I am replacing my Edelbrock intake due to a crack in the thermostat mounting bolt hole. I have it "band-aided" onto the intake with a heli-coil, but can't get a tiny trickle to stop. I even had the old one jet-coated before the crack expressed itself. What a waste of money that was! Anyway, I've chosen the stealth as a replacement and would love to benefit from the mistakes you've made and can steer me away from, (A.K.A. EXPERIENCE!). Anyone care to share with me something I "shouldn't do" as I'm replacing this thing? ('65 289 built as 302, moderate roller cam, Edelbrock Thunder Series 650, modified heads with 1.7 rockers, 2.5" Magnaflows) I suspect I'll get this done with no trouble, but thought it might be a wise question to ask.
Help me avoid the pitfalls, stealth swap
- Thread starter scouttrooper
- Start date
Pbum5
Member
-Be sure to drain the coolant before you remove your intake. A good time to put some fresh coolant in there after the swap.
- Don't use the cork end gaskets, a bead of high quality silicone will do the trick.
- torque the new intake in a x-cross pattern
you can also have your old intake fixed.
- Don't use the cork end gaskets, a bead of high quality silicone will do the trick.
- torque the new intake in a x-cross pattern
you can also have your old intake fixed.
65 fastback
Founding Member
Make sure you don't drop your distributer drive shaft into the oil pan. It's a real pain in the ass! Ask me how I know.
Tim
Tim
use a THIN
coat of black rtv(my preference) on both sides of the intake gasket around the coolant passages ONLY
.
when torqueing down the intake, start by torqueing the outer corner bolts first in a criss cross pattern, then use the factory ford pattern to torque all the bolts that hold the intake in place. factory spec is 25ft/lbs, but i often use 30ft/lbs(ford even allows this) to prevent any leaks.
[/QUOTE=65 fastback]Make sure you don't drop your distributer drive shaft into the oil pan. It's a real pain in the ass! Ask me how I know.
Tim[/QUOTE]
excellent advice!!!
Let me ask a question before you go further. Are you using a chrome plated thermostat cover? If you were that was your leak problem originally. If it leaked on the Edelbrock, it'lll leak on the Weiand. And whether it's got an O ring or gasket, they'll still leak. The chrome is too "slick" to let either seal. Either rough up the seal surface or get a stock aluminum cover to replace it. It sounds to me like you over tightened the bolts in an effort to fix the leak, then bottomed out the threads and cracked the intake. The intake can also be welded to fix the crack.
SoCalCruising
Founding Member
Use studs - you can make them by cutting off the heads off of 3" 5/16" bolts, and screw them into the four corners of the intake bolt holes (front left, front right, rear left, rear right). Use these to guide the manifold into place as you lower it onto the heads.
Dry fit the manifold with gasket in place and check how much gap you have between the manifold and the block end rails. The gap will be smaller after you torque the manifold in place, but this will give you an idea how tall your silicone bead will need to be in order to seal up the end rails. Yo also want to make sure there IS a gap. If the manifold rests on the endrails, it will have to be machined to allow the gap.
I always check port placement/matching of the manifold to the heads. If your head ports are not too oversized, then they will not be much larger than the ports on the Stealth and it will be important to get the manifold positioned properly. I place a straight edge along the edge of each port on the manifold and draw a vertical line up to the top of the manifold; then extend the lines a bit on the top so they can be seen from a top view of the manifold. Do the same on heads, extending the port walls up to near the valve cover surface. Now you have the lateral walls of each head and manifold port marked where you can see them when the manifold is placed on the motor and can (during your mock-up) make sure that the manifold can be positioned in a way that keeps your intake port walls INSIDE the head port walls.
If you want to go a step further you can also determine where the ports are vertically. This requires a dial caliper. Do yo have one?
I use Gaskacinch on the head surface side of the gasket around the intake ports and some silicone around the water ports. Silicone is contrindicated where it will come into contact with gas, so keep it away from the intake ports. I don't use anything on the manifold surface of a Felpro 1250 gasket, which you will probably be using.
Dry fit the manifold with gasket in place and check how much gap you have between the manifold and the block end rails. The gap will be smaller after you torque the manifold in place, but this will give you an idea how tall your silicone bead will need to be in order to seal up the end rails. Yo also want to make sure there IS a gap. If the manifold rests on the endrails, it will have to be machined to allow the gap.
I always check port placement/matching of the manifold to the heads. If your head ports are not too oversized, then they will not be much larger than the ports on the Stealth and it will be important to get the manifold positioned properly. I place a straight edge along the edge of each port on the manifold and draw a vertical line up to the top of the manifold; then extend the lines a bit on the top so they can be seen from a top view of the manifold. Do the same on heads, extending the port walls up to near the valve cover surface. Now you have the lateral walls of each head and manifold port marked where you can see them when the manifold is placed on the motor and can (during your mock-up) make sure that the manifold can be positioned in a way that keeps your intake port walls INSIDE the head port walls.
If you want to go a step further you can also determine where the ports are vertically. This requires a dial caliper. Do yo have one?
I use Gaskacinch on the head surface side of the gasket around the intake ports and some silicone around the water ports. Silicone is contrindicated where it will come into contact with gas, so keep it away from the intake ports. I don't use anything on the manifold surface of a Felpro 1250 gasket, which you will probably be using.
That's what I was looking for; good advice!
Thanks to the lot of you. Now I feel like I've done this 11 times instead of once or twice. I listen very closely when folks are willing to share what they've learned from their mistakes. I put this one together just 2 months ago. I may have bottomed out the bolts, but the way the engine looked when I got it, It may well have been jacked up when I purchased it. The intake was about 20-25 years old and looked fairly good; everything else was SO wasted. What I really bought was a block; every other part was of no use to me. The further we tore it down the uglier it got. I bought it from an acquaintence who knew even less than me, and he said it was a decent running engine. What I bought went from a weekend project to a 5 month restomod project. No regrets, except for the $$$ I let go of. Anyway, thanks for the pointers.
Thanks to the lot of you. Now I feel like I've done this 11 times instead of once or twice. I listen very closely when folks are willing to share what they've learned from their mistakes. I put this one together just 2 months ago. I may have bottomed out the bolts, but the way the engine looked when I got it, It may well have been jacked up when I purchased it. The intake was about 20-25 years old and looked fairly good; everything else was SO wasted. What I really bought was a block; every other part was of no use to me. The further we tore it down the uglier it got. I bought it from an acquaintence who knew even less than me, and he said it was a decent running engine. What I bought went from a weekend project to a 5 month restomod project. No regrets, except for the $$$ I let go of. Anyway, thanks for the pointers.
Absolutely, I have a stealth now...
I have no use for the old intake. It is an Edelbrock F4B. This means nothing to me. I can tell you this about it:
1. It has been ceramic coated by a high quality outfit that charged me more than it would have cost new, and
2. The upper bolt hole on the front face, (thermostat housing plane) has a 2mm by 4mm rectangular chunk fractured out of the upper surface. It could be welded and re-tapped, which is what I would have to have done, but if someone wants it as is, I'd be tickled to part with it.
The new one is in place and torqued as instructed. I'm trying desparately not to start the thing tonight. Even though it's probably neurotic, I want to let that silicone set overnight before I test my craftmanship. Lord, I hope this thing doesn't leak. I just don't want to deal with it. Ain't it nice when things just work? Thanks for all your help. It looks great!
I have no use for the old intake. It is an Edelbrock F4B. This means nothing to me. I can tell you this about it:
1. It has been ceramic coated by a high quality outfit that charged me more than it would have cost new, and
2. The upper bolt hole on the front face, (thermostat housing plane) has a 2mm by 4mm rectangular chunk fractured out of the upper surface. It could be welded and re-tapped, which is what I would have to have done, but if someone wants it as is, I'd be tickled to part with it.
The new one is in place and torqued as instructed. I'm trying desparately not to start the thing tonight. Even though it's probably neurotic, I want to let that silicone set overnight before I test my craftmanship. Lord, I hope this thing doesn't leak. I just don't want to deal with it. Ain't it nice when things just work? Thanks for all your help. It looks great!
I'll shoot you a figure, but get back to me with an offer...
I'm not all that interested in squeezing you for every dollar I can, RBOHM. I'd like you to pay for the shipping, and throw me a few bucks for the manifold. I haven't a clue what's appropriate for a used part such as this. The manifold came with the engine I acquired. I had it ceramic coated (satin black) by classic coatings less than 500 miles ago; the flange crack expressed itself recently. I think glassing it set me back about $250 bucks. It does need the top water outlet bolt hole to be welded and retapped. I'm thinking $35 plus shipping?? I want two things:
1. I want it out of my garage and with someone who can use it or repair it/sell it.
2. I want the person who gets it to feel good about the purchase.
Let me know what you think and we'll sort something out. You want it, I think you should have it. E-mail me if you like, [email protected]
I'm not all that interested in squeezing you for every dollar I can, RBOHM. I'd like you to pay for the shipping, and throw me a few bucks for the manifold. I haven't a clue what's appropriate for a used part such as this. The manifold came with the engine I acquired. I had it ceramic coated (satin black) by classic coatings less than 500 miles ago; the flange crack expressed itself recently. I think glassing it set me back about $250 bucks. It does need the top water outlet bolt hole to be welded and retapped. I'm thinking $35 plus shipping?? I want two things:
1. I want it out of my garage and with someone who can use it or repair it/sell it.
2. I want the person who gets it to feel good about the purchase.
Let me know what you think and we'll sort something out. You want it, I think you should have it. E-mail me if you like, [email protected]
I don't blame you a bit.
I'll weld it up and tap it myself. I don't think I'll have any trouble making it look presentable. There's a big swap meet going on here in St. Louis in early spring. I have a full trailor load of nice I-6 parts that someone else needs, so I'll take the manifold along if it looks good. Thanks again for all the good advice. My baby is leak free and running nicely.
I'll weld it up and tap it myself. I don't think I'll have any trouble making it look presentable. There's a big swap meet going on here in St. Louis in early spring. I have a full trailor load of nice I-6 parts that someone else needs, so I'll take the manifold along if it looks good. Thanks again for all the good advice. My baby is leak free and running nicely.
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