12-15-2018, 12:46 PM
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Senior Club Cobra Member
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: St. Augustine,
FL
Cobra Make, Engine: E-M / Power Performance / 521 stroker / Holley HP EFI
Posts: 1,912
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Not Ranked
classical,
The Fel-Pro Print-O-Seal gaskets had no shim steel reinforcement, they therefore got the nickname "Fail-Pro Print-O-Leak."
The problem arises after a number of heat cycles on a street engine some parts of the gasket creep away, creating an opening between the intake and the head. If you were lucky, it was a vacuum leak; if you were not, it was a coolant leak into the engine. Race engines didn't have that problem because their intake gaskets were replaced regularly - not so for the street engines.
Here's a thread describing and picturing one such failure: 390 problems | Capital Area Cobra Club
We have experienced these failures on all kinds of common Cobra powerplants including FEs, 385s, 289s, 351s, you name it.
After we cornered the Fel-Pro tech guy at a PRI show some years ago, they switched to a steel shim reinforced design which seems to have cured that problem. I understand the steel reinforced gasket has a "S" suffix to identify it. I still prefer the Victor Reinz...
Tom
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Wells's law of engine size: If it matters what gear you're in, the engine's too small!
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