intake gasket what did I do wrong?
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 876
Likes: 0
From: Canastota Ny
intake gasket what did I do wrong?
I installed my felpro intake gaskets last week. i used contact cement to hold in place and used "the right stuff' on the front and rear and then around the water jackets ON TOP OF THE GASKET only. Installed and torqued to 30ft lbs. re-torqued again after a bit of driving. now my water jackets leak. what did i do wrong? I'm thinking i should not have used the RTV around the water ports?
Pro
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 692
Likes: 1
From: Peabody Ma.
Did you use thread sealant on the bolts that go into the water jacket? if not they will seap up. You can back them out 1 at a time and seal them with loctite thread sealant and re torque.
FWIW my leak after a while no matter what I do My 02
FWIW my leak after a while no matter what I do My 02
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
The "contact cement" may have been your problem. Anything you stick between a gasket and the sealing surface will have to have the same capability to seal....or it will cause it to leak. Most Fel-Pro gasket surfaces are meant to be free of other materials.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 876
Likes: 0
From: Canastota Ny
i was thinking maybe that too! and the gasket cement is on the block and thats where it appears to leak out from is "under" the gasket. or the rtv on the water jackets was the problem. so next time i will just install dry all the way around then and go from there? do you think? the originals had nothing applied to them
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 93
Likes: 0
From: Southgate MI
I use just the gaskets on the ports. On the front and back squeeze a 1/4" bead of silicone so it also touches the ends of the ports gaskets(I think I used permatex red). On the bolts do like Brused267 loctite sealant(It's white like pipe sealant but should be gas and oil proof). Using the sealant on the bolts stops the fluids from wicking up the thread and onto your inatake.Remember all sufaces must be clean and wiped with brake cleaner before installation.
Tom1701
Tom1701
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 17,676
Likes: 201
From: Who says "Nothing is impossible" ? I've been doing nothing for years.
Does it tell you in the instructions to use contact cement on the intake gasket ?
If you want to hold them in place just put a few dabs of Black RTV on the head surface then lay the gasket down on top
You also need to put RTV around the water passages
If you want to hold them in place just put a few dabs of Black RTV on the head surface then lay the gasket down on top
You also need to put RTV around the water passages
Last edited by MotorHead; May 1, 2010 at 05:00 PM.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 876
Likes: 0
From: Canastota Ny
there are no instructions with my stock small block 350 felpro gaskets....so smear a small amount on the front AND back of the gasket water passages then? im getting mixed ways of doing this. but the majority say to seal the water passages with the rtv. in my case i did the top side of the gasket only and only the water passages leaked. as for the front and rear they were sealed nice....so nice i had cut the seals with a razor and pry the intake off with crow bar tonight! just want to do this once again CORRECTLY and that's it!!
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 17,676
Likes: 201
From: Who says "Nothing is impossible" ? I've been doing nothing for years.
Run a bead around the passages on the head and rub it around with you finger so there are no gaps. When you put the gasket on I do the same thing, some are going to tell you that's what the blue stripe is for but I have been doing it this way for 30 years with no problems 
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 6,231
Likes: 65
From: Seattle WA
St. Jude Donor '14
I use just a touch of Edelbrock Gasgacinch to hold the gasket in place on the heads. Then just a LIGHT touch of RTV around the water passages on either side of the gasket...and I do mean light.
There's no issues using a bit of contact cement, but anything more than a light touch to hold the gasket in place at a few points is going to cause problems.
There's no issues using a bit of contact cement, but anything more than a light touch to hold the gasket in place at a few points is going to cause problems.
