeps leaking oil into the intake.. I have attempted three times to seal it and have not had any luck.. i tried felpro 1205 twice and a slightly smaller port good quality gasket and neither has worked. I even put a small amount of rtv on the lower portion of the intake gasket this last time and still have the same problem... It did this with the stock 305 heads AND with the TFS heads i have now.

any ideas?

 

Something's out of whack. Take it off and drop it on with no gaskets. Slide it over across the china walls against one head and then the other. The intake and head sealing surfaces should be FLAT against eachother. Given you've had the same problem against 2 sets of heads I'd suspect that the intake was either machined incorrectly from the factory or was milled to fit on a set of angle-milled heads (if you got it used).

I had a brand new Performer RPM intake a few years ago that was crooked as a dog's hind leg right out of the box. I only caught it prior to the point of frustration because I always do the above procedure (and a few other tests like trying to rock it corner-to-corner on the block and laying a straight edge across both intake sealing surfaces) before installing an intake. Sometimes you just get one that's out of whack.

 

thats what i figured. i was just curious if there was something i could do to fix this? because im sure they wont send me a new one.

 

no ideas? more rtv? any gaskets same size as felpro 1205 that are thicker with a lot of squish? Id really like to use my stealth ram and not go back to tpi

 

im going to put an *** load of rtv on it, thats all i can think of... good luck to me

 

i only use rtv on the ends where it mates to the block.
i always use 3m weatherstrip adhesive/gasket sealant. works freakin awesome. it is a pain in the *** to get off, but i never have leaks with it.
try that!

 

is it thick like rtv?

 

i tried no gaskets plus "the right stuff" , no luck, I tried felpro 1205 and a very small amount finger smeared around intake ports and water ports, still no luck. I tried over torquing out of frustration, no luck. Still leaking, and now its leaking water into the oil also

 

After all this are you sure its coming from the intake? If so how do you know its leaking at the intake? There is a chance you just have a bad intake but with enough RTV sealer you can make just about anything seal as long as its not under high pressure however since youve fail after so many attempts I'm curious if your problem isnt elsewhere.

 

because everytime i manage to get oil along the runners of the intake and heads.. it always somehow gets between the gasket and heads or intake, i can see the oil there everytime i take the intake off... this time it was only on one side so im lead to beleive the intake isnt wide enough?? has anyone tried double gasketing?? will it work?

 

Do you think it is possible to leak from the bolt holes. Have you tried to put a little sealer on the bolt threads.

 

ive used teflon tape every time. i used shelac and glued two 1205's together, still the same results.. I highly doubt summit is going to honor a return if faulty

 

RTV and gas dont mix. I use permatex Hitack. The red stuff that comes in a brush on can. coat head and both sides of gaskets, The right stuff around water passages on both sides of the gaskets. And a the right stuff on the ends. set the intake on with the gaskets dry, check your gaps and angles. Double gasketing is uncommon but has been done, we sometime use it on our circle track SBD's. You should see approx a 1/8" to 3/16" gap on the ends of the intake.

 

use pipe sealer that dope stuff. teflon tape won't do the job on these bolts to keep oil from coming pass the threads. also put a dab of the pipe sealer under the bolts head before it contacts the intake and it should never leak again.

 

ok, next time the intake comes off ill try it.. im going broke just trying to get this thing to not leak

 

well, i finally got the intake to stop leaking oil.. i used the fel pro 1266 gaskets, however, i found a more serious problem that was actually causing the stuttering/misfire... it got real bad just recently so i decided to do a compression test, 162/163 on all but cylinder number 8.. the very last one i attempted and as soon as i pulled the spark plug water came out .. i knew i had coolant in my oil and thought maybe i jut didnt get that part to seal, well water in one cylinder makes sense to be the head gasket, correct?? it was 195 during the compression test

 

It's possible the water is coming from the coolant port near the #8 intake port (again a gasket issue), but I wouldn't bet on it. Head gasket, cracked head or cracked block would be more likely.

 

My stock 305 filled the number 8 cylinder with coolant after sitting all winter with the flex plate stripped (would not start). RH RR intake bolts were not tight, but engine had 168K miles. If I had know the bolts were loose, I would have likely stopped the leak by tightening the bolts. Your problem really baffles me! The left /right slide test that Damon suggested should show if the intake is straight or not. I would add to set the gap at the top and bottom with a feeler gauge. Use a .020 strip at the top edge on each end of the intake. Have a helper hold it in place against the side and against the block surface so it will not move. Use a slightly thinner feeler gauge and check the gap at the bottom corner, front and rear. The .018 gauge should slip in, if it does try a .020, if it goes in then you keep bumping up till you find the gauge that will not enter. If you try a .020 and it barely enters your angle is right. If the bottom gap is either more or less than the feeler gauge at the top, then the manifold is wrong. Subtract the top gauge thickness from the bottom and that is the out of true you are looking at. You can slide the intake all the way over against one head and then measure the gap on the opposite side divide that total by two and that is the COMPRESSED thickness of intake gaskets that you need. What torque sequence are you using?

 

don't use teflon tape on the threads, use anaerobic sealer, the tape will throw off the torque values. Tape is for in house plumbing with NPT fittings. It has no purpose in any oiil, air or fuel system.

 

had two head bolts loose right over the number 8 cylinder area so im hoping thats it.. real short on time lately, working two full time jobs but ill get back on the results asap

 

I feel your pain! To little time for fun and other important stuff!

 

my leak is not fixed. i just bought a new stealth ram because im tired of messing with this one and i checked the base angle.. 35 degrees it looks like... is that correct?

 

Now you can return the old one.


No idea on the angle but did you compare the two intakes?

 

not yet. kind of busy lately. maybe friday. I was hoping someone would know what angle it should be. i couldnt find anything on the search engine

 

I found the information. The sbc intake is supposed to be 35 degrees so hopefully when I pull my old one off it isn't correct.

 

No doubt!

Good luck with it, you have gotta be well annoyed with all this by now. I'm sure getting a taste of the power isn't helping the wait any either.

When you get this thing sorted out you should get a video of this thing.