Intake Gasket Coolant Restrictor
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Joined: Nov 2004
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Intake Gasket Coolant Restrictor
Have my '86 apart fixing a leaky Intake Manifold gasket. Thru help from many on this forum I now know I have Cast Iron Heads (which is a good thing).
Manuals picture and talk about a coolant restrictor in the gasket that goes toward the rear of the engine. The Fel Pro gaskets I'm taking out had them, but I'm not sure the previous installer put in the right part.
New gaskets I got from NAPA are Victor Gaskets, and they DO NOT have those restrictors.
Do I need the coolant restrictors with my Cast Iron Heads?
Manuals picture and talk about a coolant restrictor in the gasket that goes toward the rear of the engine. The Fel Pro gaskets I'm taking out had them, but I'm not sure the previous installer put in the right part.
New gaskets I got from NAPA are Victor Gaskets, and they DO NOT have those restrictors.
Do I need the coolant restrictors with my Cast Iron Heads?
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 90,675
Likes: 304
From: SE NY
Cruise-In II Veteran
I'm not sure how essential those restrictors are, but if the GM Shop Manual calls them out I would go with that style.
I got my FelPro gaskets from AutoZone and they had the restrictros as did the OEMs that were in there.
I got my FelPro gaskets from AutoZone and they had the restrictros as did the OEMs that were in there.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 24,337
Likes: 25
From: San Diego , CA Double Yellow DirtBags 1985..Z51..6-speed
If you're talking about the rear coolant ports from the heads, it doesn't make a difference. There is no coolant passage through the rear part of the intake, only in front, so nothing flows there anyways, the only purpose it serves is giving the intake another place to leak. 
