Today wail adjusting my valves I noticed that there was coolant in my oil. I have reason to believe that the intake gasket is to blame. When I went to buy gasket kits there were 2 kinds. One that had a coolant passage blocked off ( rear passage of the 305) and one that was open. Now on the manifold there isn't a coolant passage at the rear of the motor, but was told to use the one that was open and everything would seal fine. I was also told not to use rvt around any coolant passages to only use it at the front and rear of the intake to seal that off. Now my question is. What is the right gaskets to use? Do you use rvt to seal the coolant passages?

Thanks
Keith

 

The only sealant used on an intake job is for the end seals. Never use rtv on the formed gaskets. The coolant crossover will seal whether there is a passage or a blank. Not to say your gaskets aren't leaking, but the manifold will have material to mate to the gasket no matter the design.

 

Sounds great. That's kind of what I though. Fel pro the best gasket to use?

Thanks

 

Yes, I prefer Fel-Pro over anything else. Unless youre running a modified intake, factory replacement gaskets will work fine.

 

It's all stock. Debating if I should do a little porting. Also thinking about doing a cam and what not wail I take it off.

Thanks for ur help.
Keith

 

Helm Shop manual says,... " USE SEALER AT WATER PASSAGES.".

I do; EVERY time I set an intake in place.

 

Fel-Pro has gaskets that they tell you NOT to use sealant around the passages, just on the end tabs. Check the manufactures recommendations before do any installation.

 

Used Aluminum Intake manifolds tend to "pit" around the water passages, this pitting is also commonly found around the thermostat housing area of Intake manifolds. Many people recomend a thin coat of RTV on the intake side of the coolant ports because of this.






I don't car if I see any pitting or not - I always smear some RTV around the coolant ports to be sure there are no sealing problems once the intake is bolted down.


FYI: From Summit Racing:


Good Call !

 

I put a thin layer of RTV around the water passages on my 383. Held the gaskets in place while I set the intake on and doesn't leak.

 

Thanks everyone. Got the new gasket set and will be installing tomorrow. Got it all tore down today and cleaned up.


Keith

 

I used a really thin coat of weather stripping adhesive on the block side of the gasket and rtv on the end rails. Worked great.

 

Thanks everyone. I got this replaced yesterday without any problems. From the looks of things. The guy I bought the motor from never torqued the bolts properly. They seamed very easy to remove. When everything was out I went ahead and lightly sanded the heads to clean them up a bit. Then used break cleaner to remove any grease and what night that wouldn't allow for a good seal. I did end up using a tiny bit of rtv around the coolant jackets because there was slight pitting. Also looked like the rear valley might have had a slight leak wear the rtv wasn't thick enough in a spot. So all in all it was good I cought this before the car is road worthy.

Thanks
Keith