There's gotta be a better mousetrap! I knew the hassles going into this, so I bench fit it a half dozen times or more and chased heck outta the threads to the point it just fell together. I thought I was home free! I'm stuck here in Cali because this is a smog compliant build, but I got half a mind to spend a pile of money to refine this sucker and get my own dang EO#

Update on what may be the problem:
Rich at CruzinPerformance shot me an e-mail and photo of one he had in stock. Near as we can tell, the runners seem pretty consistent in their castings, but the gaskets vary All my gaskets have an EGR slot 1-15/16ths long, whereas his are all 1-1/2" in length. That 3/16ths difference makes this whole damn thing a non-issue. And........ not 10 minutes ago I just got a call from the shop. They welded some material on it and milled it back down. I'm a hundred and twenty bucks more into this build now!

(Here Cabo, pick up this soap )

 

Mini Ram

 

Ouch Cabo, keep it at though! That is gonna be one sick puppy when you are done.

So where did you buy your gaskets from...and where does Rich?

 

I see this same defect on mine (at least its still on the bench). My gaskets are Accel DFI part# 74196G. Got them as a gift so I think there from Jegs.

 

Seems like a topic that needs to be a tech tip. There is always someone on here doing a Superram install. If that went un-noticed a guy could go bonkers trying to tune out a near invisible problem.

 

Do this mean your not buying the beer ???

 

Uh!

I just went out and measured my spare set of gaskets, bought from LPE (they're the cheapest that I've found, believe it or not).

The straight EGR slot is 1 7/8" and the L-shaped slot is 1 3/8" at its longest point. 1 1/2" would be way too small for the size of the port in the runner, IIRC.

[RICHR]

 

I got this information to Accel. And they are glad to have found out about this. Their answer was that they will get a new gasket designed as a solution. But it won't be available for 6 to 8 weeks. In the interim they say we can make another gasket out of gasket material or use Silicone RTV in that area only.

 

It seems to be a fact of life in the hot rod parts industry that a part is made for one single application, but it does not fit or work properly. I am floored that after years on the market, this gasket issue is just being discovered (pretty hard to believe).

The good news, Cabo, is when you get that engine running, you are going to be in heaven. And I still applaud your search for power AND smog compliance.

 

there are two listed by LPE:

#LN0010 (high flow runner application)
#LN0010-SR (for the superram runner application)

 

Quote: tjwong
I got this information to Accel. And they are glad to have found out about this. Their answer was that they will get a new gasket designed as a solution. But it won't be available for 6 to 8 weeks. In the interim they say we can make another gasket out of gasket material or use Silicone RTV in that area only.
End quote:

So for those of us that have new unused gaskets, Can we get them/it replaced in 6-8 weeks ?

 

Keep us posted. I wonder what length they'll make them.
[RICHR]

 

Here's 3 more pics. One shows the size of the gasket opening @ 1-15/16ths, one shows a scribed mark of the coverage of the gasket on my old runner (which is much better than the gap on my powdercoated runner) and the third pic shows the scribe on my powdercoated runner after it got welded and milled. It's obvious if the gasket were 1-3/4" all would've been good, even with the variances in castings.
Check your gaskets guys, and if you've got assembled units that develop problems, here's a good place to look!

 

Hey Tim, the Superam I traded for showed up yesterday, the gaskets that came with it do not have the long slot like you have and they fit very well, so no problems here.

They are made by Mr. Gasket.

 

I just came across this post at the Accel DFI/Mr Gasket web site.

Makes me think that even though weve been assured the problem will be corrected it my not happen seeing how old that message is. There is a suggested fix by shifting and cutting the gasket.

Who makes the gaskets for LPE ?

 

Accel... they make the SuperRam castings, as well. And Accel is a part of Mr. Gasket...
[RICHR]

 

Larry, how long is the slot in your gasket? I'd bet it's right arround 1-3/4".

js, thanks for the link, it's interesting info. The problem with "shifting" the gasket as that Tech recommends is the two ports would then misalign and there goes any gasket match. Makes me want to sing the theme song from the Mickey Mouse Show

Geeze man, why can't these companies be at least a little bit professional in their QC.........this is as bad as AFR for cryin' out loud.

 

I measured 1.950 from inside end to inside end of the gasket ID!

 

I've heard a number of stories about Accel; most of them I took as just that - stories - until I started having my own experiences. Did I mention that my SR kit had two left-side runners and no right-side ones? Talk about a gasket mis-match! I didn't think I could have incorrect parts, so I assembled it anyway. And yes, there was a huge vacuum leak... LPE acted as a go-between and got Accel to send out a new set of runners (so much for my gasket-matching as well...) for just the cost of shipping. And I have problems getting plenum bolts to line up, and the small-parts kit was missing some important small parts like the fuel-rail cap for the 9th injector, and there were bolts that had no mention in the (very sketchy) directions, and...

Honestly, if I were John Lingenfelter, I'd have made darned sure that the kit being made for me met the rest of my company's standards... And yes, these problems have been happening since long before his death.
[RICHR]

 

Greetings to all of you. Please allow me to shed some light on the gasket problem that some of you have experienced. Since being notified of this problem I have been in continuous contact with Accel/Mr Gasket all week attempting to track down the source. In the end, it seems that it all boils down to simple "human error".

Accel/Mr Gasket produces the gaskets for the SuperRam's and also for the Accel LTR's. They each use different gasket sets hence the difference in the now infamous "slot length dilemma". It appears that what happened is that someone mistakenly packaged gaskets intended for the LTR's into the 74196G SuperRam replacement gasket boxes as well as into some of the 74196 SuperRam plenum/runner kits. It's a mistake, plain and simple. There is no way to determine when this mistake occurred, how many times it may have occurred recently or in the past or exactly how many sets may have gotten into the distribution system. Given that however, Accel/Mr Gasket is going to correct the problem as soon as possible.

There is no reason for Accel/Mr Gasket to "re-invent the wheel, simply because they have had a flat tire". They don't have to redesign the gaskets, all that is needed is to get them correctly packaged and that is what will be done.

Thousands of SuperRams have been produced and sold in the 16 years since the SuperRam was first introduced and while there have been some "problems" over years, the gaskets have not been a major issue. There may have been some isolated incidences but certainly not a lot of them as noted by those of you that have stated that you haven't had a problem with the gaskets for your SuperRams. I personally had never run into this particular situation until just this week and I have sold and installed more than my share of them.

While I don't work for Accel/Mr Gasket, I do sell and install their parts so I will take the liberty to speak for them and say that they are sorry that this mistake occurred. They don't want to sell and ship the wrong parts any more than you or I want to receive the wrong part. It's not good for them, and it's not good for us. (I'm a customer and consumer the same as all of you are.)
I don't think however there are any of us, especially those that are in business, that can say that we haven't at some point in time made a mistake and put the wrong part in a box or the wrong letter in an envelope. If there is someone out there that can honestly say that, I want to hire you!!

In closing, I would also like to state that I was misquoted in this thread. I'm sure it wasn't done on purpose however when I was contacted concerning this problem, I relayed via email that the slot in the gaskets that I had in stock measured 45mm or approximately 1.750". Not 1-1/2".
No big deal but I wanted to clarify that.

Thanks to all of you for your understanding. If anyone has any questions concerning this issue, please feel free to contact me.

Rich Jensen
http://www.cruzinperformance.com