Hi all

Recently had a head gasket failure on my D2 so off with its heads, ordered a new gasket kit from Atlantic British, heads resurfaced, torqued down. I was really thinking the tough part was taken care of until I went to put on my lower intake.

Long story short, it doesn't line up. The gasket itself that goes over the valley doesn't line up with the head ports and bolt holes and although the intake itself lines up with the gasket, it doesn't line up with the cylinder head's bolt holes.

I am not going to be a complete idiot and try and force the matter but I am just looking for suggestions. Thanks for the help!

 

Two possibilities the most likely,assuming no other issues, are your heads are out of spec when you had them resurfaced did your provided the shop the page from the Rave that gives the head specs. This is common when you take too much off.

But try putting the intake in with no gasket, something may be fouling the gasket or the intake. Check the front and rear where the rubber seal goes, it has to be fitted exactly right or you will have problems. And I know this sounds silly it goes on after the gasket is in place.

 

Thanks for that, so the new rubber gaskets that go front and rear gave me too much grief, I also struggled with the increased thickness of the new valley gasket.

Your first point, I am sure they are probably out of spec at this point. This job had been done previously by a previous owner and afterwards one of the heads was still warped. I will probably be buying a replacement long block in the next five years or so but hopefully this one gives me a little time.

The old valley gasket and rubber seals were in good enough shape I used those for now. Thanks again for the help

 

Well I am guessing we still have a problem. Put everything back together today and ran the engine. God it sounded soooo much better, lovely smooth idle.

That's where the good ended. The engine was pretty badly leaking coolant out of the rear of the engine down the bell housing. I am thinking my head gasket is nice, snug and sealing well so I am assuming that reusing the old valley gasket was a huge no no. Now I am going to be in the same boat as I was at the beginning of the thread. The replacement gasket and the rubber seals will not allow me to seal the lower intake. How will I line everything up and seal it?

Richard can I get clarification on this? What is it going on after?

 

Sorry I have to see if I made notes I had an issue with mine lining up, and I found something interfering. As to the coolant leak I am assuming you remembered the sealant around the water ports on the valley gasket, head and intake side

 

Maybe I have insufficient amounts of sealant, this is what I can see in the workshop manual
"Apply sealant, Part No. STC 50550 to cylinder head and cylinder block notches."

So every port for air needs sealant around it, as does obviously the coolant passages. What are the cylinder block notches? From there what's the best practice, let the sealant start to dry for a little while before putting on the intake manifold? I guess I am going to do a heck of a lot of research on this before I go back out there. I don't want to keep doing this lol.

 

Rtv on the coolant passages only, and on all bolt threads. There is a slight gap between the heads and the block that the rubber gasket partially fills. Put a lot of silicone on both sides of the ends of the rubber gaskets.

 

If you are leaking water it's not due to any sealant issue. Lack of sealant on the valley gasket might result in a vacuum leak or an oil leak but not a water leak. The only way it leaks water there is if the manifold isn't clamping sufficiently or there is a crack somewhere. If you were able to get the bolts started in the intake manifold than I'd think it would clamp down. If you cant get they started you might be able to oval out the hole a little with a dremel. Make sure the intake isn't sitting on top of the valley hold down clamps.

 

Update, two leaky spots, not from the heads thank God.

First was heater hose inlet on the front passenger side of the lower intake, O ring ruptured and popped out of hole and ripped. Rear coolant passage on driver side of lower intake in rear of engine.

I bought the head gasket set from Atlantic British, reached out to them about their overly thick gasket and got detailed instructions. Thoroughly clean surfaces, put some tacky stuff on head mounting surfaces, then apply valley gasket dry. Clamping down to 38ft/lb gradually will provide the seal.