Intake Gasket Trouble

[puppster]

I just pulled my Edelbrock Performer intake because I found a vacuum leak, and found that I no doubt over torqued the intake, and smashed the gasket. It had moved around, and split in several spots. This as I recall is a Fel-Pro Print-o-seal gasket. I torqued it originally to the specs provided by Edelbrock, but last summer I found seveal extremely loose intake bolts and re-torqued to 22ft lbs. Question is, do I need to use a Print-O-Seal gasket, or will a standard Fel Pro gasket work? I have these handy, and they appear to be re-inforced around the ports, the pront-o-seal is not. Oh BTW I have Edelbrock aluminum heads also.

[Tom Wells]

puppster,

If you do a search on REINZ you'll come up with a bunch of references for this common problem, such as

Intake gasket droop

Hope this helps,

Tom

[FWB]

Originally Posted by puppster

I just pulled my Edelbrock Performer intake because I found a vacuum leak, and found that I no doubt over torqued the intake, and smashed the gasket. It had moved around, and split in several spots. This as I recall is a Fel-Pro Print-o-seal gasket. I torqued it originally to the specs provided by Edelbrock, but last summer I found seveal extremely loose intake bolts and re-torqued to 22ft lbs. Question is, do I need to use a Print-O-Seal gasket, or will a standard Fel Pro gasket work? I have these handy, and they appear to be re-inforced around the ports, the pront-o-seal is not. Oh BTW I have Edelbrock aluminum heads also.

the reinz gaskets are hard to come by, at least for me, try anything that looks cardboardy, they will be better than the felpro's . check out napa and see what they have. i use the aviation gasket seal, brown poopy stuff in a jar with a brush. be careful with the eldeldork heads they don't have thread inserts in them, just aluminum threads. i check for vacuum leaks every month or so with a vacuum guage. take a reading when you first install and use that as a base line. check the valve cover surface, the seam between head and intake, is it level? have seen numerous heads that are out of square. this can lead to intake leaks.

Fred

[vector1]

printo seals are supposed to be bad about moving around or splitting. i think i might have had one do that also. i like the cometics. thick cardboard material.

[puppster]

Thanks.for the input. I will make some calls and see what is available around here. I guess the standard Fel Pros are a no no? I have 3 set's of them in the garage.

[Tom Wells]

puppster,

Here's the short version: you want an intake gasket for street use? Get one that's reinforced with steel. The old Print-O-Seals were not, there is a new one out that's supposed to have reinforcement, perhaps with a -S for steel attached to the part number.

If you use the older, non reinforced FelPro, you will have failures sooner than later on the street. They are OK for race use where the number of heat cycles is low, and the replacement cycle is at a relatively low number of heat cycles.

Some have not been so lucky - when the FelPros failed, some resulted in antifreeze mixing into the engine oil - enough said?

Regards,

Tom

[CoupedUp]

I had the print-o-seal gaskets fail on my car around all four water ports. The one finally went so bad that it hydraulically locked the number one cylinder. I now have Cometic gaskets coated with the Permatex Indian Head Gasket Shellac on both sides. My understanding is that the print-o-seal gaskets had a problem with anti-freeze eating them away, even though I switched to water and water wetter at about 2,000 miles (it failed at about 12,000 miles).

Doug

[puppster]

Well, I put the 1250 printoseal gaskets back in. I was nervous about using the steel reinforced gaskets. When I bought the heads and intake, Edelbrock recommended the 1250's, so I went with them again (they now recommend their own brand). I took extra care preping and torquing everything down, and got the car running. It is idling better than ever now, and of course everything is a bit cleaner too. I plan to check the idle vacuum, and adjust the idle circuit now that it's running better.

Here is what I'm wondering... I've read a lot about how to torque an intake, and a great number of people say to do it in many steps, and also to retorque after a few heat cycles. Not one of my many automotive manuals mentions anything other than torquing in two steps, and retorqing after the gaskets compress or relax.

Anyhow, thanks for all the advice, I'm still on edge about the decision I made on the gaskets. I will keep an eye on the oil, and coolant just to be sure.

Jeff

[olddog]

Doing the same thing over and expecting a different result? That is the definition of some word.

I expect this one to last about the same number of heat cycles as the last one. Remember that you have aluminum heads and intake. Aluminum has about 4 times the linear coefficient of thermal expansion as cast iron.

When you do it the next time, and you will, keep going over the bolts at your final torque until none move. I had to go around mine about 5 times.

Yes my felpro gaskets only lasted a couple thousand miles. However the end bolts at all four corners were bottoming out before pulling the intake down. Edel heads and intake same as you. When they tapped the bolt holes, they didn't run the tap in deep enough. The threads tighten up like a pipe thread. So check to make certain that the bolts turn all the way in by finger. I didn't build it the first time, but I found it and fixed it. Fairly easy fix.

PS: Go ahead and get the Victor Reinz gaskets now. No hurry, since your up and running. Take your time and find them. They are worth the trouble to find.

[Tom Wells]

olddog,

X2

Tom