[DeTomaso] Mismatched Intake and Head Ports

Mike Becker mikebecker679 at gmail.com
Sat Feb 13 00:27:14 EST 2016


ok, maybe I am nuts.  But the ports  are way bigger in the heads.  Almost
half an inch taller and quarter inch wider.

I've attached 2 pictures.  When you look at the picture with the gasket
sitting on the intake manifold, it looks good, the size matches.  Excuse my
artwork, but on the picture of the gasket on the head, I've highlighted with
yellow the approximate area behind the gasket where there is nothing, just
the open port.  So fair enough, along the sides, it's only about one eighth
of an inch on each side, no big deal.  But along the top and bottom, that
means there will be very little gasket material sandwiched between the head
and the intake.  My fear is that the thin strip of gasket material will blow
out again, just like the last set of gaskets.
mike



-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Drew [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 8:42 PM
To: Mike Becker <mikebecker679 at gmail.com>
Cc: <detomaso at poca.com> <detomaso at poca.com>
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Mismatched Intake and Head Ports

Mike,

You're a spaz. :)

Boss 351 heads and standard 4V 351C heads are identical, except that the
Boss heads come from the factory with machining in the rocker arm mount area
so they can accommodate adjustable rockers, because the Boss came with solid
lifters. The rest of the head, including the intake ports were absolutely
identical. 

Now, it's possible that at some point somebody decked your block, which
lowers the heads and alters the relationship between the intake and the
heads. Normally the intake is machined accordingly if a bunch of material is
taken from the block. The heads are not only lower, but also closer together
since they move closer to the centerline of the engine as they are moving
down. So the bottom of the intake may need to be machined to allow it to fit
properly.

Could that explain the mating problem you are seeing?

Mike

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 12, 2016, at 20:24, "Mike Becker" <mikebecker679 at gmail.com> wrote:

>   Hey Gang,
> 
>   I've just torn down my top end on my Pantera because the intake
>   manifold gaskets were completely destroyed.  They were the so called
>   self-destructing Felpro Print-O-Seal / Print-O-Leak gaskets.  Only, I
>   see now what the real problem was.  I went to fit my brand new
>   Edelbrock gaskets and there's no way they'll work! It turns out I have
>   BOSS 351 heads and a Cleveland intake!  This undoubtedly contributed to
>   the early demise of the old intake gaskets.  because in the mismatch,
>   there are several places where there is minimal surface contact in
>   order to sandwich the gasket.  The result is that the gasket isn't held
>   in place for long.  While the engine was still assembled, there were
>   places where the entire blue stripe on the gasket material was
>   completely exposed, i.e. not sandwiched between the intake and the
>   head.  See attached photos for the results.
> 
>   So, now what do I do?
> 
>    - Switch to aluminum heads for a couple of grand (can't really afford
>   it)
> 
>    - get a BOSS intake (can't seem to find one, they all look like
>   windsor intakes, except for one NOS unit for 3 grand!)
> 
>    - fabricate home-made gaskets
> 
>   I saw some nice original BOSS 351 iron heads on ebay for $2500.  Are
>   they really worth that much?  If so, mine are still very fresh, maybe I
>   could sell them to fund a set of Trickflow aluminum heads.
> 
>   Somebody please help me before I blow a gasket!
> 
>   thanks,
> 
>   Mike Becker (San Diego)
> 
>   1741
> 
>   <<...>> <<...>>
> <passengerside.jpg>
> <driverside.jpg>
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