Intake Manifold Gasket Question

90coug

Registered User
So the Felpro gasket set comes with these blue stips to put on the block where the intake manifold sits. My question is that it explained to put silicone on the block and in the four corners but it did not say anything about silicone on top of the gasket where the manifold meets it. Do I need a layer of silicone on the top of these gaskets? Or is the four corners and bottom of the gaskets enough? I'm not talking about the long gaskets that sit on the heads in case there was any confusion, just the two rubber blue strips.

Thanks
 
90coug said:
So the Felpro gasket set comes with these blue stips to put on the block where the intake manifold sits. My question is that it explained to put silicone on the block and in the four corners but it did not say anything about silicone on top of the gasket where the manifold meets it. Do I need a layer of silicone on the top of these gaskets? Or is the four corners and bottom of the gaskets enough? I'm not talking about the long gaskets that sit on the heads in case there was any confusion, just the two rubber blue strips.

Thanks

i always just put rtv on the block and the four corners. never had a problem with it that way,on 5.0s the back was a problem spot for leaks but it never leaked on my mark 7 doin it that way. puttin it on the block just keeps the gasket from shifting while you put the intake on.i don't think u need to put any on the top of the gasket.
 
i messed up first gasket set my not letting the black RTV dry all the way. let Set for 30 Min's but i didn't put enough on to seal it ot make it stick. didn't find out till i was going over final torques i looked in back and saw the end rubber gasket squished out the freakin back! dam i was pissed.

anyway i used a nice bead down the inner center of end gaskets and let it site for about 45 Min's. pushing down on them every 10 making sure there on snug and not gonna move.
then sprayed Copper gasket sealer on top of gasket and lots on bottom of gasket. let that site for about 1 hour, pushing the gasket down with someone like a flat head screw diver or nail every 10 Min's very carefully. just enough to give the gasket sticking contact with heads.
then a nice thick bead across the gap where the rubber end gasket meets the head gaskets. don't be shy ;)

then carefully lower in intake down like you wher playing the old board game (Operation)

i found out for me the RTV black stuff sucks for the intake gaskets. copper spray is the good stuff. just lay in on thick and let it get sticky. not to sticky on the top side, thats why i let it dry pretty good so when you set intake on it doesnt grab the intake and wanna move on you while you try to put it on. thats why i put most of the copper spray facing down on the head side of the gaskets and light on the manifold side :)
and i did not use any RTV sealer on the tops of the blue end peices.

torque bolts center to outer and go from 10 to 18 to 24.
check evey 6 hours for about 1 day :)

not sure if that helps out on what you wher asking but i always get help here and trying to give a little back :p

that how i did mine and i just got done a couple days ago and my intake sits perfect :D
 
Last edited:
90coug said:
So the Felpro gasket set comes with these blue stips to put on the block where the intake manifold sits. My question is that it explained to put silicone on the block and in the four corners but it did not say anything about silicone on top of the gasket where the manifold meets it. Do I need a layer of silicone on the top of these gaskets? Or is the four corners and bottom of the gaskets enough? I'm not talking about the long gaskets that sit on the heads in case there was any confusion, just the two rubber blue strips.

Thanks

Yes it needs a bead of RTV on the portion of the gasket that seals against the manifold.

David
 
Personally, I prefer the intake gasket from Ford. The set comes with some nice rubber valley gaskets that work better for me than the stiff, cardboard-like valley gaskets that come in the Felpro kit. And yes, you still need a beed of Silicone and dabs in the corners.
 
Intake gasket

I think the instructions that come with the gaskets should work just fine. Use a small amont of adhesive to hold the rubber end strips in place as well as holding the gaskets to the heads, and then use RTV in each corner. You don't need to put RTV across the whole rubber end piece. I don't know about older versions of the Felpro gaskets but they now come with rubber end pieces similar to the one Kurt described from Ford.

Charles
 
Right these are rubber ones, I didn't use the silicone across the top of it where it meets to the intake manifold but I think that might be my problem. I'm getting lean codes on both sides, seems kind of strange I'm getting it on both sides. They are continuous memory so basically what I'm gathering is that they are not being sensed at all, so I'm going to replace the O2 with the ones I originally took out of there, thinking maybe I contaminated them when I did the head job. So 02's first then I might go back and add the silicone like Dave has described. I hope I don't need to, I don't think that would cause lean issue on both sides but I've seen stranger things.

Thanks
 
Right these are rubber ones, I didn't use the silicone across the top of it where it meets to the intake manifold but I think that might be my problem. I'm getting lean codes on both sides, seems kind of strange I'm getting it on both sides. They are continuous memory so basically what I'm gathering is that they are not being sensed at all, so I'm going to replace the O2 with the ones I originally took out of there, thinking maybe I contaminated them when I did the head job. So 02's first then I might go back and add the silicone. I hope I don't need to, I don't think that would cause lean issue on both sides but I've seen stranger things.

Thanks
 
90coug said:
Right these are rubber ones, I didn't use the silicone across the top of it where it meets to the intake manifold but I think that might be my problem. I'm getting lean codes on both sides, seems kind of strange I'm getting it on both sides. They are continuous memory so basically what I'm gathering is that they are not being sensed at all, so I'm going to replace the O2 with the ones I originally took out of there, thinking maybe I contaminated them when I did the head job. So 02's first then I might go back and add the silicone. I hope I don't need to, I don't think that would cause lean issue on both sides but I've seen stranger things.

Thanks

How you sealed the ends of the manifold shouldn't have anything to do with a lean code. The worst that can happen if the ends aren't sealed is an oil leak. Coolant on the o2 sensors from the original HG failure is more likely the reason your getting codes.

BTW, how tight did you torque the intake manifold down ?

David
 
I bought a felpro full engine gasket kit and they don't come with the cork gasket it came with the blue rubber ended gaskets.
 
I torque them down to 25lbs, is that sound about right? The Chilton said 16 and I read on here that was wrong so I went up to 25. That might not be right; I also used some super heat intensive lock tight in hopes of helping it a bit.
 
90coug said:
I torque them down to 25lbs, is that sound about right? The Chilton said 16 and I read on here that was wrong so I went up to 25. That might not be right; I also used some super heat intensive lock tight in hopes of helping it a bit.


Yeah the 25 ft lbs will work fine. I was just hoping you didn't use what the manual said.

David
 
Just wanted to update, after some diagnosing I found the lean code culprit to be a loose connection on the wiring harness, I must not have connected it very tight, oops guys :eek: So I cleaned it out with some electrical spray and snapped it together. No more codes from the engine, thanks for all the help!
 
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