Gentlemen (and ladies?), I'll be the first to admit that after always working on inline engines, I'm crap at V8 stuff, especially getting my intake manifold to seal. After my bottom end rebuild, I used the rubber china wall gaskets that came with my Felpro gasket set and had a couple of wicked oil leaks at either end. Yes, I did use RTV in the corners.
So I study every forum in the known universe that has anything to do with V8 engines, and conclude that Permatex Copper RTV was the way to go. (actually, Permatex Right Stuff was, but I'm poor). And whilst that solved the oil leak at the ends, I had a massive problem with oil being sucked in to the ports from the lifter gallery, probably due to the gaskets slipping down when I popped the manifold back on (see? I told you I was crap at V8 stuff) The clouds of smoke would have been great on a James Bond car to lose villains, but would cause innocent people following me to crash, and, even worse, foul my plugs after a day or two.
So now I'm out for some more intake gaskets. I'm up to speed on the china walls, and I've got some Permatex Copper Spray A Gasket to stick the gaskets down to stop them moving. I like the 1 14" dowel trick in the dizzy hole to line things up. Oh, and I'm fairly certain the car hasn't been decked. Sooooo........
anything else I should consider?

Grant

 

You note that the block wasn't decked...but was overhauled. Virtually every shop is going to take at least a light cut (.003+) to get the deck clean and flat. Lay the intake on the engine with no gaskets and look at the angles between the head and the intake. If the angles don't look right then you're going to want to go back to the shop that did the overhaul to find out how far they decked it and to make the corresponding angle cut for the intake.

Never use the valley end gaskets with a GEN I SBC. Lay down a bead of RTV and put a blob at each of the 4 corners where the bead connects to the intake gasket. I use the Right Stuff RTV and have never had a problem - can't see the advantage of copper RTV in this application (?)

A little Gasgacinch to hold the intake gaskets (Fel Pro only) in the right place is all that's needed. The bolts all need thread sealant as well. Set the intake in place VERY SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY and you'll be fine.

 

QUOTE=billla;1580731209]You note that the block wasn't decked...but was overhauled. Virtually every shop is going to take at least a light cut (.003+) to get the deck clean and flat. Lay the intake on the engine with no gaskets and look at the angles between the head and the intake. If the angles don't look right then you're going to want to go back to the shop that did the overhaul to find out how far they decked it and to make the corresponding angle cut for the intake.

Never use the valley end gaskets with a GEN I SBC. Lay down a bead of RTV and put a blob at each of the 4 corners where the bead connects to the intake gasket. I use the Right Stuff RTV and have never had a problem - can't see the advantage of copper RTV in this application (?)

A little Gasgacinch to hold the intake gaskets (Fel Pro only) in the right place is all that's needed. The bolts all need thread sealant as well. Set the intake in place VERY SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY and you'll be fine. [/QUOTE]

Thanks Billla!
The assumption re-decking was from the numbers still untouched on the block, and no ridge where they could have stopped. And I did the bottom end rebuild. No machining involved. Good idea setting it in place first!

No advantage whatsoever with the copper rtv other than being at least as good, and way cheaper than Right Stuff!

I'll give it a go this afternoon while you guys are all in bed, and let you know how it went when the rtv sets tomorrow/today? I'm confused! Stupid time difference!

 

 

I like these gaskets. No problem with sealing. Throw the end gaskets away and use a thick bead of RTV as Billa suggested.
Mr. Gasket Ultra seal.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MRG-5820/
After install give the RTV a full day to set up before running the engine.

 

Thanks for that!
I noticed that the gaskets wanted to sit too low on the heads. When I looked closer, I could see the rocker cover gaskets had squeezed out and down a bit, so I ran a blade along the edge of the rocker cover to trim the excess off. This gave me the "wriggle room" I needed to stick the gaskets in the right spot. I used Permatex Copper RTV on the ends and torqued the bolts in the right sequence to 30lbs. So about 5:30pm tomorrow, we'll know. Thanks Billla and 63mako! If you ever need a straight 8 sorted..........!