Cobrar980

Alright guys, been doing a lot of reading lately on replacing the head and intake manifold gaskets on my 1971 Cutlass with a 350 - 7a heads and an oldschool Edlebrock OL4B intake.

Have the engine out as I'm refreshing the engine bay. Engine only has about 20,000 miles on it, but up until 2 years ago, the car sat (garaged) for about 20 years. Figured I might as well do engine gaskets while it's out...... and yes everything is turning into "might as well" haha.

First, never done this before on any car. A friend who's a VW tech is helping me tomorrow, but figured any "Olds specific" advice will be helpful.

I'm doing all Fel-pro gaskets, including the turkey tray intake gasket.

So my takeaways and questions from reading numerous posts-

Intake Manifold-
- don't use the rubber end seals, use black rtv sealant. What about the copper sealant, any thoughts?
- don't use the turkey tray, except that's what's in there now and it's held up fine this long, so I'm planning on using what the factory developed over the composites.
-put the bolts in the same hole they came from and be sure to torque to correct spec and sequence

Head Gaskets-
- put the bolts in the same hole they came from and be sure to torque to correct spec and sequence
- use high tack to get a good seal.


Any other thoughts or advice is appreciated....thanks guy and gals!

bigD

you don't need to worry about getting the bolts back in the exact same holes as they came out of, do however make sure that the holes are all cleaned out. chase the threads with new tap and blow the holes out real well with compressed air. when you go back together dip the head bolts in clean engine oil.

install the head gaskets dry! do not put anything on the heads, block or gaskets when you put the heads on.

as to the intake gasket, use the turkey tray. if you don't use the turkey tray gasket the heat from the exhaust crossover will cause oil to burn and cake up in the valley. the end seals are up to you... i have always used them and never had any trouble with them squeezing out or leaking. personally i think the end seal issues are overblown... put rtv around the water ports on both sides of the turkey tray, doesn't have to be a lot, just a complete ring... no need for any copper based sealers. if you want to use some hi tack on the manifold port flanges thats fine.

Bunser

If you use the fel-pro turkey tray, you may have to enlarge one or two of the "locating holes" so it sits properly, unless they have adjusted their stamping equipment in the last year.

bigD

good point! when i did mine this past winter i couldn't get the gasket to "lock in" like it should so i simply used a tapered punch to fit the gasket to the holes. worked like a charm...

Cobrar980

Good stuff....thanks guys

409sleepr

any one have any information on Olds 403 with 350 heads, I have read that you need to drill 4 coolant holes in them to keep them from blowing head gaskets, witch I will be doing this week end, only 4k on rebuild heads and engine, runs good, but hot when running slow on cruse nite thank you for any help ... parts come in Monday or Tuesday

don71

I don't know anyone who does that. Thats a small block chevy 400 problem not an olds problem.

Running hot when cruising slow is a radiator problem. Specifically, poor circulation. You need to make sure you have the proper fan and shroud, and the radiator is not plugged up.

Cobrar980

Went to do that gaskets, and noticed some light vertical scoring in the cylinder walls, then upon a little more disassembly, some of the crank bearings had some bad scoring as well......looks like I might as well do a rebuild.....fun