Again, it's an old school way of thinking. They painted the underside a light, reflective color to reflect heat away from the intake and hopefully keep it cooler. Not sure if it would have any effect on an aluminum intake mating to aluminum heads.

I agree with you on the Copper RTV.

 

I dont know what im doing wrong then. Maybe its because i torque one bolt twice? instead of doing everything at 30ft. lbs. or whatever it is. Also I dont have a in. lb. wrench for the first round'? is that a posible cause? Should the bead be tall and as close as the ridge to me? Or wide?

 

You can just use a regular wrench for the first round and get them "snug".

I think the bead should be thick and not necessarily tall. Make sure you put a little bit extra in the corners and go all the way up the head to the intake gasket.

I waited 20 min or so after laying the bead before putting the intake on and then at least 24 hours before starting the motor.

 

just so you know, 1 foot lb is 12 in lbs (think in terms of a ruler... meaning 12 inches equals one foot). as far as tightening, try hand tightening the bolts and then work on them with the wrench. work from the inside out. what i mean by that is, work the four center bolts (one center bolt on passenger side, then do the opposite side on driver side. next do the other center bolt on the driver side and do its opposite on passenger side). then work your way out from center bolts. the four outside corners should be the last ones you do if you keep working the bolts in a circular pattern. start with a small amount of pressure at first, making a couple different passes up to the final pass at 30 ft lbs (so start with a pass of 1 foot lb, then make a pass of 10ft lbs, then 20, then 30 since you are having so much trouble). taking your time can do a lot for you. as far as the bead goes, just run a decent thickness bead (guessing about 1/4-1/2" thickness and height) along the center of the rails. make sure to get the corners as i mentioned before (where the block meets the heads). getting the intake on square is key. get a friend to help you place the intake on square along with the studs if you are having trouble. and as i mentioned before, let it cure completely. dont get impatient wondering if its gonna hold this time. put it all back together and let it sit for a day or two (at least 24hrs if you can).

 

I assumed you knew about the torque pattern, but if not, I think it's on shoebox's site. It's basically what slverbullet discussed.

 

Thanks for the advice....I'm getting ready to pull mine again. I will not do the t-56 conversion until I can get the back of the intake to quit leaking. It will leak on to the clutch and ruin it. Honestly I'm going to try making a gasket for the front and rear of the manifold with rubber trans pan gasket material. I don't know if this has been tried, but I'm open to any suggestions?

 

I cant find it on his site, but I would like to see it before I torque it back down. and I got the intake off yesterday and pulled the DS valve cover off to find that 6 of my push rods are completely shot. Theres metal ground out of the push rod from the guideplate. The guideplates are comp cams, not sure on the part number

 

Did you have hardened pushrods?

The comp cams guideplates won't work on the LT1 heads. They are for SBC heads, IIRC.

 

i work in shop and all the guys use the right stuff

 

When I worked in a shop they all used Ford Grey silicone. You have to use a pry bar if you want to take it apart after that!

 

would a dealership stock GMPP Guideplates?

are helicoils easy to work with?

Seawolf do you have a link to the shoebox torque sequence?

 

I don't, but it may not be on there. It may have been in my Haynes manual. I'll try to draw one up real quick.

Try thunder racing for the GMPP guideplates. They say the Trickflow ones work well also.

I've never worked with helicoils.

 

So a dealership wouldnt stock those? and alright and I think I know what you mean. Work the 4 centers snug then the 4 outers snug then go back and torque the 4 centers then torque the 4 outers, correct?

 

Yeah. I can't get on photobucket from work. What's your email?

 

Does anyone have suggestions on colors for the waterpump and valve covers?