Dis-assembly went relatively smoothly today and now I am in the process of cleaning up the manifold, block and heads so that I can reinstall my manifold. I test fit the new gaskets and made in interesting discovery. My Blue Thunder Manifold does not have cooling passages in the back - only in the front. The Blue Thunder website isn't that great so I looked for pictures of the Edelbrock and Offy intakes and they are the same way. Why would the heads have coolant passages in the back, the gaskets have holes for these passages but the intake does not have the passages? Is this right or do I have the wrong heads or manifold combination?
My second question is regarding the
oil baffle that is supposed to be in the valley under the manifold. This is referenced in the Steve Christ "How To Rebuild Big Block Ford Engines". I do not have this baffle. Is this going to be a problem and should I put one in?