What to do - intake fitment problem

[Riderjeff]

Preparing to trim excess intake gaskets on my fresh 390 build, and I see the manifold does not line up at the gasket rail on the passenger side.  Front and rear are off by about the same amount, measures to appx. 2mm, the driver's side is spot on and the distributor is lined up. 

I'm looking for a solution, not trying to break down what could have gone wrong... It's a used Streetmaster, so perhaps a previous owner milled it poorly, who knows.  Can I shim the gap with gasket material, shaved to fit?  Try to seal it up with RTV?  Open to suggestions please.

I do have a C4 cast iron 4V intake sitting in the garage... all 80 pounds of it...

[jayb]

SCE makes an extra thick cork valve cover gasket, if I recall correctly.  I'd get one of those and put a gob of sealer at the joint, and I think you'll be fine.

[Riderjeff]

Thanks Jay, is that this product? https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sce-234176

[My427stang]

Do you have any blue kit felpro intake gaskets? (non printoseal) they are pretty thick and may stand it up a bit

[jayb]

Thanks Jay, is that this product? https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sce-234176

Those would probably work, but I was thinking of their part number 134076.  They are 5/16" thick, cork only.

[427John]

Preparing to trim excess intake gaskets on my fresh 390 build, and I see the manifold does not line up at the gasket rail on the passenger side.  Front and rear are off by about the same amount, measures to appx. 2mm, the driver's side is spot on and the distributor is lined up. 

I'm looking for a solution, not trying to break down what could have gone wrong... It's a used Streetmaster, so perhaps a previous owner milled it poorly, who knows.  Can I shim the gap with gasket material, shaved to fit?  Try to seal it up with RTV?  Open to suggestions please.

I do have a C4 cast iron 4V intake sitting in the garage... all 80 pounds of it...

If all the other gaps look good and the china wall gaps look even,I would guess that edelbrock just milled that side a little too low during manufacture.Making FE intakes is a challenge with extra machining steps that others don't have,I give them a pass and am surprised they are able to stay as close pricewise to other types as they do.   

[allrightmike]

     I used a Streetmaster intake on a recent build and the distributor hole was approx. .030 out of position to one side, re positioned and sleeved. Shows that these errors did occur.

[Riderjeff]

Those would probably work, but I was thinking of their part number 134076.  They are 5/16" thick, cork only.

Thanks for the tip, I'll give these a try.

[My427stang]

How do the ports line up?  If it's hanging real low, might be wise to get the manifold up where it should be with a thick intake gasket, even if one side is different than the other

SM/SD ports are pretty small, so not as critical for sealing, but always good to keep flow up as high as you can on the port

[Riderjeff]

I'm having difficulty locating thick VC Gaskets anywhere.  SCE lists both 5/16" and 1/4" but they're not available anywhere.

Any thoughts, vendors, links?

[turbohunter]

Summit is one of their big distributors.
EPWI
Jegs
Motor state
Good Vibrations

[Tommy A]

Here's another person that sells alot of Ford gaskets.. I have seen the thick valve cover gaskets and yes I would use these in a heartbeat... Soupys Gaskets  1-262-951-8488   Hope this helps..........Tom

[aj]

I had similar situation and made a metal spacer using valve cover gasket as template.  Final product sorts of looks like a partial valve cover gasket made of metal.  My concern with the misalignment was potentially cracking my cast aluminum valve covers.   

As i was hacking my way through the project,  was thinking it might be a cool product for someone to offer (valve cover rail shims).  Not much money in it but I darn sure woulda bought some if they were a thing.

[Keith Stevens]

Edelbrock makes an extra thick cork-rubber composition valve cover gasket. I bought mine at Summit. I'm at KMCO for another couple days. I can provide the number when I return home if you can't locate it.

[GerryP]

Maybe it's just the angle of the photo and the detail, but I'm not seeing something you can correct with a gasket.  The high side of the gasket would have to be paper thin.  The low side has to have a compressed thickness of over 1/4 inch.  I suppose if you were a Goober, you would do a silicone fill and hope for the best.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think you have a useable intake manifold.