I got me new intake today for the vortec heads. I opened up the intake gaskets and noticed 2 things right off the bat.....1) They are very thick. 2) There are no end gaskets as with all other intakes Ive ever seen. (the small cork ones that go on the end) Furthermore, both instruction sets (intake and gaskets ) say DONT use anything, just lay a 1/4 bead of sealer on the ends. What is the reasoning behind this???

Are there supposed to be locator pins/dowels in these heads to hold the gasket? I dont have any.....

 

from what i understand, those gaskets on the block to manifold are junk. Best and easiest thing to do is to lay a nice thick bead. I used RTV Black on my grand am ( LIM gasket thats notorious on the 3400).

 

Even if it's in the instructions, you don't want to use end gaskets. A good 1/4" bead of Ultra Black RTV on the end rails and up slightly against the side gasket tabs is what you want to have. Then gently set the manifold straight down in place. The reason is because an end gasket can squish out over time and cause a leak, RTV won't move like that.

 

I was hesitant to use the felpro gasket because it was SO thick and the ports were oversized and a bit off center. I went to my Chevy dealer and shelled out 50 bucks for an OEM gasket...........OMG! This thing is SO thin and the ports are SO thin that Im not going to touch it! There is a good 3/16th open gap between the intake walls and the gasket sides on the OEM model.

Im gonna use the felpro, put a SMALL bit of rtv on the water passages and seal it up. Lets hope the GM dealership takes the gaskets back!

 

I wouldn't use any type of RTV on the water passages Scott. The gasket should be plenty sufficient.

BTW, which intake did you end up with? Got any close up pictures of it? I'll be buying one for my new Vortecs next week

 

No RTV at all on the intake to head gaskets. Use only RTV on the valley ends, and throw out any rubber end gaskets you may have.

 

Are the end gaskets really this bad? I know I don't have any leakage and I used mine (this was years ago when I knew less.) I did however lay down a dab of RTV under them, and a nice dab at each corner when I installed them.

 

No RTV, got it.

I went with the plain old Summit dual plane intake (141 bucks) . Its the EXACT same thing as the Edelbrock performer (200 bucks) and the Weiland (157 bucks) ...I opened 3 windows on my computer and did 360 rotational views and compared em all....same thing. Same castings....

 

DAMN! Of course my gift certificate is to Jegs! The Edelbrock is slightly different, however the Weiand Action Plus and Summit Stage 1 are identical castings.

One thing I noticed about the Weiand over the Edelbrock is how the vacuum port on the runner is spaced further towards the passenger side head. This is a big plus when running a Holley carb as any off the shelf fitting has to be modified to clear the fuel bowl unless you have a spacer or a really thick base gasket.

Can you get some close up pics of the intake for me? Although the castings are the same, the finish work may not be. I'd like to see it.

 

I've had more bad than good luck with using the end gaskets. I even had one where I was putting on a new manifold and could watch it pop out as I was tightening the bolts. The aftermarket manifold must have been hanging a little lower than the original iron one was. After that gasket went flying across the garage, I haven't used one since. And, since the intake manifold bolts to the heads, there are a couple of variables that can change the end gap, such as...have the heads been shaved, and what thickness head gasket you are using. To me, it's not worth taking a chance. And since you're using RTV anyway, just use a little more and forget the end gasket. Done correctly, the RTV isn't going to go anywhere. And I would let it set up overnight before firing up the engine. For the record, I'm sold on the Fel-Pro blue intake gaskets.