Need help rebuilding a 350!!!!

Hey I have a chevy 350 that im rebuilding in my garage. The motor has been overheated and hedgasket has been craked. The problem im running into is im getting ready to take the intake manifold off, so i took all the bolts out but it looks like its almost glued to the heads. How do I separate this from the heads. I tryed pry bar but i can't really think of anything else. On all the other motors I have rebuilt usually a good nudge with a rubber mallet loosens it up. Please help!!!!!!!! oh ya the 350 came out of a 84 corvette and it has that crossfire deal on top

 

first off dont break nothin- those crossfire guys like to restore them-someone will give you cash. Intakes can really take some effort, especially in a car that isn't the best at cooling (vettes) and then one that's been overheated to boot.

Make absolutely sure to take out every bolt- dont take it as an insult- it's common to miss something even when you've done it a hundred times. Have someone else look at it for bolts- even a non car person (wife, uncle, Great Aunt Petunia) can spot a bolt and ask you "what does that one do?"

Once that's confirmed, get a little burley with it- is it in the car? Cherry picker on some good sized bolt holes that DONT go into the head. Dont pick up the whole car, but get some weight on it, jounce the fender abit/apply some pry bar...

if it's out of the car, then get a couple bars going the same direction so as to not bust one corner off the intake. I've even take a cyl head off with a bigass rubber dead blow to get the intake to separate.

Plan your moves carefully, paying attention to what will happen if it suddenly pops free.. good luck. -rick

you did take out the dizzy, right?

 

BFRM

Big Fuckin Rubber Mallet

 

thanks 69 fury, do they normally stick like that on a crssfire engine. evreything else seemed to come apart easy

 

Its been hot and if memory serves they use some pretty narly glue on the later engines at the factory.

Fury gave you some pretty good advice, I wouldn't stray too far from that if it were my engine. You may try tapping a wedge between the mating surfaces but I wouldn't get too surley with it. If you go that route just work around it and until you [in the words of the Ol' Man] "worry it off."

 

take a two inch wide rigid gasket scraper (looks like a putty knife but stiff) and tap it between the intake and head in the corners by the coolant ports and it will pop loose,just make sure all the bolts are out

 

Its been forever since I worked on one but I want to say there are a couple of bolts that are easy to overlook on those crossfire intakes. Make sure you have them all off.

 

On those crossfire motors I believe there might be a couple of bolts inside the intake. Remove the throttle bodies to get access to them.. The early Z/28 cross-ram intake was set up the same way.

 

yes sir i just realised that. Im trying to take the tb off but thats on there tight too

 

Yep, I was just going to say that there are bolts inside the intake...but you are onto that now. Are you planning on running the crossfire set-up? It isn't really a very good one from a performance standpoint. Just thought I'd let ya know...

 

I dont know yet. Im still debating that. Im thinking mabye a 4 barrell carb or if you know of anything better let me know But I did get the intake off!!!! yay

 

Congrats on getting the intake loose. Just about anything will be better than that crossfire. What are you going to run the engine in? Maybe pic an induction setup that fits the "theme" of the build...

 

How many bolts were inside?? Just curious.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think there are 4 inside.

 

same number of intake bolts on every small chevy for 30 years. They really didn't change much.

 

Yes, but some intakes have them hidden inside the plenum...and when guys who have not run into an intake like this before, they do not realise that...such as the OP here.

 

Here's a pic of the early cross ram.. These have 4 bolts on each side that were enclosed...