Intake Gasket? (valley pan?)

[Flye]

Was looking to get intake manifold gasket.

67, 400, stock intake/heads.

Mr. Gasket has what I expected to find, separate gaskets that go between intake and head and then the end pieces.

Fel-Pro has 'valley pan gasket set' that looks to be metal, is in the valley pan, and has the intake/head gasket built in, in what appears to be 'one piece'. Not sure I'd seen anything like that, but maybe that's what I should be using?

Which is this thing supposed to have?

thanks

[Oldsguy]

The valley pan otherwise referred to as the "turkey tray" is a stock item. It is a multi layer metal type gasket that incorporates the head sealing surfaces with a splash tray which was supposed to keep oil from the gallery in the gallery and not on the bottom of the intake manifold. I guess it works but the difficulty is aligning the darn thing correctly and getting the alignment divets in the corresponding locations on the head surfaces is difficult for me. If you get them mis-aligned you run the chance of having the gasket installed incorrectly = leaks. I have used them and decided I am going to use the Fel-Pro gaskets that come in four pieces, five if you count the distributor O-ring. A back neoprene seal, a front neoprene seal, two composite head gaskets and the O-ring. The part number is 1356 i believe and you will most likely have to have it ordered, most places don't carry it. Expect to pay $30-$40 for the kit.

[Flye]

Thanks. exactly the info I needed.

d

[joe_padavano]

This is an ongoing discussion. Personally I have never had a problem using the turkey tray gasket in 35 years of building Oldsmobiles. I've used it with iron, factory aluminum, and aftermarket aluminum intakes with no problems. You do need to take care to ensure that the four flanged bolt holes are properly inserted into their counterbores in the heads. You do need to use sealer around the four water ports, per the CSM. I find it interesting that the older (1960s-70s) CSMs only call for sealer on the water ports, but the 80s CSMs call for it on all ports. I wonder if this has something to do with the thinwall castings or the aluminum intakes (though W30 intakes have no problems).

[soxfan]

I'd personally go with the turkey tray also, when I was younger I used the intake gaskets and they would always absorb oil which would end up in the
heads and down into the combustion chamber. I went back to the turkey tray and have not had any problems since.

[jensenracing77]

i have used the turkey tray on all my engines and had no trouble.