Intake Manifold gasket questions

[Turbogus]

Black Betty (AMC 360) has a seeping oil leak fore and aft at the Edelbrock aluminum intake manifold. Mindful of the hatchet job the P.O. did on other elements of this old CJ I'm dubious.
Back in the days I ran SBC's in my old Malibu I recall that the Edelbrock manifolds would leak terribly unless, when installing one discarded the rear seal and used a bead of Blue RTV in it's place.
1. Is this the nature of Edelbrock manifolds? or just of Chevy small blocks?

Went down to our local NAPA and they pulled a NAPA made by Fel Pro MS96011 intake gasket manifold and this thing had a windage tray incorporated into it. In addition, the specification called for an Edelbrock 7213 to be used with this Fel Pro gasket. Taking the number down and doing a google search I found that the Edelbrock 7231 is just the intake runner manifold gasket.
2. How are these two items incorporated together on the AMC 360?

 

[Saddle Tramp]

The OEM intake manifold gasket is a metal gasket that is intended to also serve as an oil splash baffle. There are two end seals as well. All of it gets a sealant compound of some sort during installation.

 

[SteelHeadz]

I use the Napa intake gasket set with the rubber gaskets for the front and rear. The only section i install an engine RTV is on the corners where the cylinder head and the block meets. The rest of the surfaces, i use a Form a gasket sealer on both sides of the gaskets. You must be careful when installing the intake manifold from shifting the rubber gasket over to the side. With the Edlebrock performer intake on to the 360, i haven't had any oil leak issues. Also, when installing the intake bolts, coat it with a sealer to keep the engine oil from seaping thru the threads and out the bolt head. Be diligent in checking the proper intake bolt torque every so often as they loosen after awhile.

 

[Turbogus]

Thanks so much for the responses my friends. How are these two gaskets (Fel Pro MS96011 & Edelbrock 7213) incorporated together on the AMC 360?

 

[Turbogus]

Sooo, any ideas on how or if these two gaskets should be used?

 

[Turbogus]

HAH! An Edelbrock techie on the phone said use the Fel Pro gasket and pitch the wall gaskets and use RTV I'm hoping I'm on the right track, but there's still time for opinions as this will be this winter's project.

 

[SteelHeadz]

That's up to you. I used the rubber gasket from the fel-pro kit with a sealant. I've never tried to just use a bead of silicone because of the large gap it needs to seal. It's more likely to leak witout the rubber gasket.

 

[Turbogus]

After getting the Fel-Pro set and looking at these rubber gaskets, I've got to say that, given the ridge, the bead and the wrap around shape of these, I think I'm going to try 'em. They certainly look Waaaaaaaay more substantial than the rubber end gaskets I've seen for the small block Chevy motors I used to rebuild.

 

[carnuck]

I use "the right stuff" which is the only sealer I have found that STOPPED the leak of my plastic valve cover permanently!

 

[Turbogus]

I've seen many responses on other forums to pitch the rubber end gaskets and go with a thick bead of RTV. They exclaim that shortly after installation, the end gaskets spit out. I'm hip that in days of old the SBC end gaskets had this nasty problem but with the raised rails and locating pins on these Fel Pro gaskets, I leaning toward using them

 

[Turbogus]

Okay, finally got the intake pulled (now that the Oregon rain has began in earnest), and come to find that the P.O. used Permatex Red RTV high temp sealant on all intake and water ports, coating the front and rear gaskets, and bolts, along with the O.E. style gaskets. Now I seem to remember that on intake manifolds, Black RTV was correct, but only in the corners, and gasgacinch around the ports, or am I makin' for more leak gremlins?

 

[jps4jeep]

you have that correct. On AMC motors, a dab will do ya, just in the corners where the gaskets meet.

 

[SteelHeadz]

X2 also, on the center section of both sides on both gaskets, i used a "Form a Gasket liquid sealant" . Haven't had any leak for the past 6 years.

 

[Turbogus]

Finally got all the Red Permatex off the heads and outta the lifter valley, what a friggen mess. It quickly became apparent that the P.O. (idiot) didn't spread a thin bead of RTV, rather, it looks like he just squirted the goop right from the tube and slapped the gasket and intake right on top of it. Found much overgook in corners and around port flanges~should've taken a picture but I was up to my wrists in engine oil and other crud.
Brought the intake to work with me today to do some detail cleaning of mounting surfaces~took care of the heads last night before dinner. What with my work ethic I only get about 90 minutes each night to work on 'Betty', that is, when I'm not strung out from work.

 

[Turbogus]

Tonight going to press fit the intake manifold gasket, got a couple of 3/8 long studs to use as guides for alignment when I set 'er down. The bolts that were used were standard grade 5's with lock washers only. Thinking I'm going to go with flanged head grade fives. What do y'all think?

 

[SteelHeadz]

I never used the flanged heads on the intake so i would say that it's your call on that one. Just remember to coat the bolt threads with a thread sealer(PTFE) and torque it down in sequence and within specs. After a couple hundred miles, re-torque the bolts.

 

[Turbogus]

Okay, after first torque and run had one small leak from a starboard side bolt, used some more Ultra Grey and retorqued the whole assy (mind you, the bolts my torque wrench could get at). Passed.
Yesterday got a Beam type torque wrench, used a crowfoot so I could reach all of the bolts~error~ forgot to recalculate for crows foot, so they're a little on the tight side, going to measure torque wrench tonight and see how far out it is, will report findings for the sake of others that may make this silly mistake.