Intake Manifold Gaskets

[Marccus]

Why does the Fel-Pro intake manifold gasket kit for the Gen 1 SHO come with four upper manifold gaskets.


You only need two as the lower manifold does.

The lettering on the box specifies four for the upper and two for the lower, so they couldn't have shipped an extra two by mistake.

Do you double up on the upper manifold gaskets?

 

[Ishodu]

You need 4 paper ones if you have the horns in the intake. One on each side of them.

 

[Marccus]

OK. I'm guessing the horns are those small thin walled curved short tubes that look like ... well horns!

I've never assembled an intake manifold before from scratch. And when I salvaged an extra one from a junked SHO, I really didn't pay attention to the gaskets when I took it apart.

I took everything apart, removed the studs, stripped it, painted it and then I started to scratch my head when I needed to reassemble it?

One other question, they make "gasket adhesive" which "they" say is used to position the gaskets in place before you assemble everything. Is this necessary; does anyone actually use it? It seems you would just have to tack down a few spots to make sure the gasket stays in place before assembly.

Thanks.

 

[TwistedD85]

I could've sworn the ones I bought from Felpro had two intake to head gaskets, two for the regular smaller intake tubes, and two for the larger secondary intake tubes. The horns just went in, then the gasket went in between the horns' flanges and the flanges of the butterfly assemblies.

Edit: Oh, and I used no gasket adhesive, it's not really hard to hold em on at all.

 

[Marccus]

Well, as stated on the Fel-Pro box and what was included inside:

2 Intake manifold (between the intake manifold and the block)
4 Intake to upper manifold
2 Intake to lower manifold
1 idle air bypass
1 idle air bypass to intake manifold.

One idle air bypass goes between the idle air bypass and the coolant piece, the other one goes between the coolant piece and the intake manfiold. Not sure if I am describing the "coolant piece" correctly.

I'll see what happens when I put it together.

I've looked into some other gasket material at McMaster Carr.

You can buy much better gasket material than paper.

The best choice seems to be "Premium Compressed Aramid/Buna-N Gaskets".

Sheet size is 15" x 15" (longest gasket is 12.5") and 1/32" thick (paper gaskets thickness) for $9.57.

It is stated that the material has a temp range of -40 to +400F, and "resists most acids and alkalies, water, steam, oil, and detergents. Maximum pressure is 1000 psi, color is blue".

There are more exotic materials like graphite, carbon, teflon and silicone, but for a 15"x15" sheet the price is the $100 range.

I've made some templates from the paper gaskets and see how the aramid/buna-N material come out. I don't have a punch so I'll have to use one of those very sharp, small blade hobby knives.