***uming you meant run a thicker gasket, no, there's millions of FE's that ran just fine with the stock setup. A fresh gasket, maybe, could be a leak, but the stock gaskets were usually thin paper, many with a thick or thin spacer, and usually only need replacement if the carb is removed. Whatever problem you're having, that ain't it
I would suggest from what you have said that you have a leak at the water p***age on one side or the other of the front of the intake and it is ****ing coolant into the adjacent intake port producing your white smoke. This is a not an uncommon occurrence. I would pull the intake and repair your thread. The source of the leak will probably be self evident. When you go to reset the intake make sure everything is CLEAN and DRY and and do a dry run fit. Set the intake with the gasket (use Victor Rienz or Felpro but not the Print-O-Seal one) in place dry (if there are any fitment issues with the gasket now is the time to trim them) and drop the dist. in to align the intake (this is critical) and slip in two bolts on either side to hold the gasket in place. Check the fit at all four corners with a feeler gauge to make sure nothing is warped and check the size of the gap at the front and rear of the intake. If the heads/block has been machined you may not have sufficient room for the stock cork gaskets. I generally just use a bead of the Right Stuff sealant front and rear after using a centerpunch on the block/intake sealing surfaces to help give some grip whether I use the corks or not. Now apply a very thin layer of RTV (black or orange high temp., or ford grey) to the head side of the gasket (if there is pitting around the water p***ages use a little more in that area) press the gaskets flat into place and screw in a couple of bolts to make sure they stay put and let it set up at least a few hrs. (overnight is fine) wipe off any sealer protruding beyond the intake surface of the gasket. OK, ready for the finale ***ault. Another very thin layer of RTV on the intake side of the gasket and again if the intake water p***ages are pitted a little extra there. Now having earlier observed the gap front & rear apply a bead of the Right Stuff tall enough to fully seal the gap and just a little extra at the intersection of the head and intake but don't go nuts with it. Set your intake very carefully into place (this is much easier with two people). Drop in your dist. and make sure the oil pump shaft is engaged and the dist. is fully seated and the dist is lined up with the marks you made on the dist. housing for the rotor and on the intake for the housing (you did mark them, right). If the dist is off but is fully seated leave it until you have evenly, in stages, alternating sides, tightend your intake down to 15-18 ft/lbs (for alum. intake). Now check front and back to make sure those gaps are fully sealed, if not fill any gap with a little Right Stuff on your finger. I know this may be more info than you were looking for or needed, But this is probably the single most ****ed up operation on an FE engine and is much more critical than on a dry intake. Hope it works out well for you, and congrats on the marriage. If you need any more info PM me or check out fordfe.com. Mike
found this : http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182/message/1143436444/Final+Results+-+Intake+Manifold+Comparo
sadly modern fe intakes are without that oil filler tube.. I`m just rebuilding my FE390... will keep that heavy iron 4V intake manifold-- for that cool "early" FE look.
Kudos to 53Mercury! Excellent procedure that covers all the bases...Done it many times, but never with "the right stuff". Will try that this week on my '63-1/2 Galaxie. (Just found a 390 '64 Merc engine, out of a super cherry car, 60K miles) And yes, congrats on your marriage, Pie! Relieved to hear she's amiable.
Thanks alot. It's getting close. Which you guys have better luck with: standard fel-pros or like an Eldebrock set of gaskets?
After checking the motor out pretty good I have decided to go ahead and get a better intake. Been finding out the performer isn't much of an improvement and an rpm requires port matching the heads? Any suggestions?
RPM does NOT "require" port matching- it has the high, short, high velocity port like medium riser, while your heads have the longer early ports. The tops of the ports match, and the lower part that was "filled" on the later heads was found to be a "dead air" area that didn't flow much anyway, so the smaller "high" port flows just as much, with better velocity. Doesn't hurt a thing for the high-port manifold to flow into the early long-port heads- the 428CJ head was just a 427 Low Riser head with smog ports and provisions for the extra exhaust bolt for the shock tower cars, complete with the "old" longer ports, while the CJ iron intake had the high, short ports- came that way from the factory with the mismatch, and ran just fine. You probably wouldn't actually see much improvement with an RPM on your stock engine, the Performer is actually better matched to your stock cam & such- but if you had a good cam & exhaust, the RPM would shine One thing you've gotta learn, is don't get all excited every time you hear or read something and think you need to start changing things- slow down a bit
I read that and was wondering where they got that. The motor in the car is a 66 with dual header bolt flanges. I'm calling it stock not really knowing what the motor has. I have discovered that it doesn't seem to have a few hundred miles.
Pie pie, re-post the idling video, I think Gene missed it. Rougher than a factory GT cam, if I were to make a WAG based on listening to something idle on a internet video, I would say probably mid 220 range on a 110-112 lda. Personally, even if the cam WAS stock, I would go with the Perf. RPM. If it DID have a stock cam in it, I would figure you would probably be changing it in the near future anyway. The Performer makes about the same power as a decent stock cast iron 4bbl FE intake.
How did you determine that the engine was a '66? You can't go by the casting #s, have to look at the date codes, unless they put the tag back on the intake- unlikely. The block date is above the oil filter adapter, for a '66 should be something like 6A23 or similar (1966/January/23), head codes are inside the valve cover. Does sound like a 390 GT engine, has to be at least a '66 with the extra exhaust holes, and those heads would have the newer high, short medium-riser type port and would match the new intakes
I checked the date code on one of my posts on here. The exhaust doesn't sound like that video anymore. The booster is bad so it had a vacuum leak and the timing was way retarded. The block says c6me and the heads say c6mea if my memory is right
Ah. Ok, so it probably is a stock or near stock cam. So, we can ***ume you are looking at a cam swap as well, right? What are your expectations, performance wise and fuel economy wise? Is a gear change on the table? Converter? Keeping the power brakes, right? I would guess it probably has a rear gear in the 3.2 range right now?
Honestly, if you are going to swap intakes, buy the Performer RPM and dont look back. Its a very versatile all-around intake.
Yes eventually it will get rebuilt and a cam swap. Keeping power brakes. Getting a different booster and mc after I get it running good. When I was rebuilding the brakes I swum the axle and watched the driveshaft and it was less than 3 turns and has 26.5 inch rear tires. Want to go 3.25 gear this winter with posi. Not making a race car just a family car that will turn heads but if I wanna leave a little smoke at the stop light it will. Plan on taking it on trips this summer. Also I'm in the process of getting a duraspark dist and hei module with a ford tfi coil to go with the wide cap and new msd wires to get rid of points.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC2sqgjffmM heres the link to the last video i made before some changes. that was before timing change and vacuum leak fixed. so i should not have to port match the heads to the intake? just dont want to spend the money and buy it only to realize i have to pull the heads.
Those are not the date codes, they are the casting codes, and only tell you that it was designed for a '66 model year, not when they were cast. Go back and read my post again, and you will be able to find the date codes. The block date is directly above the bolt-on oil filter mount, not up on the side of the block- might be covered in crud, and should start with a number, not a letter. Head dates are under the valve cover, not on the outside
April 20, 1967 for the block Again, the head dates are under the valve cover, not on the outside- as in you have to take the cover off LOL. Are you getting that C6MEA number from between the center spark plugs? Should be another (suffix) number like 6090 across from it, which just means "cylinder head", C6ME-A is part of a casting number, not a date code- suffix 6015 is a cylinder block, 9425 is an intake, 9430 and 9431 are the exhaust manifolds. Never heard of a C6ME-A head, but have heard of C6ME-A blocks An example complete casting number would be C8OE-6090-N, which is a 428CJ head casting- C8=1968, O is the Fairlane vehicle line it was first designed for, and the -N suffix after the 6015 designates the particular head, the CJ
Have anyone used the victor intake for the fe on the street i know its a race intake but the sbc victor works realy god on the street Planing to build up a more modern FE than the old 70-80s stuff i have ...but acording to that dyno test i better keep the steet-master!!!! How about the different aftermarket heads for the FE I figure reuild some old heads with new valves. guides.porting etc and end up with less flow is not cost effectiv
I would take any aluminum intake over an iron one. We replaced an iron manifold on a 64 390 4speed Galaxy with a POS Edelbrock streetmaster and pick up over 2 tenths in the 1/4 just on wait savings. Plus it saves your back during a cam swap.
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